Arizoniques

A Guide to Places, Events, and People Three Bronzes of Father Kino

Last year a heroic equestrian statue of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, the "Padre on Horseback," was dedicated in Tucson. Two other castings of the magnificent bronze were done in Mexico City. One has gone to Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico, where Kino died in 1711 at the age of 66. The other will be dedicated this summer in Trent, Italy, Father Kino's birthplace.

Missionary, peacemaker, farmer, explorer, historian, astronomer, and cartographer: Father Kino was a man of peace, purpose, and dignity. He brought the first beef cattle into Pimería Alta and taught the Indians there to plant and harvest crops they had never before seen.

In 1700 the Pimas gave Kino some abalone shells, a precious gift to express their gratitude for the enrichment he had brought to their lives. When he inquired about the shells' origins, the answer confirmed his suspicions: there was a land route to California, which was not (as was believed at the time) an island but part of the mainland.

Edited by Vicky Hay Sculptor Julián Martínez has placed an astrolabe on Kino's saddle and an abalone shell in his hand, icons of the Jesuit explorer's achievements. The monument, located at Kino Boulevard and 14th Street just south of Broadway, is well worth a visit.

Wolves in Danger

By the late 1970s, the Mexican gray wolf, once abundant in the desert mountain ranges of southern Arizona and northern Mexico, was all but extinct. It was estimated that fewer than 50 remained, all of them in Mexico. Most of the population had been trapped, shot, or poisoned early in the century by hunters hired under a federal government-sponsored eradication program.

However, in recent decades that same government has had a change of heart. As part of a process mandated under the United States Endangered Species Act for native endangered

Unique to Arizona and the Southwest.

animals, a Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan was started in 1976. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began to develop a program to breed the animals in captivity with an eye to reintroducing them in the American Southwest and Mexico.

Today there are 34 Mexican gray wolves in captivity in six American and three Mexican participating institutions. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson is one of them. "We hold a pair of wolves in an off-exhibit pen for breeding," says Peter Siminski, curator of birds and mammals at the museum. "We will permit a breeding this year we aren't able to do it every year.

"We also have some Mexican gray wolves on exhibit," he adds. In addition to participating in the breeding plan, the museum is involved in education efforts. For example, a museumproduced slide show, A Call for the Wild, is available through the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 North Kinney Road, Tucson AZ 85743 (telephone (602) 883-1380), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Box 1306, Albuquerque, NM 87103 or the Arizona Game and Fish Department, 2222 W. Greenway Rd., Phoenix 85023 (telephone (602) 942-3000). A serendipitous wrong turn on the way to Boynton Canyon and there we were, looking at a giraffe on a residential street in Sedona. Not a real giraffe, of course, but a life-size one sculptor Mike Medow had constructed in front of his house.

In Sedona, a Giraffe of a Different Kind

Creating the giraffe was a complicated, delicate, and time-consuming process involving a wire structure and concrete mixed with fiber. After it had cured several weeks, Medow gave his white giraffe a lifelike "coat" of acrylic paint. Medow worried that his neighbors might be upset about the tree-top high animal, but every neighbor of every age loves it, he says, and some told him they'd be unhappy if he moved it.

Visitors from as far away as Japan have stopped by the animal scupltor's neighborhood to photograph the giraffe and his friends. Yes, his friends. Medow's concrete menagerie has expanded to include a crane that has just snared a fish, an ostrich, several blackbirds, a rabbit, and a rooster.

If you want to be among those who visit these creatures of a different kind, take Coffee Pot Drive to the top of the road and turn left at Maxwell House. Go right on Caswell to the end of the street. Turn right again and you'll be able to spot the lanky quadruped standing majestically at 2010 Buena Vista. The only request Medow makes is that you "please don't feed the animals."

Calendar

June 29-July 1, Pinetop. The Northeastern Arizona Fine Arts Association holds its 15th annual outdoor juried arts and crafts show at the Pinetop Lakes Country Club. Telephone 5372452. July 1-30, Phoenix. Continuing exhibitions at the Phoenix Art Museum include "The Art of the Yixing Potter," 100 pieces of Chinese stoneware, admired by connoisseurs from the 17th century to the present; "In the Spirit of Yixing: Seven Contemporary Ceramic Artists," work in the purple-brown stoneware characteristic of Yixing pottery; "1920 Summer Fashions," and "Wham! Pow! Pop! Goes South Mountain," a tribute to the pop art of the '60s from South Mountain High School students. Telephone 257-1880. July 4-8, Window Rock. Fourth of July celebration includes a PRCA rodeo, powwow, carnival, fireworks display, Western concerts, song and dance contests, arts and crafts sales, and more. Telephone 871-6702 or 871-6478.

July 7-August 12, Flagstaff. Festival of the Arts at Northern Arizona University. Features pop concerts, symphonies, chamber music, live professional theater, foreign and classic film festivals, art exhibits, dance, and poetry readings. Telephone 774-7750.

July 27, Scottsdale. Cool off the kids at Mighty Mud Mania, a footrace through a mud-filled obstacle course. There's also a giant water slide, playgrounds, and free swimming at Chaparral Park. Telephone 994-2771.

July 28-29, PinetopLakeside. Enjoy an Indian market, Native American performances, and food at the third annual White Mountain Native American Art Festival. Telephone 367-4290.

For a free calendar of events, write to Arizona Office of Tourism, 1100 W. Washington St., Phoenix 85007. Unless otherwise noted, all telephone numbers are within area code 602.