Self-Express your Way to Discovery

Self-Express your Way to

Discovery by Blake Herzog

As 2022 begins you are probably refl ecting on what you want out of this new year. While life is never exactly predictable, setting your goals and intentions is an eff ective way to start steering the next 12 months in a way that works for you.

If you don’t know what you want, it may be time to do a little self-exploration. The answers to the questions you have about what direction your journey should take in the new year are often most accessible when you use your creativity.

Much of the insight comes from observing how you approach a project. The way you approach painting, drawing, writing, creating music or any other artistic pursuit teaches you about how you begin a project and decide when it’s fi nished, how you handle mistakes and accidents and how to be yourself, not what you think society expects you to be. Q

If you’re not sure how you want to start your journey of self-discovery, here are a few art therapy-inspired activities to try out:

FUTURE VISION

Collect images that resonate with you as you think about what you want for the future, regardless of whether you know why you’re drawn to them.

Create a collage with them and study what they mean to you, both individually and the context of their placement within the collage.

MANDALA JOURNAL

This is as simple as drawing circles on a piece of paper and as complex as examining the intricacies of your mind. Google fi nds more than 1 million hits for “how to draw a mandala freehand,” with instructions as detailed or simple as you like.

Draw one each day and see how their structure, complexity and content change as the days go on.

DRAW FROM MEDITATION

Meditate on your own or listen to a guided meditation and notice the thoughts, images and feelings that arise. Afterward you can draw or write what you saw and felt, then refl ect on what you have created from it.

UNMASKING YOURSELF

Create a mask for yourself, either on a piece of paper, costume mask or disposable face mask. On the inside, list or draw the qualities that you show only to yourself and maybe those closest to you, and on the outside of the masks put the traits that you do present to the outside world. Compare the lists and see how they relate to each other, whether they’re two sides of the same coin or polar opposites.

PAINT A MOUNTAIN AND A VALLEY

One can represent times you were happy, the other for times you were sad or struggling. Draw images that represent what you were experiencing during the happy and sad times and notice whether you’re adding them in chronological order or on a scale of best to worst or in some other pattern.

TAKE PHOTOS OF THINGS OR PEOPLE YOU THINK ARE BEAUTIFUL

They don’t have to be photos you would show anyone else or post online, just something to document what appeals to you. Look at your pictures and fi nd common themes and threads in their subject matter and your composition.

Let’s Create!

Come Inspire th e Future at Sharlot Hall Muesum

by Dr. Lisa Hayes, Executive Director, Sharlot Hall Museum

In 2028, the Sharlot Hall Museum will turn 100. Since arriving a year ago to become the new director of the museum, I have often thought how proud Sharlot would be to see how her vision for this place continues to be realized.

In her words: “I hope to make this building and the grounds around it a center of historical and literary interest and a sort of civic center for the pioneers of Yavapai County and for such organizations of young people as might be benefi ted of inspired by its ideals and purposes.”

Inspired by Sharlot’s vision, we are fi nding new ways to reach out and forge relationships with this remarkable community and make our campus a place where visitors can create meaningful connections with history.

This year’s exhibit “Toys! It’s Not All Fun and Games” generated such wonderful conversations among visitors that in 2022 we will be reaching out to discover “What’s YOUR Toy Story?” Thanks to a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, we will be using PixStori, a new web app, to gather stories from visitors about their own memories of toys. After all, it is the stories that give meaning to these objects.

We are also excited to launch a new youth-focused program called History Explorers that will include several history camps, facilitated family activities in our exhibits, and a teen curation project in partnership with the Launch Pad.

Also in development for next year is a new exhibit focused on the Prescott Rodeo and Frontier Days and 50th anniversary of the release of Prescottset Steve McQueen movie “Junior Bonner.” As you can see, there are a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline at the museum. We are many things here — a campus of beautiful buildings, scholars preserving, conserving and shaping our collections, a research powerhouse connecting past to present through stories and exhibits. Most of all, we provide our community with a point of contact to their own history.

Come visit the museum and see what we’re up to! We invite you to help us “Inspire the Future” as we plan for the museum’s centennial. Join us in shaping the ongoing story of the Sharlot Hall Museum as we prepare to refresh our permanent exhibits, enrich the archives and continue to grow public programming.

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Western Heritage 8th Annual Banquet a ‘Success’

Written by Ray Newton | Photography by Sol Noor, Findlay Subaru Prescott

Planners and organizers for the 8th annual Western Heritage Banquet deemed the Nov. 6 event a “major success.”

Dennis Gallagher, founder-CEO of the Prescott Western Heritage Foundation, said nearly 300 people from throughout the county attended the full-evening event at the Prescott Resort.

“You’da thought you were back at turn of the century Prescott, what with all the boots and hats and western gear,” he said. “About the only thing missing was horses — but instead, we had pickups.”

