Tags
Arizona, Art, Murals, Navajo, Navajo Nation, Paintings, Southwest, Street Art, Travel
Power Plant
It’s been a very long time since I worked in Navajo country. The last couple years I’ve made a point to take Miladydebennet through a lot of my old haunts, and this summer that meant a trip through the Navajo Nation. It was great to see some of the old sights again, and to see them a little bit through the new eyes of my girlfriend. It was also great to see some new things in the old places. One of my favorite new things (new to me anyway) is the addition of street art all around the rez. These had me smiling all the way from Page to Santa Fe. I had even more reason to smile when I learned one of my former students had been involved in painting one of these murals.
It seems that these have been part of an ongoing project, called Paint the Desert initiated by a doctor who goes by the name, Jetsonorama. You can find a few articles on his project here and here, here, and here. I’ve previously posted some of the murals from along Highway 89, so I was very happy to catch some more this summer.
As always, you may click to embiggen. (In fact, I highly recommend it.)
These were in Kayenta, just south of Monument Valley.
These paintings were all at the Crossroads Trading Post.
Saw this somewhere along the road from Kayenta down to Chinle.
Windmill
Found this piece on the road between Many Farms and Chinle.
These (and many more) were all painted along a wall in Fort Defiance. It would have been walking distance from my home for a few years. Kind of a surreal experience to get a soda from the old convenience store and walk around checking this out. Surreal, and very cool.
For me anyway.
Hope y’all enjoy the pictures.
northierthanthou 
Thank you for the pictures of all that great art ! I love colourful art – it’s so alive and dynamic. I also have great admiration for indigenous peoples – wherever they are – U.S., Canada, Australia, South America, etc. When I paint (which isn’t very often any more) I use lots of colour. The murals you included look like street art but they are in the middle of the desert. Very cool ! Are you an art teacher up there in the faaaaaar north ?
I love it! We’re going through Navajo country probably in November, and we’ll definitely watch for these.
Daniel, I think I’ve posted mine from Cameron before, but here you go again. https://www.flickr.com/photos/43577246@N02/27138734425/in/album-72157666161915174/
And the flip side: https://www.flickr.com/photos/43577246@N02/26532874294/in/album-72157666161915174/
Quite an assortment!
Love this post. Recently, at a festival I found two paintings by jimmy Yazzie. They were practically giving them away because I think they did not know anything about this sort of thing. They now hang in my house below a large painting by another Navaho artist. I want a Quincy Tahoma painting but they are quite costly. Love the Navaho Nation–all the dramatic landscapes, the horses, the crystalline air, everything.
Nice windmill, reminds me of one I saw in an automaton museum in France.
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