Cortez Cultural Center
Travels with Dave and Elaine Violette
Cortez CO - 8/24/2009
Author: David A. Violette, David@Violette.com
Keywords: Cortez Cultural Center, Colorado, museum, Anasazi, Dave and Elaine Violette
Description: The Cortez Cultural Center is a place to see even if only for the awesome wall mural on the outside wall!
While the roof top is part of the building, the rest is all painting! What a wonderful job.
Follow the signs on Main Street in Cortez to the Cortez Cultural Center at 25 N Market St. Even if you arrive after hours you can still see some of the best features of the Center - the awesome pueblo village mural on the outside north wall, the Navajo hogan, and the outside of the building itself with its pressed metal facade.
But don't miss the inside if you can help it. They have many exhibits showing history of the area with many featuring the original inhabitants and their culture. They also have scheduled shows: the show when we visited had photographs from the area by local photographers, and there were some outstanding pieces in that exhibit.
The Cultural Center building facade includes pressed metal facade that was shipped from St Louis MO, and is still in good condition.
This is a real Navajo hogan, the traditional housing used by that tribe.
Of the many exhibits and displays, Elaine had high interest in this collection of stone and bone artifacts.
Representing the native groups from the area the Center has display cases for the Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, and pueblo cultures with items showing how these early peoples lived. The Navajo hogan outside in the dance plaza area to the north is a real, though modernly built, hogan and you can see how the space is arranged inside as well as how the hogan was constructed. (Its structure has cedar logs laid up horizontally and interlocked to form an armature with a mud covering that bakes into a hard shell on the outside.) The seating around the dance plaza is designed in the Kiva style.
The Gallery has exhibits that vary all year long. In the summer the exhibits will vary but are focused on the interests of tourists. In other parts of the year they have juried shows as well as non-juried shows. Many media are represented including paintings, photography, wood working, fiber arts, quilting, and others. I think they also have shows of collector items as well.
The Gift Shop has many types of items including pottery, photos, crafted items, books, CDs, rugs, carved dolls, dressed porcelain dolls, and souvenir items. I bought a sack of Anasazi beans that I plan to cook to see what they are like. They sort of look like pinto beans but with more of an appaloosa appearance since they are white with several black irregular shaped spots on them. Anasazi beans are said to have come from seed found in the cliff dwellings of the ancients. Their Gift Shop is also available online at
www.cortezculturalcenter.org/gifts.shtml.
They also provide classes in many arts, but I was especially taken with the kids hands-on area, where they can build from kits and learn as they do.
A small museum but well worth the visit!