Heard Museum North 'Mid-Century Modern' Art & Fashion Exhibition Closing

Don't miss the final run of "Mid-Century Modern: Native American Art in Scottsdale" at Heard Museum North, before it closes this Sunday. Learn how American Indian artists living & working in Scottsdale helped to define the city as the arts & culture center that it remains today.

"Mid-Century Modern" features fine art & men's & women's designer fashion created in Scottsdale in the 1950s & '60s - 2 decades of innovation by American Indian artists. During this time period, Scottsdale consisted of a 2-block row of storefronts resembling neo-frontier Western movie sets with knotty pine porticoes & hitching rails. But behind the Western facades, Native artists were helping to shape & define the city as the "West's most Western town."

Cherokee fashion designer & leader in contemporary art, Lloyd Kiva New was creating clothing, handbags & fabric that was in demand throughout the U.S. & in Europe. Hopi artists Charles & Otellie Loloma, Hopi, created one-of-a-kind pottery pieces while painters Pop Chalee, Ed Lee Natay, & Andrew Tsinajinnie, found inspiration for their work as members of this tight-knit artist community. At the White Hogan, a renowned shop & gallery, Navajo artists Kenneth Begay & Allen Kee created modern silver pieces that incorporated the finest in traditional Navajo design.

The exhibition features items from the Heard's permanent collection along with new acquisitions. One recent donation - a pair of aprons - were created from patterns & fabric designed by Lloyd Kiva New. The aprons were worn by Heard Museum volunteer guides during public tours at the downtown Heard Museum. The pockets in the aprons provided a place for objects known as "touch-its" that the tour guides would share with museum visitors.

"Mid-Century Modern" in on view through Sunday, August 13rd, at Heard Museum North in North Scottsdale at the el Pedregal Festival Marketplace.