Join us in the galleries while jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel and guests play standards from the American Songbook.<\/p>\n
Join us in the galleries while jazz guitarist Bill Wurtzel and guests play standards from the American Songbook.<\/p>\n
Jazz + Wednesdays is generously sponsored by Joyce B. Cowin.<\/i><\/p>\n
Bill Wurtzel began playing guitar at age 9, and was a radio and TV country music performer by age 12. He attended art school and had a career as an award-winning advertising creative director. He continued to play professionally and switched to music full time in 1989. Bill has played worldwide with many jazz legends, including the Count Basie Countsmen, Wild Bill Davis, Bill Doggett, Jimmy McGriff, the Harlem Blues & Jazz Band, singers Gloria Lynne and Terri Thornton, as well as Paul Simon. Bill is a director of the Jazz Foundation of America. He also improvises with food and has authored Funny Food, Funny Food Made Easy, and Foodie Faces. Bill has performed for over a decade at the American Folk Art Museum.<\/p>\n
Jay Leonhart began his musical journey at the age of 7 on piano and percussions at the Peabody School of Music in Baltimore. At age 14, he chose the biggest instrument that he could find\u2014the bass violin\u2014and has since played with many of the major jazz musicians, big bands, pop singers, and jazz groups of this world. He has three times been voted the \u201cMost Valuable Bassist in the Recording Industry.\u201d Jay is known for his work with artists such as Jim Hall, Marian McPartland, Mel Torme, Maureen McGovern, Rosemary Clooney, Sting, and James Taylor, among others.<\/p>\n
Capacity for this program is limited; to ensure your space, we strongly recommend you arrive early.<\/b><\/p>\n
For questions, please email\u00a0publicprograms@folkartmuseum. Read an interview with Bill Wurtzel in\u00a0The New York Times<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Join artist Patrick Dean Hubbell, historian Jennifer Nez Denetdale and curator Ninabah Reid Winton\u00a0 for a conversation on Charlie Willeto, a Din\u00e9 sculptor and medicine man. <\/span><\/p>\n","start_time":"1:00 pm","end_time":"2:30 pm","admission":"Virtual; free with registration","main_content":" Charlie Willeto spent his life in <\/span>Din\u00e9 Bik\u00e9yah<\/span><\/i>, the homeland of the Din\u00e9 people (Navajo Nation). A <\/span>Hat\u00e1\u00e1\u0142ii<\/span><\/i> (medicine man), Willeto exchanged his hand-painted, doll-like wooden carvings for goods at trading posts neighboring his home in New Mexico. Drawing from Din\u00e9 ceremonial traditions (yet modifying forms and symbols for a secular Western context), his stylized sculptures speak to his experience as a healer, community member, and artist of profound vision and wit.<\/span><\/p>\n The American Folk Art Museum invites you to a conversation celebrating Willeto\u2019s legacy, with artist <\/span>Patrick Dean Hubbell<\/strong>, <\/b>historian <\/span>Jennifer Nez Denetdale<\/strong> and curator <\/span>Ninabah Reid Winton<\/strong>. Together, they will examine Willeto\u2019s work, currently on view in the collection-based exhibitions <\/span>Self-Made: A Century of Inventing Artists<\/span><\/i><\/a> and<\/span> Folk Nation: Crafting Patriotism in the United States<\/span><\/i><\/a>, through the lens of Din\u00e9 history, philosophy and art.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This conversation offers a unique look at the intersections of artmaking, healing, and resistance within a Din\u00e9 context. It\u2019s an opportunity to learn how Willeto mediated his position as both artist and healer in mid-twentieth-century America, navigating the sacred and the secular, Din\u00e9 and settler value systems, as well as Native and Western aesthetic traditions.<\/span><\/p>\n This program is organized by Mathilde Walker-Billaud, AFAM Curator of Programs and Engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n About the speakers<\/strong><\/p>\n Patrick Dean Hubbell<\/b> <\/a>is originally from Navajo, New Mexico, located on the Navajo Nation, Southwest United States. He is a recent MFA graduate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. He currently lives and works on the Navajo Nation.\u00a0 His work is an exploration of his Dine\u2019 and Indigenous identity and journey within the contemporary moment. The foundation of his practice is inspired by cultural methodologies, references to traditional Indigenous art and philosophy and the abstractness of language, nature, time, and place. Incorporating a variety of mediums, including natural earth pigment collected from his Dine\u2019 homelands, and two-dimensional painting and drawing mediums, his work aims to challenge the imposition of categorizations and to amplify aspects of Indigenous identity within the western ideologies of contemporary art. The physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of his life are translated through a combination of intuitive, gestural mark making, automatic drawing, and design. Using both elements of traditional substrate and incorporating sculptural elements of display, the two dimensional surface format recontextualizes figurative entities of abstraction. By expanding the principles and aesthetics of the western canon, his work seeks to redefine the visibility of the Indigenous experience.