Museum of Northern Arizona

Spring Break is off to a great start! Kids and other visitors got an up-close look at bugs and pollinators—including this incredible millipede. Big thanks to Harrison House Life and the Arizona Science Center for hosting fascinating creatures and hands-on science at the Museum.

Meet the earliest known armored dinosaur!
A life-size skeletal model of Scutellosaurus lawleri is now on display next to Dilophosaurus wetherilli at the Museum of Northern Arizona—two Early Jurassic dinosaurs discovered in northern Arizona. #paleontology #scutellosaurus #dinosaur

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Thunderbird" by Stella Loretto (Jemez Pueblo)
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C2297

View more from the MNA collections by clicking the Collections Online button at musnaz.org/collections/

#sundaymorning #jemezart #watercolorpainting

March at the Museum Email from MNA Explore New Exhibitions and Activities for All   Dear Museum Friends, March is a wonderful time to reconnect with the Colorado Plateau, and I invite you to visit the Museum to experien

March at the Museum. See what's happening.

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Apache Woman Herding Sheep," a watercolor on paper by Chiricahua Apache artist Allan Houser (Haozous) (1914-1994)
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C532
Discover more from the MNA collections, by searching our online catalogue of art and objects. musnaz.org/collections/

Arguably one of the most important female artists of the Southwest, Mahoney's art career spanned 66 years, from her roots in the abstract expressionism of the 1950s to her role as a mentor and master artist with a distinctive style bridging realism and abstraction. #joellajeanmahoney #sliderock

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Rush to Meaning" by Joella Jean Mahoney (1933-2017)
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C2899

#joellajeanmahoney #sundayartday #sliderock

Seven years rolling: Hopi R2 bridges ancient art, modern tech FLAGSTAFF — When artist Duane Koyawena first saw a partially assembled droid in Joe Mastroianni’s workshop in 2019, he knew the Star Wars style R2 unit being built for an

"It’s very easy to give up and quit, but the magic happens when you don’t.” —Duane Koyawena. Read about the birth and legacy of Hopi R2. Our thanks to Duane and Joe for their dedication in keeping this unique droid alive and bleeping.

#Hopi #R2D2 #StarWars #CultureIcon

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Eagle Dancers" by San Idlefonso Pueblo artist Oqwa Pi (Abel Sanchez, 1899-1971)
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C1127
See more from our collections at musnaz.org/collections/.

The Art of Kachina Doll Carving: Cory Ahownewa YouTube video by AZPM

We’re excited to share this beautiful Arizona Public Media feature on Hopi carver Cory Ahownewa. Cory shows and sells his work at our annual Heritage Festival of Arts & Culture. Thank you, Cory, for sharing your art and story with us. 🙌
🎥 David Fenster | Arizona Public Media

⬇️ Tuesday Trivia ⬇️
Before they were assigned numbers, main roads across the nation were given names. On which road would travelers have found this directional marker on display in our Wagon Road to Mother Road exhibit?
A. Lincoln Highway
B. Mother Road
C. National Old Trails Road
D. Santa Fe Trail

To witness Vishnu Schist is to stand at the hinge between time and breath: a Paleoproterozoic heartbeat buried deep in the earth…”—Stephen Auger

"The dark, almost black presence of Vishnu Schist at the canyon’s base—its coarse crystals, its quiet, iron-strong gravity—became not just a sight but a memory pressed into the skin of the water and the air around me. …

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Vishnu Schist" by contemporary artist Stephen Auger | MNA | C2573

Featured in our "Call of the Colorado Plateau" exhibition, Auger’s large-scale painting reflects the dark, banded metamorphic rock of the Grand Canyon base layer. #vishnuschist #grandcanyongeology

We want to hear from you! 👇
Help us understand how we can better serve and engage our community by taking a short survey—part of a national study of museum-goers led by the American Alliance of Museums. Your input will help shape the future of the Museum of Northern Arizona. Thank you!

Find that answer and more in our "Wagon Road to Mother Road" exhibition on view through January 2027.

⬇️Tuesday Trivia⬇️
By 1956, approximately how many automotive deaths in Arizona occurred on Route 66?
A. 1 in 10
B. 1 in 6
C. 1 in 3
D. Nearly half

📸 An accident along Route 66 in Navajo County, 1960. (National Park Service photo)

#TuesdayTrivia #route66 #motherroad

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Ceremonial Bird Design" by San Ildefonso artist Tse-Ye-Mu (Romando Vigil) Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C1170
Study other artworks and objects—click Collections Online at musnaz.org/collections/

#sundayartday #tseyemu #romandovigil #sanildefonsopueblo #birds

🌟 Native American Artists of the Colorado Plateau 🌟
Apply today to take part in the Heritage Festival of Arts and Culture at the Museum of Northern Arizona June 26-28, 2026. Learn more and apply: musnaz.org/all.../herit...

Call of the Colorado Plateau

Our latest exhibit has a signature scent and so much more for you to explore. #nowonview

Collections The Museum of Northern Arizona cares for more than 800,000 artifacts, objects, and specimens in its permanent collections of anthropology, biology, geology, and fine arts, with a focus on the Colorado...

We encourage you to stop by our new "Call of the Colorado Plateau" exhibition and experience this large detailed work up close. What is it you see?
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C2861 | musnaz.org/collections/
#sundaymorningart #havasucreekcanyon #canyonwalls #faces

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
Our art feature today comes from American contemporary artist Merrill Mahaffey. "Havasu Redwall" from the MNA collection is a painting of a cliff face from Lower Havasu Creek in the Grand Canyon.

🟠 Exhibit Alert 🟠
Step into a world of vast horizons, rugged canyons, and quiet solitude. Explore the profound impact of nature on the human spirit. Now showing!

If you encounter cultural sites while exploring, always respect the site by staying on trails, not touching artifacts or structures, keeping pets leashed, and leaving everything as you found it. These fragile places tell vital stories, removing anything or causing damage is illegal.

After the recent storm, our archaeology team visited an ancestral Hopi site, where fresh snow reveals the outlines of rooms and plazas—part of a larger community that included smaller pueblos, agricultural fields, and petroglyphs—powerful reminders of life and connection on the Colorado Plateau.

He was known for his Southwest imagery and later explorations of ledger-style art. His award-winning work is held in museum and private collections nationwide. Source: Art of the People | artofthepeople.org

Toddy was a Diné artist born into the Bit’ahnii (Folded Arms People Clan), born for Red Streak Across Forehead (Zuni), and the son of renowned painter Beatien Yazz. He earned art degrees from Utah State University and worked in acrylics, oils, watercolor, pastel, pen and ink, and graphite, and more.

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨

"After the Card Game" by Irving Toddy (1951 – 2020)
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C1898

#navajoartist #irvingtoddy #dinéartist #sundayartday

🎨 Sunday Morning Art 🎨
"Navajo Girl Walking with her Doll" by Diné artist Beatien Yazz
Museum of Northern Arizona collection | C1864

What details or feelings stand out to you in this watercolor?

#sundaymorningart #beatienyazz #dinéartist #dolls

✨ New at the Museum of Northern Arizona ✨

Explore the tradition and artistry of Hopi katsina dolls in Katsintithu—Katsina Dolls, a new exhibit installation drawn from MNA’s extensive collection and selected in consultation with Hopi cultural leaders.

#newexhibition #katsinadolls #Hopi