The following pictures are from Old Town Scottsdale. It was a beautiful day - cool with a nice breeze so I enjoyed walking the streets. After three weeks here Lloyd has become acclimatized and found it cold when he was out of the sun. Just wait till he heads back to the far north on Sunday!!! Then he'll remember cold!
This was my favorite part of our excursion. I met this Navajo sand painting artist, Wayne Tom, and stopped to talk to him about his work and the history of sand painting. It was quite fascinating. The work is really beautiful. The art of sand painting was originally done by medicine men as a healing ritual. The intricate paintings were large enough for the sick person to lay on. The colored sands were drizzled onto the light sand by the artist in a meaningful pattern. When the picture was finished - often taking more than a day to complete - the sick person was laid on the sand painting while chants were said over him, herbs and potions waved over him, etc. When the ceremony was over the patient would be moved off the painting and the sand would be dumped out, symbolizing the removal from the body of the illness and evil spirits. The ones that artists like Wayne Tom did for sale were done by mixing the colored sand with a bit of glue and actually painting the colored sand onto the background stabilized sand. The one he was making in the picture I took was actual dry sand he was rubbing through his fingers onto the whitish sand to make the picture - very delicate work.
This is art of a different kind outside one of the galleries in Old Town.
The people memorialized in metal here are the founders of Scottsdale - Winfield and Helen Scott. I particularly liked the curved stairway behind them.
This pump organ used to be in the Scott's parlor...such a pretty piece of furniture/music.
The Scottsdale Historical Museum is housed in the old brick schoolhouse, built by Winfield Scott. It's the first brick building to be built in Scottsdale.
An old lady in Old Town Square ;)
I saw these glass cubes in the window of a glass gallery. They were incredibly beautiful the way they caught the light. The gallery was closing next week so everything was 50% off, but items like this one were still in the $500 range. We didn't buy anything there!
I loved these old wagon wheel benches that were positioned along the streets.
My partner in crime, travelling companion, chauffeur, and sidekick. We've had such fun together this week. Next month we'll be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary, but that's a blog for another time.Happy days!
5 comments:
We should've met at the Sugar Bowl for ice cream or something. I was up in Scottsdale today. And it was a beautiful day.
Looks like a wonderful day. Arizona really has some interesting places to visit Love that organ BTW it's sort of warming up here but still so yucky!
Cold! His grandsons slept in the woods last night.
That place looks like fun. How does that artist save his sand-painting? Looks neat. - Mary
Mary - the art of sand painting was originally done by medicine men as a healing ritual. The intricate paintings were large enough for the sick person to lay on. The colored sands were drizzled onto the light sand by the artist in a meaningful pattern. When the picture was finished - often taking more than a day to complete - the sick person was laid on the sand painting while chants were said over him, herbs and potions waved over him, etc. When the ceremony was over the patient would be moved off the painting and the sand would be dumped out, symbolizing the removal from the body of the illness and evil spirits. The ones that artists like Wayne Tom did for sale were done by mixing the colored sand with a bit of glue and actually painting the colored sand onto the background stabilized sand. The one he was making in the picture I took was actual dry sand he was rubbing through his fingers onto the whitish sand to make the picture - very delicate work.
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