Members-only exhibition preview of 'Twilight: Trading Posts & Creative Legacies' with remarks from David M. Roche, featuring Navajo textiles and related art.
The Heard Museum is opening Twilight: Trading Posts & Creative Legacies on Sunday, October 25, with a members-only preview that starts with breakfast and coffee in the Monte Vista Room before moving into the Virginia G. Piper Grand Gallery. David M. Roche will be there to give some remarks, so it's a good chance to hear a bit of the story behind the show before you walk through it on your own.
The exhibition centers on Navajo textiles, with pottery, jewelry, and photography from the trading post era mixed in. You'll see work by Michele Laughing-Reeves, Calvin Toney, Florence Riggs, and DY Begay—all Diné artists. The show draws from the Heard's own collection, so it's a look at pieces the museum already holds, brought together around this one theme.
That theme is the trading post itself, and how it shaped the way Navajo and Hopi art reached the world. In the early 20th century, these posts were the main link between tribal communities and the markets outside, and that relationship sparked a real flowering of creativity. But there was a trade-off: the names of the individual weavers and their families were usually folded into the identity of the post that sold the work. The post got the credit; the artist stayed anonymous.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Phoenix and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
Twilight follows what happened as that era wound down. While the trading posts faded, the creative legacies within families stayed. By the late 20th century, weavers were increasingly asserting themselves, making textiles that reflected their own visions and finding markets far beyond the reservation. Dr. Ann Marshall, the museum's Director of Research, frames the whole thing as being about artists taking control of how their work is presented.
If you're a member, the preview is on October 25. If you're not, or if you want to hear more from the people who put this together, there's a curator talk coming up on November 12. The exhibition is at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.
