Persevering the Long Walk Toward Sovereignty - Return to the Four Sacred Mountains (1998) By Baje Whitethorne, Sr. Ba-hee White-thorn Artist Biography Grade: 4 Persevering the Long Walk Toward Sovereignty - Return to the Four Sacred Mountains (1998) By Baje Whitethorne, Sr. Ba-hee White-thorn Artist Biography Grade: 4 Activity: Arizona Hidden picture scene using only primary colors Key Words: Foreground, background, Landscape, Trademark Meet the Artist : Baje Whitethorne is a Navajo Artist who resides in Flagstaff. He works in Watercolor, Ink and Acrylic paints. Best known for works that reflect his pleasant childhood memories and the environment such as the landscapes of the Indian reservation: trees, sheep pens, hooghans (traditional Navajo homes) and desert scenes. He is known to use contemporary art techniques to tell his Native American stories. They look contemporary (new) but are of traditional subjects. He is also known as an illustrator and author. He wrote and illustrated a book called “His Father’s Boots”. (May be in your school’s media center.) He was raised on a Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona. He had 11 siblings and they are all artists. As a child, Baje helped his brothers herd the family sheep, and after their chores they would tell stories and Baje would draw pictures in the dirt floor of their hooghan. After high school he attended Northern Arizona University to study art, where he experimented with only 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue). He learned how to mix and create his own colors-just by using those three to begin with. How can you make purple/green/brown etc. Trademarks: recalls his parents bringing home a new card table with 4 blue small folding chairs. In the summer he would put his face on them because the metal would be cool. Such a fond memory of his boyhood, he started to incorporate the blue chair into much of his work. He also puts in two oil drums that his parents used to hold fresh water. I know you study Az history in 4 th grade, have you studied anything about the Navajo Tribe? Dine means “the people.” They are known for weaving rugs, making jewelry and being story tellers. What ways did they tell stories? Oral/pictures

About the Artwork : This painting is a depiction of an historical event in Navajo history: In 1864, Kit Carson rounded up 8000 Navajos and forced them from their native land. The Navajos were forced to walk 300 miles to a desolate reservation called Bosque Redondo in New Mexico. Here, the Navajo suffered from poor crops and unclean water, many of them died. After four years, the government relented and let the Navajo return to their original land. They gave them horses and cattle, but of course they would have to walk the 300 miles back to their homeland. Baje Whitethorne tells the story of their journey home with his art. Possible Questions : What is the subject of the painting? What is uniquely Navajo about the subject? (their clothes, hair, jewelry) Do you see the layers in the painting? The Foreground? The Background? The border? Where do you see geometric shapes? Where do you see organic shapes? How are the shapes repeated to form patterns? (border, bushes, in the landscape, clothing, jewelry). What colors do you see? Whitethorne typically uses only red, blue and yellow – mixes to get other colors. Explain to the students that the colors in the background are symbolic to the Navajo – Black represents North, White is East, Blue is South and Gold is West. Look at the border around the painting – it tells the story of the return journey – the Navajos came back with cattle and horses (on each side), they traveled through Monument Valley (on top), back to their homeland (on the bottom). Do you spot the chair? Revised August 2014