Native American Mission Treasures

Hidden Art Treasures of the Indian Missions

The road is dusty, and the little church sits by itself at the end, just like it always has, stoically resisting the sun and the minions it dispatches to beat down upon the structure with unrelenting intensity. It's vaguely familiar. A poignant scene, perhaps from one of Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns. Or all of them. The immediate area probably looks the same today as it did more than 50 years ago. Now as then, the adobe structure huddles close to the earth. But back in the '40s, the casino wasn't here. Now it rises from the desert like a mirage, a glitzy splendor in complete contrast to the tiny church. There's a curious parallel between them, though, the church and the casino. Sequestered in both are treasures, depending upon your definition of "treasure." The casino offers the obvious riches, the kind you roll through your fingers and carry around in a paper cup, seeking a quick return on a minor investment. The treasure inside St. Francis is an intangible, left there a half-century ago by a simple person with strong beliefs. On the back roads and byways of Arizona, there are these little churches, little "galleries," usually unnoticed, that display the works of Jimmy Stevens. And his son, Bernardo. And Bill Sachno. And Kenneth Chico and Melvin Milda and forgotten artists who are now known only as "some guys from Sells" or "a young man who used to live in Sacaton." The elder Stevens was an Apache who married a Pima woman from the Gila River Indian Reservation and moved to Bapchule, about 40 miles south of Phoenix. He had displayed a talent for art while attending St. John's Mission School at Komatke, then at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix. When he settled down at Bapchule decades ago, he received permission to paint large murals inside six mission churches. According to the October, 1963 edition of Arizona Highways, Stevens' first project was St. Francis at Ak-Chin. Henry Unger, who wrote the story, noted that Stevens was "a perfectionist [who] applied paint and removed it, completely dissatisfied with his work. Finally, he stood back and admired the murals of St. Francis and the Blessed Sacrament, St. Francis receiving the stigma, and other Franciscan scenes." Over the next few years, Stevens greatly enhanced the interiors of St. Peter's in Bapchule, the Holy Family Mission at Blackwater, Our Lady of Victory at Sacaton Flats, St. Francis Borgia at Sacate Village, and St. Augustine's Mission at Chuechu.

HIDDEN ART TREASURES St. Anthony's Mission displays a wooden chair used by Pope John Paul II beside an image of I'itoi, a Papago and Pima god.

Before painting, Stevens had to smooth the rough plaster, repair rain damage, and sketch the work on the bare walls. He often worked at night, without help except for an occasional hand when he had to move scaffolding. Besides painting the murals, he also decorated some ceilings with intricate Native American designs.

His work inside St. Peter's was arguably his best. Across the back of the church, he executed near life-size paintings of Sts. Francis, Joseph, Paul, and Anthony in excellent detail and with great feeling, considering his lack of formal training. In the sanctuary, he placed two large murals. In one, Jesus Christ tells St. Peter to "feed my lambs." In the other, St. Peter struggles in a raging sea while Christ holds out a symbolic hand of salvation.

His rendition of the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt at the church in Blackwater was his largest mural. It measures 10 feet by 30 feet and covers the entire back wall. Behind the altar, he painted the family in a relaxed atmosphere on one side and young Jesus preaching in the temple on the other. Then he added a colorful design to the ceil-ing and symbolic borders along the walls.

He was undoubtedly the most well-known of the artists whose works appear in these "galleries," but he wasn't alone. All across the state, in missions and chapels, artists from here and elsewhere - used their talents to beautify churches.

In Solomon, a small community east of Safford, the stained-glass windows in Our Lady of Guadalupe Church are exceptional examples of craftsmanship. The church was erected in 1878, then rebuilt in 1911 after a fire. The windows, leaded gothic stainedglass representations of a variety of saints, were designed and created at the Trappist monastery in Conyers, Georgia.

About three miles away, north and east of Solomon, off U.S. 70, Mission San Jose features a trove of religious art, some of it 18th-century Spanish Colonial from the Santa Fe School by Vivianne Duran Prelo, a New Mexico painter. A statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was made in Rome; one of St. Isadore, patron saint of farmers, was made in Portugal; and the figure of an infant Jesus was made in Spain.

And the crucifix is a splendid work, a relief carved into two wooden planks by artisans from Holy Trinity Monastery, a cloistered community at St. David, Arizona.

