Flagstaff’s oldest remaining Anglo-American residence will be open to the public for the first time from October 4 through November 2, 2008 for this year’s 19th Annual Trappings of the American West. The McMillan Homestead was built in 1886 on what is now the grounds of the Museum of Northern Arizona and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Trappings at the Homestead will showcase two hundred pieces of contemporary art of the American West in this historic setting. This exhibit also sheds light on Flagstaff’s founding and its most exceptional early residents. Trappings is the product of Dry Creek Arts Fellowship’s unique vision and its three-year partnership with the Museum.
Dry Creek Arts Director Linda Stedman said, “Trappings combines both fine and functional art of the American cowboy in one exhibit. Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase the juried work of 75 artists from 14 Western states, Hawaii, and Canada. Artistic mediums represented include painting, sculpture, photography, saddles, tooled leather, bits and spurs, boots, hats, knives, engraving, rawhide braiding, and horsehair hitching.”
“The pairing of Trappings and the McMillan Homestead is an incredible chance for visitors to learn about Flagstaff’s history and view time-honored traditions of Western art that have their roots in the same time period as Flagstaff’s beginnings,” stated MNA Director Robert Breunig.
To commemorate the U.S. Centennial on July 4, 1876, Flagstaff’s first permanent Anglo settler Thomas McMillan joined others to raise a flag on a pine stripped of its bark, near what is now known today as Thorpe Park. The flag and staff stood for years and gave the town its name. Ten years later in 1886, McMillan built his home; a two-story, saltbox structure with logs hewn onsite.
Forty years later in 1928, zoologist Dr. Harold S. Colton and artist Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton founded the Museum of Northern Arizona. The Homestead, situated across the street from the Museum’s Exhibit Building, was in disrepair. The Coltons restored it and used it as housing for summer visitors and later, as the biology lab and collections area. Several MNA directors, including Ned Danson (father of actor Ted Danson) lived with his family in the Homestead until the mid 1980s. Grand Canyon Trust leased the building until 1997, when another refurbishing treatment was undertaken.
Upcoming Trappings Public Programming
(included with Museum admission)
Saturdays and Sundays in October, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Tricks of the Trade
Two Trappings artists each weekend will demonstrate their skills on the front porch of the McMillan Homestead. Demonstrations include silver engraving, horsehair hitching, saddle making, rawhide braiding, hat making, leather tooling, sculpture, and painting.
Saturdays in October and the first Saturday in November, 2 p.m.
Telling the Story of the McMillan Homestead
Take an in-depth walking tour outside and inside MNA’s historic McMillan Homestead with a Museum docent. Hear about the original Antelope Valley Ranch upon which the McMillan Homestead was built.
Saturday, November 1, 12 noon–4 p.m.
Riding the Rim: The 8th Annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Poets from around the state of Arizona join together to share verse, music, and tall tales about early cowboy life. The gathering will take place in the Museum’s Branigar Hall. Frontier samplings of Dutch oven cooking will complete the day, back at the Homestead.
Saturday and Sunday, October 25 and 26, 1 p.m.
Pilgrimage to Cristo Rey
As part of MNA’s 5th Annual Celebraciones de la Gente, visitors learn about this half century-old epic journey on horseback. Over 5,000 riders travel up Cubilete Mountain in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. Dry Creek artist Raechel Running has documented this pilgrimage and will talk about her photographic images and experience as an artist-in-residence in Casas Grandes.
Located three miles north of historic downtown Flagstaff on Highway 180, the Museum of Northern Arizona is open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Admission to the Museum and the Trappings exhibition is free to MNA and DCAF members. General admission is $7 adults, $6 seniors (65+), $5 students, and $4 children. Ample free parking for cars and buses is available at the Museum Exhibit Building.
For more information, contact the Museum at 928/774-5213 and online a musnaz.org or the Dry Creek Arts Fellowship at 928/774-8861 and online at drycreekarts.com.