Stuart Rosebrook, Prescott resident and member of the foundation board of directors, served as master of ceremonies.

Highlights of the evening included live and silent auctions, which raised thousands of dollars for the operating budget of the Western Heritage Center at 156 C. S. Montezuma St. Fifteen live auction items ranged from artwork to jewelry and clothing to overnight stays in distant places, a helicopter ride over Sedona, and a rare Model 94 Deluxe Winchester Rifl e. Greg Mengarelli served as the auctioneer. Silent auction items were equally successful in generating hundreds of dollars.

The 2021 Western “Heritage Keeper” scholarship recipients were introduced during the festivities: Kiana Clausen, a farm-and-ranch girl who plans to attend the Auburn University (Alabama) College of Veterinary Medicine and Rudy Shea Rodriguez, currently a sophomore at Western Oklahoma State College, Altus, who plans to transfer to Oklahoma State Panhandle University-Goodwill.

The 2021 Western Heritage Keeper Organization of the Year was the Questers Organizations, which promote and research history and antiques and help support and preserve historic projects. Two local chapters — Thumb Butte and Yavapai Questers — were cited for their dedication to area history.

Jim Buchanan, a 75-year native of Prescott, was recognized as 2021 Western Heritage Keeper Individual of the Year. He has been active with the Prescott Frontier Rodeo, the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering for Sharlot Hall Museum and Back Country Horsemen of Central Arizona. Buchanan helped plan and preserve trails for military and horse wagon road in the region.

A special award was given to Bob Greninger, who had served as board president this past year, but had been quite ill.

Gallagher concluded the evening by stressing he, the foundation and its board of directors will continue to “preserve and promote the area’s western heritage through education, art, music, events and projects that enhance western lifestyle and make Prescott and Yavapai County unique and desirable.”

TREK TO TOP OF MOUNT KILIMANJARO DEDICATED TO KAYLA The Ninth Climber

by Ray Newton

Kathleen Delany had dreamed of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, for more than 10 years. When she fi nally began that strenuous seven-day hike on July 4, 2021, she realized what a life-changing event it had become for her.

Delany, 53, a Phoenix native, attended Arizona State University. She ultimately became a commercial jet airplane pilot. She was furloughed from her airline job during the pandemic. She also had split up with her boyfriend, so she decided to do something exclusively for herself and redefi ne her future. An avid hiker and mountain climber, she thought, “I’ll fi nally go climb Kilimanjaro.”

Preparing to do so, she looked online for a used backpack. She found one, listed at a site in Prescott. She contacted the people who listed it — Carl and Marsha Mueller. She then told her mother, who lives in Prescott Valley, of her fi nd. Kathleen met the Muellers and purchased the backpack.

While examining the pack, she reached into an outside pocket and found a faded but readable 2009 airline ticket made out to Kayla Mueller — Phoenix to Atlanta to Guatemala. Kathleen’s mother said she thought she recognized the name, so Kathleen Googled it. That’s how she learned of Kayla’s tragic story.

“Somehow I knew in my heart that I had to use that backpack. It was meant for me. I had a connection to this courageous young woman who had dedicated her life to making a positive diff erence and helping to relieve suff ering,” Delany said. “I asked the Muellers to give me something personal of Kayla, so they gave me a laminated photo, on the back of which was a statement written by Kayla: “I fi nd God in the suff ering eyes refl ected in mine. If this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you. I will always seek God. Some people fi nd God in church. Some people fi nd God in love. I fi nd God in suff ering. I’ve known for some time what my life’s work is — using my hands as tools to relieve suff ering.”

Delany attached that photo with its message to the rear of the backpack. When she was training for the hike in Tanzania, people would ask about the woman. She would tell them Kayla’s story. A hotel manager in Moshi asked who it was. When Delany told her, the manager took a black magic marker and wrote “for Kayla” on a linen hotel napkin.

“I attached the napkin to the backpack, too. When people asked, I could tell them the story.”

Delany, her companions and the porters took seven days to climb the 19,341-foot mountain, the tallest in Africa.

“When we reached the summit in a howling wind and below-freezing temperatures, I made sure the backpack with Kayla’s photo was prominent when I touched the sign at the top. Someone took a photo. As soon as we came down and I could do it, I sent that photo to Carl and Marsha, and told them that Kayla was the ‘Ninth Climber.’”

Shortly after returning from Africa, Delany was recalled by her airline to her pilot’s job. She relocated to Laguna Beach, California. Her fi rst night there, Oct. 17, Delany said she awakened by the sound of an owl hooting outside the window.

“I recalled that the owl was Kayla’s favorite spirit animal. Know what? I honestly believe that hearing that owl my fi rst night back was a sign from Kayla that everything was going to be all right.” Read the conclusion of the interview on page 168 Q