Many of these exhibits are eclectic collections combining church art with Native American symbols. St. Anthony's Mission at Sacaton, for example, displays a wooden chair used by Pope John Paul II during a visit to Arizona beside an image of l'itoi, a Papago and Pima god. An oil painting of Kateri Tekawitha, a Mohawk Indian now being considered for canonization in the Roman Catholic Church, hangs next to a woven ojo de Dios, "God's eye." The ceiling over the altar encompasses a design of squares, possibly by Bernardo Stevens, who took up his father's work in the 1960s. And the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary wears a beaded Pima Indian crown.

Most striking, however, are the Stations of the Cross. Each is an individual oil painting in a figurative expressionist style of bold strokes, exuding a feeling of Mexico.

But there are obstacles in the way of those who would view these treasures.

Some of Jimmy Stevens' work has already been destroyed. St. Francis Borgia Mission at Sacate is in ruins after a fire. Services are no longer held at Our Lady of Victory Mission at Sacaton Flats because the roof leaks. Time and rain damage are gradually but definitely eroding the murals in St. Francis at Ak-Chin. Already, the face of St. Francis is peeling. Already, large pieces have fallen away from the murals. The Church of the Holy Family at Blackwater is used for services only once a month and is locked the rest of the time because of concern about vandals.

Fortunately there are men like Bill Sachno, Kenneth Chico, and Melvin Milda who try to repel the cruel advances of time and the elements.

HIDDEN ART TREASURES The church's Stations of the Cross, framed by saguaro ribs, have not been affected by the elements, and that is fortunate because they are masterpieces of native art.

Sachno, a retired postal worker from Phoenix, has dedicated the past decade to restoring and adding to the collections.

Some of his best work appears in St. Francis Church on the Salt River Indian Reservation east of Scottsdale. He painted his version of "the Pima Madonna" on the rear wall, re-stored many of the intricate designs that border the walls, then added some of his own to serve as frames around the alcoves where the icons sit. Sachno researched Indian symbols and developed a series of stencils to create the repetitive borders. Other times he improvised, doing freehand tortoise symbols, peace signs, and basket patterns in the churches at Bapchule, Sacaton, Blackwater, and up in Maricopa County.

He makes weekly visits to at least one of the churches, always carrying a brush and a supply of paint.

Kenneth Chico stood atop a step ladder in St. Catherine's Mission Church at Topowa, on the Papago reservation west of Tucson, repairing water damage to a representation of l'itoi painted on the wall many years ago by "some guys from Sells." Time and again, Chico dipped his narrow brush into a bucket of brown paint, then painstakingly retraced the lines of the maze to restore it to its original condition.

"No, I am not an artist," he said. "I try to be, but I am not." And he returned to his work because it had to be finished before an upcoming feast day.

Rain also has damaged two large murals in the rear of St. Catherine's. One is of Our Lady of Guadalupe; the other depicts Native American men at work. White splotches of new plaster cover the bad spots. Kenneth Chico would try to match the original work with his brush, buckets of paint, patience, and sincerity.

The church's Stations of the Cross, framed by saguaro ribs, have not been affected by the elements, and that is fortunate because they are masterpieces of native art. Like those in St. Anthony's in Sacaton, they are colorful works, almost portraiture, that trace the final days of Christ. The artist is unknown. If you ask, the answer will probably be, "Some man who doesn't live here anymore."

St. Peter's at Bapchule has escaped many of the ravages of time, however, because it is adjacent to St. Peter's Mission School where Melvin Milda is a custodian, handy-man, and artist. Not only does he make constant repairs on the church to assure its future, he also paints colorful Indian designs on the trash cans, pillars, and buildings that surround it.

They make their They make their mark, men like Bill Sachno, Kenneth Chico, and Melvin Milda. When held against the massive project at Mission San Xavier del Bac, Arizona's most famous church, they win minor victories in lesser skirmishes. There are no funds for restoration. There's hardly enough money to keep the tiny mission churches operating. An artist who looked at the damage at St. Francis in AkChin said putting the murals back in shape would cost far more than the building itself is worth.

So it may already be too late for some of them. For St. Francis at Ak-Chin. For the Church of the Holy Family at Blackwater. For Our Lady of Victory at Sacaton Flats.

