The Hopi Cultural Center is a place in the Hopi Reservation on

Second Mesa, Arizona Second Mesa is a census-designated place (CDP) in Navajo County, Arizona, on the Hopi Reservation, atop the 5,700-foot (1,740 m) mesa. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the CDP population was 962, spread among three Hopi, Hopi Indi ...

where visitors can learn about the culture, history and art of the

Hopi people The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the United ...

. It also provides lodging and a restaurant that serves Hopi cuisine. A museum is also part of the cultural center. Hopi ceremonies also take place at the center, although many of these are not open to the public.

About

The Hopi Cultural Center is located in

. The center has lodging, a

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collec ...

selling arts and crafts made by local Hopi

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

s, a restaurant featuring Hopi cuisine and a museum. The

motel A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionarie ...

is based on traditional Hopi architecture and features a " stucco maze with outdoor walkways and balconies outside second-floor rooms." Currently, there are 33 guest rooms and the motel includes meeting rooms for conferences. Cultural programs are hosted at the center. Some of these include "hands-on" activities, such as Planting Day, where participants learn about Hopi farming. The Hopi Cultural Center also hosts Hopi snake dances, although these are closed to the public. Some Katsina dances are open to the public, but these do not allow any type of visual or audio recording of the ceremonies.

Museum

The Hopi Cultural Center Museum contains objects of Hopi art and craftsmanship, including

kachina A kachina (; also katchina, katcina, or katsina; Hopi: ''katsina'' , plural ''katsinim'' ) is a spirit being in the religious beliefs of the Pueblo peoples, Native American cultures located in the south-western part of the United States. In th ...

s, weaving and pottery. Historic artifacts such as documents and photographs are also part of the collection. The museum originally opened with objects on loan from the

Museum of Northern Arizona The Museum of Northern Arizona is a museum in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States, that was established as a repository for Indigenous material and natural history specimens from the Colorado Plateau. The museum was founded in 1928 by zoologist ...

. Notable individuals who have shown work or have items in the collection include

Michael Kabotie Michael Kabotie, also known as Lomawywesa (September 3, 1942 – October 23, 2009) was a Hopi silversmith, painter, sculptor, and poet. He is known for his petroglyph and geometric imagery. Background Michael Kabotie was born September 3, 194 ...

, and

Priscilla Namingha Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo (1924 - 2008) was a Hopi-Tewa potter who was known for her traditional pottery. Namingha mined her own clay and created her own pigments for her large pots. Her work is in the collection of several museums and cultural ce ...

History

Hopi artist, Fred Kobotie, wanted to bring Hopi culture and art back to the Hopi Reservation. In 1965, he began to plan the cultural center and, along with several sponsors, set up the Hopi Cultural Center, Inc. as a nonprofit entity. Together, the Hopi tribe applied to the

Economic Development Administration The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides grants and technical assistance to economically distressed communities in order to generate new employment, help retain exist ...

(EDA) for financing in 1968. The new building was dedicated on June 26, 1971. Governor Jack Williams spoke at the dedication. In 1973 Hopi artists

, Terrance Talasawaima, and Neil David Sr. formed the Artist Hopid. Joined by Delbridge Honanie and Milland Lomakema they opened a shop and studio in the Hopi Cultural Center mall. The group’s objectives included: researching and documenting Hopi history through visual arts for posterity and educating Hopi and non-Hopi about the cultural values of the Hopi Their work was well received and as a result the Artist Hopid were given a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arizona Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

of the cultural center received a $10,000 grant from the Weatherhead Foundation for display cabinets. The cabinets were based on a similar design used at the

. The first

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

was Terrance Talaswaima. Anna Silas was the director of the museum in the 1990s and worked as curator for nearly forty years. The restaurant was remodeled in the early 1980s.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control 1971 establishments in Arizona Hopi culture Hopi Reservation Buildings and structures in Arizona Native American history of Arizona Museums in Navajo County, Arizona Native American museums in Arizona