DIANE O'LEARY - COMANCHE ARTIST

The Consummate Artistry of Diane O'Leary “Opeche”

"Great Grandmother Who Talks to the Sun" - 30" x 32"

There is nothing subtle, fragile or namby-pamby about the exciting, virile and sense-stirring art of the Comanche, Opeche who signs herself Diane O'Leary. She treats her subject in the same spirit she faces life. Her statements are clear cut. Her paintings are definite acts of her re-action to instant and spontaneous motivations. Truth can be brutal or tender.

There are no "part-truths" - only legends. She responds to kindness with an overflowing measure of loyalty and asks no special favors of God, friends or life. She is all Indian . . . all Comanche . . . and all American. And that adds up to something very special.

SONG OF THE WEST

My soul is like the wind a wanderer bown inland by the laughter of the sea and made a captive of this land that wears its hair of fragrant pine unbound and blow-away over mountain shoulders set broad and strong and sloping gracefully to the golden roundness of a breast of desert dunes This land with a face of open prairies and a mouth of sweet-welled springs This land of smiling pasturelands and deep-voiced river torrents that sing an echo of the sea This woman girdled with flowering cactus around a waist that only God Himself is strong enough to sow, who bears Him wilderness children from the labor of her deep-wombed mines and in the strength of her endurance lies naked beneath the sun-heat of His eternal passion and does not complain Who in wild simplicity from time to time goes barefoot to join her children in their play, trailing wild flowers from fragrant, grassy skirts, and tucking weary young things to rest at night beneath the spreading crimson of a sunset quilt Until she washes in the valley's dew and, putting up her hair in cool white stars, prostrates in prayer beneath the sweet dark winds that herd away the drowsy clouds and robe the simple natural beauty of her maternal form in a sleeping gown of silver moonlight.

Yours Sincerely THE BEAUTY OF WORDS!

As a gift from a friend in Tucson we have received ARIZONA HIGHWAYS each month this year.

The quality of photographs and scenery is absolutely outstanding and I can think of no magazine in this country to compare with it. I'm afraid we knew precisely nothing about Arizona before receiving your magazine and it proves just how parochial and limited our interests and knowledge can become, without some stimulation of this kind.

From the climate and cramped conditions here (especially in Lancashire!) it is almost impossible to imagine the grandeur of the terrain which you illustrate so impressively and I would like to wish you the greatest success in spreading the knowledge of such a lovely part of the world.

It is good to know that your countryside seems to be on too massive a scale for it ever to be destroyed by the impact of "civilization."

SPEAKS UP FOR HOLBROOK

... I love your Magazine. it is beautiful, that's why I send subscriptions to the people I love the most.

But, I notice that Holbrook is seldom mentioned, and certainly, not alive. We are in Arizona you know, and we have a nice little town, of friendly and wonderful people, who are trying to make a living.

The write up you gave the Petrified Forest, and the map of Arizona, Holbrook was not mentioned; it wasn't even on the map.

Had I had that book in my hand and been looking for the Petrified Forest, I would certainly stay over night in Winslow, being the last town mentioned on the map.

We are only 17 to 21 miles from the Petrified Forest, Winslow is 45 to 50 miles.

I hope the next map that comes out on Arizona, you will do what you can, to at least put Holbrook on the map.

Thanks a lot,

START THEM YOUNG!

I have not been disappointed in any of your issues and indeed have enjoyed each and every one. I like all the different subjects that you cover, your editorials, and the outstanding photographs and art work. Each issue is interesting, educational, and beautiful.

I started reading ARIZONA HIGHWAYS a few years ago when my husband and I started to sponsor a Mexican-American child from Arizona. We started the magazine in order to know her state better and we haven't missed an issue since that time. In fact, because of this child and your magazine's beautiful pictures, we plan to make Arizona our home when it is time for us to settle down.

I have sent some of your issues to "our child"; issues that I thought she would find interesting like the one on the county in which she lives. If it is possible to get an extra copy of your February issue about birds, I would like to purchase it to send to her. Each year when I send for my ARIZONA HIGHWAYS calendar, I send one to her, also, to acquaint her with her state. Recently her eighth grade graduating class was given a trip to the Grand Canyon, Oak Creek Canyon and surrounding areas. In telling me of the trip she said "I would have sent pictures but I don't have a camera but the ARIZONA HIGHWAYS calendar you sent has real pretty pictures of the Grand Canyon." So you see, you are gaining a new fan, too.

Keep up the good work.

THE TRIBAL NAME IS QUECHAN!

However, I noticed a misspelling in one of the Indian tribes name. On page 18, on the bottom right hand corner, you have printed there; Quechem from Yuma, Arizona. The correct spelling of the tribe's name is Quechan.

Of course no one would notice the misspelling of the tribe's name, except a Quechan Indian from Winterhaven, California...

THANK YOU, PRINCESS WHITE DOVE

... I want to thank you for my picture in your ARIZONA HIGHWAYS July 1972. That was taken the year Dorothy Sky Eagle and I led the parade in Gallup.

The Gallup paper had my picture full front page like the one you used for Gallup Mercantile Company.

I am not from the Sioux Tribe. I am Cherokee from Oklahoma. I do all my beadwork. Took first prize with my beaded collar at the Gallup Ceremonial. I also dance with five hoops.

A HEARTFELT COMPLIMENT

I have been reading a pile of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS sent me by my American pen friend and I felt I had to write to tell you how much I enjoyed them.

As a retired Head Teacher, I've read and travelled a great deal but your magazine has opened my eyes to the beauties of Arizona. How I wish I could actually see it all. My own Country, Wales, is also beautiful but in a much daintier way.

Apart from your colorful pictures your articles gave me a better insight into Arizona and its peoples.

I must congratulate you and your staff for producing a magazine that can be enjoyed over and over again.