What do you think of when you think of women in the early western frontier? You might not think about the arts - but these five women artists and writers were instrumental in expressing the beauty of the southwest and preserving the history of early Arizona.
Hopi potter Nampeyo shaped clay vessels with an intricacy seldom duplicated today. Writer Sharlot Hall described images of Arizona’s past and preserved our history. Author Martha Summerhayes wrote of her adventures following her husband from one Arizona army post to another. Kate Cory’s abundant portfolio of paintings & photos illustrates an intense cultural sensitivity to Hopi rituals & ceremonies. Architect Mary Colter designed edifices across the southwest, particularly at the Grand Canyon. Folk singer Katie Lee still expresses herself through her songs & writings.
Learn more about these remarkable women at Pens & Paintbrushes: The Legacies of Early Arizona Women in the Arts, on Saturday, April 23, 10:30 am at the Chandler Sunset Library. Pens & Paintbrushes is an Our Stories program offered through the Chandler Museum by author and lecturer Jan Cleere.
Find more resources on Arizona history. Search for Nampeyo, Sharlot Hall, and others in U.S. History in Context, a collection of articles from encyclopedias, magazines, academic journals, and more, free to access with your library card. Search for books on Arizona, from travel and outdoor guides (on the nonfiction shelves at 917.91) to history (on the shelf at 979.1). Check out InstantFlix, a streaming video collection from IndieFlix, for classic movies such as The Arizona Kid and documentaries such as The State of Arizona. (If you've used the Zinio magazine collection, use the same login for InstantFlix.) Dig into the Chandler Museum's online archives - including early photographs and scans of Chandler's first newspaper, the Chandler Arizonan - at ChandlerpediA. Visit your library and ask at the information desk to learn more.