Tourists will still stop outside one of these mission churches and take photographs of the whitewashed exterior against a dazzling blue sky and wonder who goes to church there, then drive off. And never realize how close they were to the treasures turning to dust inside.

As dawn's gentle light awakens the snow-covered San Francisco Peaks north of Flagstaff, the mountains evoke comparison to the Carpathians of northern Romania. The range runs through central and eastern Europe, linking the Alps to the Balkans. ROBERT G. MCDONALD

ONA

FOR MORE THAN 70 YEARS, WE HAVE DEDICATED OUR December issue to the universal nature of the season. In this year's holiday portfolio, discover with us the wonderful diversity of Arizona. All the images were taken in our Grand Canyon State, but they will take you on a journey around the world as our geography is amazingly similar to places far beyond our borders. Travel with us around Arizona to places that resemble such exotic locales as the Nile River Valley of of Egypt, the Outback of Australia, the Highlands of Venezuela, the Black Forest of Germany, and the savannahs of Kenya.

As Editor Raymond Carlson wrote 50 Decembers ago in Arizona Highways' first all-color issue, "This is the festive season, the season of family and friends, the season of home and fireside. This is the season when, if we are wanderers in the world, we think of familiar faces and familiar places, and our thoughts travel the intervening miles." Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Feliz Navidad! Prosit Neujahr! Joyeux Noel! Fröhliche Weihnachten! Se Novim Godom! Happy New Year and Peace on Earth! - Jeb Stuart Rosebrook

OAK CREEK CANYON "Angel Falls, Venezuela"

After a summer rain, a waterfall in the north country's lush Oak Creek Canyon is reminiscent of Venezuela's Angel Falls, the highest in the world. ROBERT G. MCDONALD

PALM CANYON "Mt. Sinai. Egypt"

The oasis in Palm Canyon of the Kofa Mountains in western Arizona could be a welcome sight to a traveler crossing the desert near Mt. Sinai in Egypt. DAVID W. LAZAROFF

SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA

"Southwestern Kenya"

The grasslands of southeastern Arizona are much like the savannah of Kenya's Masal Mara. RANDY A. PRENTICE

TUCSON "Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem"

The Pima County Courthouse in Tucson bears a striking resemblance to Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock. Now a Moslem mosque, the Dome of the Rock previously served as a Christian church, a temple of Jupiter, and a Jewish temple.

LAKE HAVASU CITY "London, England"

The London Bridge in Lake Havasu City lights up the Colorado River like dawn breaking across the Thames in London, England. RANDY A. PRENTICE

SAN XAVIER INDIAN RESERVATION "Greece"

With its whitewashed walls and Mediterranean appearance, Mission San Xavier del Bac — sitting like an island unto itself south of Tucson — evokes the Old World churches of the Greek Isles. JERRY SIEVE

THE PAINTED DESERT

The Salina sandstone formation known as the Seven Sisters in northeastern Arizona's Painted Desert could easily be mistaken for the badlands along the northern slope of the Sierra Nevada in southeastern Spain. DAVID H. SMITH

SABINO CANYON

"Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica"

The thick riparian canopy of Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson is as inviting a bird sanctuary as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica. DAVID W. LAZAROFF

NAVAJO INDIAN RESERVATION "Simpson Desert, Australia" THE LUKACHUKAIS "Nambung National Park, Australia"

MOUNT LEMMON "Black Forest. Germany"

A blue fog casts an eerie shroud around the trunks of ponderosa pine trees on Mount Lemmon north of Tucson like the winter mists of Germany's fabled Black Forest.

EAST FORK OF THE BLACK RIVER "Gunma, Ozegahara, Japan"

The East Fork of the Black River in eastern Arizona boasts a lushness that is found along the streams of Gunma, Ozegahara, Japan. JERRY SIEVE

COCONΙΝΟ NATIONAL FOREST "Quebec, Canada"

Aspens turned golden light up the verdant conifers of the Coconino National Forest, inviting comparison to Quebec's Riviera du Loup region in the crisp days of autumn. TOM DANIELSEN

At sunset, a lone pinnacle in the desert dunes north of Winslow resembles the Pyramid of Chephron at Giza near Cairo, Egypt. JERRY JACKA Joshua trees in the Mohave Desert frame the Grand Wash Cliffs in northwestern Arizona, evoking the harsh beauty of Ethiopia's western highlands. BRUCE GRIFFIN