Event Details

Join us at Coronado Historic Site for our artist demonstration program from May through October on the last Saturday of the month. New Mexico is home to 19 federally recognized Pueblos and Arizona is home to 12 Hopi villages. The artist demonstration program will highlight six artists from these groups. Visitors can meet Indigenous artists as they practice their style of traditional and contemporary arts. This month, watch Leslie Robledo (Hopi) demonstrate how to do wicker plaque weaving and create yucca baskets. See her artwork, and learn more about the significant cultural importance of her baskets. Her art will be available for purchase.

Hopi basket maker Leslie Randolph Robledo, Hopi name Letihepnem (Looking for Foxes), is a member of the Reed Clan from the village of Bacavi. Leslie is “passionate about keeping the age-old tradition of basket weaving thriving for future generations.” Leslie describes her basket making process as “a centuries old tradition," originally designed to seive various beans and corn and to carry, store, and dry foods. Hopis interweave their own designs into their baskets, reflecting the culture and imagination of the weaver.

The Hopi sifter baskets are made from yucca and the rings are usually made from sumac. The Hopi wicker baskets and plaques are made from wicker, rabbit brush, and yucca. These plants and fibers are locally sourced. Hours and hours are spent walking the countryside picking materials needed, then processed by cleaning, stripping, splitting, and hand dyeing using natural dyes as well as commercial dyes. 

Included with admission of $7 for adults and free to children 16 and younger, people with Native/Tribal affiliations, disabled veterans, foster families, and MNMF and FCJHS members.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Robledo.