The intimate Gallery is a setting for more focused shows and smaller-scale artworks. Exhibits linking art, nature and culture change every four to six weeks and highlight the creative works of artists living in the region.

Traditional Paper Art: Contemporary Interpretations
Jan. 21 – Mar. 2, 2010
Artist demo: Sunday, February 7, noon to 3pm
Our two-person exhibit in the Gallery at Tohono Chul Park features imaginative interpretations of traditional paper arts: Polish paper cutting (wycinanki) by a Tucson treasure, Magdalena Nowacka-Jannotta, and origami by Arizona State University mathematician Goran Konjevod. Although both artists work with centuries-long paper art forms, their fresh and innovative work will surprise and delight you!

Navajo Crafts – Connecting Generations
March 4 – April 20, 2010
The Navajo, who call themselves Diné, live in some of the most scenic and majestic country in the Southwest. Their reservation is the largest in the United States and includes 16 million acres expanding across parts of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southern Utah. Family homesteads are scattered across the vast open country that includes mesas, canyons, desert sands, grasslands and pinyon-dotted hills. For the Navajo, family support and unity is especially important in daily life and, for many, herding sheep and livestock and producing traditional crafts is a family-centered tradition that bridges generations.

Navajo artisans are perhaps best-known for their beautifully-woven rugs and exquisite silver jewelry which have always been attractive to collectors, but they also create imaginative pottery and colorful basketry. In fact, basket- and pottery-making have experienced a renaissance in the last few decades after almost becoming a lost art. Mary Holiday Black is recognized as the visionary who resurrected the tradition of pictorial basket-making while Rose Williams is acknowledged as doing the same for pottery-making. Today, both families continue to create innovative designs and award-winning treasures.

Our exhibit showcases a small selection of pottery and basketry showing the trail-blazing work of the Black and Williams families as well as traditional and innovative work in weaving and jewelry.

Congressional Student Art Exhibit
April 22 – June 8, 2010
Working with U. S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ office, Tohono Chul Park will again host the annual Congressional Student Art Competition by presenting the 1st and 2nd place prize-winning works from the 8th District. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Congressional Arts Competition sponsored by the Congressional Arts Caucus. The competition was created to recognize the creative talents of young Americans. Each year, a top Grand Prize winner from each congressional district across the nation is selected and the student and parents are invited to Washington, D.C. to attend a reception launching the annual national exhibition. All Grand Prize winning works are hung for the ensuing year in an exhibit at the U. S. Capitol building providing a broad spectrum of artistic talents by high school students from across the United States.

Last year, from across Congressional District 8, which includes all of Cochise, and parts of Santa Cruz and Pima counties, over 200 pieces of art were submitted for the local contest and 49 winners were chosen from 12 different schools. Each year, a panel of local artists selects the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and honorable mention awards as well as the Grand Prize winner, and the Friends of Western Art provides cash awards for the student winners. This marks the second year that Tohono Chul Park has displayed the winning work in our gallery.