Louise Kerr, Musician and Composer

Local violist and scholar Carolyn Broe shares information about Louise Kerr, musician and composer.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file

Louise Lincoln Kerr was a composer, violist and patron of the arts. She was born on April 24, 1892, in Cleveland, Ohio, and died December 10, 1977, at her ranch in Cottonwood, Arizona. She was the daughter of John C. Lincoln, an engineer and real estate tycoon. Her mother taught her to play the piano at age 6 and violin at age 7, and she later learned to play and preferred the viola. Read more

Allen A. Dutton, Photographer

Alan Dutton describes documentary photography and his book, Arizona Then and Now

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file

 

Allen Dutton, the legendary Arizona photographer, has long been considered one of the world’s most innovative fine art photographers. His photographs have been collected by American, European and Japanese museums and private collectors. Read more

Mary and Harold Colton, Founders of the Museum of Northern Arizona

Scholar and historian Betsy Fahlman describes the founding of the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file

The early resident artist community of Arizona was comprised mostly of talented and adventurous women, and Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton (1889-1971) was a leading member of this group. Trained at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women, she first visited Arizona in 1912 on her honeymoon with University of Pennsylvania zoologist Harold Colton, making her a true Centennial artist. Read more

Maria León: Primavera Folklorico

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file

Arizona natives, Philip and Maria León are long time educators and co-founders of Primavera Folklorico Dance Company.

The Title XII Bilingual Education Act was passed in 1968, which boosted an interest and growth in folklorico dance in the U. S. A.  Philip and Maria were active at the forefront, learning and performing Mexican dance during the early 70’s.  Read more

Dustinn Craig: Native American Filmmaker

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file

Dustinn Craig is a White Mountain Apache filmmaker based in Arizona. He’s produced and directed films for a wide range of museums, cultural institutions and PBS. Read more

Folklorist Jim Griffith: Traditions and Borders

Jim Griffith’s book, “Hecho a Mano: The Traditional Arts of Tucson’s Mexican American Community”, includes several examples of evolving traditions—art forms that became reinterpreted as they crossed borders.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file.

For more than 40 years, Tucson based-Folklorist and Anthropologist James “Big Jim” Griffith has explored the customs and traditions found throughout the US-Mexico Border.  His passion and commitment to the region led to the founding of the Southwest Folklore Center at the University of Arizona and the “Tucson Meet Yourself” festival, a celebration of Tucson’s ethnic and cultural diversity, annually attracting crowds of more than 100,000 people. In 2011, “Big Jim” was honored for his lifetime achievements by the National Endowment for the Arts with the Bess Lomax Hawes Fellowship –which “recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the preservation and awareness of cultural heritage.”

Read more

Mary Colter: Storytelling through Architecture

Ann-Mary Lutzick, Scholar and Director of the Winslow Old Trails Museum, shares insights on the vision of one of the southwest’s greatest architects, Mary Colter.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file.

A successful female architect and designer when the profession was almost exclusively dominated by men, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter worked for the Fred Harvey company from 1902 to 1948. Read more

Master Mariachi

Gilbert has a long list of stories from his career, but one of his favorites dates back to 1985, with Tucson’s International Mariachi America.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file.

Nogales High School’s Mariachi Apache was recently selected as the opening musical act at the 2012 National School Board Association Conference in Boston. The group was chosen as one of three groups to perform at the conference from a nationwide pool. It’s a huge honor for the students, and also for their master teacher, Gilbert Velez. Read more

Duane Eddy, Guitarist

Though Duane no longer makes his home in Arizona, he has fond memories of the state, and believes his signature style is shaped by Arizona’s landscape.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3 file

On February 18, the Musical Instrument Museum adds its voice to the statewide centennial celebration with the exhibit “I Am AZ Music”. The highlighted contributions are wide and varied -ranging from Buck Owens to waila bands. The exhibit also includes a double neck guitar played by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Duane Eddy. Read more

Helen Katherine Mason, Founder of the Black Theatre Troupe

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Don’t have Flash(TM)? Click here for the MP3

Since 1970, The Black Theatre Troupe, founded by Helen Katherine Mason, has promoted excellence in the performing arts with an emphasis on people of color. Read more