Event Details (U.S. National Park Service)

Fee:

Free.

Location: LAT/LONG: 36.000000, -112.000000

Desert View is located, 23 miles (37 km) east of Grand Canyon Village on Desert View Drive (Arizona State Route 64), and 30 miles (48 km) west of Cameron, Arizona, on Arizona State Route 64. How to get to the Watchtower: Starting from the main Desert View parking area, a short .25 mile (.4 km) walk takes you past the restroom building, the Market/Deli and the Trading Post. The four story watchtower is located at Desert View Point.

Repeating Event

Days:

Every day

Dates:

April 02, 2024 to April 04, 2024

Time:

9:00 AM

Duration:

7 hours

Type of Event

Cultural/Craft Demonstration

Description

Stop by the Desert View Watchtower on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9 am to 4 pm to join our Cultural Demonstrators to talk, watch, and appreciate their crafts. This week we are featuring Damon Tso, Navajo Potter, and Jonah Hill, Hopi Metalsmith.

Damon began making pottery around 2003. He is mostly self-taught and uses the local, native clay to coil-build his pottery. Each piece is traditionally fired using wood as the heat source, instead of a kiln. He often uses pinon-pitch to finish the exteriors. Damon is known for raised designs that flow around his pieces and has won numerous awards for his pottery over the years.
Jonah Hill, Hopi metalsmith, is known for his neo-traditional sterling silver jewelry, made by using traditional techniques. He will demonstrate how he creates jewelry from copper, brass and silver, by pouring molten metal into design molds hand-carved from tufa stone (a volcanic rock).

In addition to being a metalsmith, Jonah has been a river guide, and is an environmental educator. As Jonah is carving his designs into the mold, he uses the artistic process to express his love and concern for water and related environmental issues. He also includes themes and imagery from Hopi culture.

The purpose of the Cultural Demonstration Program is to give members of the 11 traditionally associated tribes a voice at Grand Canyon by supporting interactions with the public through demonstrations of traditional native practices and crafts. The program began in 2014 and continues to grow to this day.

This series is made possible with grants from Grand Canyon Conservancy.

More information