Dona Matilte making tortillas. Photo by Steven Meckler2017-2018 Season:
Up Close: Sonoran Cuisine with Doña Matilde Santa Cruz and Folklorist Jim Griffith — Explore traditions of Sonoran cooking in Doña Matilda Santa Cruz’s outdoor kitchen. Folklorist Jim Griffith shares cultural context on the transfer of foodways traditions and heritage in the borderlands. “Big Jim” Griffith co-founded Tucson Meet Yourself, an annual festival celebrating Tucson’s ethic and cultural diversity, in 1974. He was named a National Heritage Fellow in 2011 by the National Endowment for the Arts. Matilde Santa Cruz, originally of Imuris, Sonora, has participated in Tucson Meet Yourself for more than 30 years demonstrating home cooking and tortillas Sonorenses.
Unpacked: Country Music with Ethnomusicologist Kathryn Alexander — Go deep into country music as a genre, from its European and enslaved African origins to its use of cowboy as masculine archetype to the development of “alternative countries” such as gay and drag country culture. Kathryn Alexander is ethnomusicologist and assistant professor in the University of Arizona Honors’ College. Her current work situates queer country music and dance culture as a site for the negotiation of regionally specific nexus of gendered, sexualized, and ethnicized identities.
Up Close: In the Studio with Traditional Artists Alice Manuel and Ron Carlos — Visit the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community and experience hands-on learning in basketmaking and pottery from master artists Alice Manuel and Ron Carlos, both recipents of SFA Master-Apprentice Artist Awards. Alice Manuel is an Onk Akimel O’odham basket weaver who uses river willow, devil’s claw, and cattail in her work. Ron Carlos is Salt River Pima-Maricopa potter and educator working to pass on the traditional paddle and anvil techniques tradition to students.
How to Think Like a Photographer with Official TMY Photographer Steven Meckler — Learn how a camera “sees,” how light can tell stories, and how to translate the 3D world into a 2D image. Designed for students who want to make better photographs and who already know how to use SLR cameras. Steven Meckler is a Tucson-based professional commercial/ editorial photographer. He is the official photographer for the annual Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival. Learn more about him at mecklerphotography.com.