<\/span><\/p>\n As the first-ever Din\u00e9\/Navajo to earn a Ph.D. in history, <\/span>Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdale<\/strong> is a strong advocate for Indigenous peoples and strives to foster academic excellence in the next generation of students devoted to supporting Indigenous nations and their claims to sovereignty. Denetdale is a Professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico and teaches courses in Critical Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Feminisms & Gender, Indigenous Films, Din\u00e9 Studies, and Southwest Studies. Her book, <\/span>Reclaiming Din\u00e9 History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita<\/span><\/i>, was published by the University of Arizona Press in 2007 and set the standard for Din\u00e9 histories and methodologies. Her book for young adults, <\/span>The Long Walk: The Forced Exile of the Navajo<\/span><\/i>, was published by Chelsea House in 2007. She was appointed to the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission as a commissioner by the Navajo Nation Council and now serves as the Commission\u2019s chair. As a Din\u00e9 feminist, she is an advocate for Navajo women and the LGBTQI2S community. She has been recognized for her scholarship and service to her nation and community with several awards, including the Rainbow Naatsiilid True Colors for her support and advocacy on behalf of the Navajo LGBTQI2S and the UNM Faculty of Color Award for her teaching, research and service in the academy. In 2013, she was awarded the UNM Sarah Brown Belle award for service to her community. In the spring of 2015, she was recognized for Excellence in Din\u00e9 Studies by the Navajo Studies Conference, Inc. In 2017, she was awarded the UNM Presidential Award of Distinction. She is also very proud to have been selected to deliver the inaugural address before the 23rd Navajo Nation Council upon their inauguration in January 2015. She was recognized for her scholarly achievements and commitment to community service by Northern Arizona University with the Dwight Patterson Alumni of the Year Award and the NAU Cal Seciwa Award, both in 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ninabah Reid Winton<\/strong> (Din\u00e9) <\/span>is an independent curator and scholar of contemporary art. Winton is a current MA Candidate in Art History at the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts at Arizona State University and advisor to the ASU School of Art and Dreamscape Learn. Winton has served on the curatorial team of exhibitions including <\/span>Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles <\/span><\/i>(Heard Museum, 2018), <\/span>Looking at Us: Examining Institutional Critique<\/span><\/i> (Idyllwild Arts Foundation, 2022), <\/span>Seral Bodies<\/span><\/i>, (Northlight Gallery, 2023), <\/span>Making Visible<\/span><\/i> (Arizona State University Art Museum, 2022), and curated<\/span> Everything is a Little Fuzzy<\/span><\/i> (Arizona State University Art Museum, 2023). Winton\u2019s research interests center on contemporary craft and design with an emphasis on material and craft economies, sound and audio art, as well as textile and fiber-based production. Winton lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona, working with collector and textile specialist Carol Ann Mackay and Ann Marshall, the Heard\u2019s Director of Research.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Images\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Left: Charlie Willeto (1897 or 1906\u20131964), Untitled, Near Chaco Canyon, Navajo Nation, New Mexico, 1961\u20131964. Paint and feather on cottonwood and pine with metal and rope. 26 1\/4 x 6 x 6 1\/4 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Audrey B. Heckler<\/span><\/p>\n Center: Charlie Willeto (1897 or 1906\u20131964, Nageezi, Navajo Nation, New Mexico)<\/span><\/p>\n Untitled, Near Chaco Canyon, Navajo Nation, New Mexico, 1961\u20131964. Paint and cotton on cottonwood and pine, 16 x 7 1\/2 x 2 3\/4 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Audrey B. Heckler<\/span><\/p>\n Right: Patrick Dean Hubbell (1986, Navajo Nation, New Mexico) <\/span>You Guided Our Prayers For Generations, We Will Continue To Persevere<\/span><\/i>, 2025. Oil, Acrylic, Acrylic Dispersion, Enamel, Oil Stick, Oil Pastel, Charcoal, Sharpie, Marker, Pen and Ink, Enamel Spray, Natural Earth Pigment, Synthetic Polymer, Staples, Horse Hair, Leather, Buckskin, Commercial Tanned Deer Hide, Cut Seed Beads, Synthetic Textile, Paper, Sewing, Canvas,105 x 62 in. Courtesy of the artist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Registration<\/strong><\/p>\n Space is limited; advance registration is required. Please consider making a donation when you register to support ongoing virtual programming.<\/span><\/p>\n Instructions for joining with a Zoom link and password will be provided by email upon registration confirmation under \u201cAdditional Information.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Closed captioning will be provided in English.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, please email <\/span>publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","show_in_past_programs":true,"reserve_text":"Register Here ","reserve_link":"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/worlds-in-between-the-art-of-charlie-willeto-tickets-1986835462352?aff=oddtdtcreator","day":"01","month":"Jul","year":"2026","link":"https:\/\/folkartmuseum.org\/programs\/worlds-in-between-the-art-of-charlie-willeto\/"}]