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Mesa artist designs ‘swap meet’ exhibit

BY ALEX GALLAGHER

Tribune Staff Writer

When most people think of an art museum, they might not expect seeing things found at a swap meet.

Native American Artist Brad Kahlhamer’s exhibit at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art likely has shattered that expectation forever.

But then, the Mesa artist’s fondest childhood memories are sifting through lumber yards and rummaging through piles to find interesting items – and going to swap meets.

And so he has created an unusual exhibit that echoes “When I first started talking to the museum about this concept, it was more around the utility of a swap meet,” Kahlhamer said. “I wanted this idea of this community outside of the typical retail system. This is really a gray economy, there’s almost this idea of a wild market.” SMoCA describes the exhibit’s origins and goal as “Kahlhamer’s meditation on a nomadic and intersectional contemporary condition.” :

“The social and cultural space of the Arizona desert swap meet reflects, models, and fuels Kahlhamer’s recent artistic practice and preoccupations,” it explains.

“At the intersection of neighborhoods, city sprawls, and open-space land, swap meets fill in the cultural gaps between communities and are spontaneous meeting spaces, where many social networks form between individuals of different ages, residency status, cultures, and race.”

Thus, it adds, a swap meet becomes a gathering place for “like-minded strangers or friends who seek out a place of meaning, belonging, or surviving.”

Native American artist Brad Kahlhamer looks at his exhibit at Scottsdale Museum of Con-

temporary Art as a swap meet for ideas. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer)

seeSWAP page 17

SWIMKids USA founder looks back on 50 years

BY SUE BREDING

Tribune Contributor

Imagine what it was like 50 years ago when Lana Whitehead wanted to open her own swim school in an era when occupations considered “the norm” for females were narrow. “It was definitely a nontraditional choice in a time when the workforce was very male dominated,” says Whitehead, founder and president of SWIMkids USA in Mesa.

But having witnessed the heartwrenching grief of two of her friends who had tragically lost their young children due to drowning, nothing could deter her. Their grief shaped her life as she developed a passion to make a difference and increase awareness about the dangers of drowning.

At that time, the American Academy of Pediatrics was recommending to parents that the water can be a great bonding experience. More importantly, she realized young children can begin to learn swim skills much earlier than 5.

The Mesa resident’s calm and patient approach with students made her a popular teacher.

Whitehead built a curriculum based on her belief that in addition to teaching children swim strokes, that there were other things a swim school could do. These include infant and baby swim classes. She also became a pioneer when it came to swim schools purposefully teaching drowning prevention skills.

She developed new techniques so children as young as 1 can begin to learn swim safety moves. For example, she began to teach students to swim, roll to their back in a float and then swim again

Lana Whitehead has devoted her career to provide life-saving swimming lessons to kids.

(Special to the Tribune)

When guests first walk into the gallery, they are surprised by a large trailer in the center of the exhibition surrounded by what look like skeletal remains of vegetation and animals.

The exhibition gives an insight into Kahlhamer’s creative process.

Though he splits time with Brooklyn, New York, Kahlhamer lives in Mesa in a double-wide trailer that he also uses as a studio. He has decorated the exterior with a rock garden as well as sculptures he made from fragments of skeletons and dead saguaro cactus pieces he calls “Zombie Botanicals.”

“Through all of my extensive hiking into The Superstitions and in and around Tucson, I was always struck by always finding a little bone fragment or a piece of a skull because it was evidence of life,” Kahlhamer explained. “Later on, I began picking up all these cactus fragments and pieces to make these defenders.”

Kahlhamer purchased the exhibit trailer at a swap meet in Apache Junction and filled the interior of the space with pieces of his own artwork as well as some sources of his inspiration, including stuffed animals and sketches.

“To have a trailer in the gallery and to activate it as the artist’s studio is pretty unique and I hope this is an open space for people,” said museum Director-Chief Curator Jennifer McCabe.

“You don’t usually think of a swap meet and museum in the same sentence,” she said, “so the hope is that this will be an open space for people who may not normally be comfortable in a museum.”

Outside the trailer is a deck on which Kahlhamer will perform alongside a cellist on April 1.

“The stage is to help activate the whole concept in terms of a performance situation,” Kahlhamer said.

The exhibition is curated by Dr. Natasha Boas and is accompanied by a series of performances, including Navajo Nation country act Dirt Rhodes.

“The idea of the artist is that we’re essentially always performing even for ourselves and this piece creates this tableau of which I can bring in musicians, poets and work in there – as I have,” Kahlhamer explained.

“There’s this idea of assigning personhood to objects,” he said. “When you go to the swap meet, you see this myriad of objects, a storm of tools and used bicycles. It’s personhood in objects and that is, to large degrees, revealed in this show.”

Through rock art, postcards, ephemera, sketchbooks and reclaimed or used articles of clothing, Kahlhamer aimed to create works that excite museumgoers and ignite conversations.

“When you set about to create a whole

universe or whole world, all the things that excite us emotionally have to come into a show,” Kahlhamer said. While a traditional swap meet offers an exchange of goods, the museum hopes that an exchange of ideas will emerge from the exhibition. “The concept of ‘Swap Meet’ as a place of exchange is really important,” McCabe said. “In this space, the exchange might be an experience, dialogue or ideas rather than the actual swap meet where it’s things.” There may also be conversations about contemporary native issues that could arise from display. “The biggest change is not so much within me but that conversations are changing quite rapidly in the museum world and in academia,” The trailer in the center of Kahlhamer’s exhibit is surrounded by what look like skeletal remains of vegetation and animals. (David Minton/Tribune Staff Photographer) Kahlhamer said. “Suddenly, we have a rise in contemporary native issues and I think, for me, that’s the biggest change,” “I’m hoping that this show personifies that in a more poetic way.” While some may not notice those issues within the subject matter of the works, there are several other ideas that ring throughout the exhibition. “Some of the ideas that are consistent through all the pieces are the idea of being a nomad or not having an exact place so you see references to cities like Gallup, New Mexico or New York City or Mexico City,” McCabe said. The exhibition will be on display at SMoCA until October.

Information: smoca.org

SWIMKIDS from page 16

to safety in case they faced an emergency.

Whitehead is also credited with developing highly effective drowning prevention techniques and programs.

And for all of that, Whitehead was awarded the prestigious 2021 U.S. Swim School Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors people who have helped the “learn-to-swim” industry rise to new levels and lift other swim school owners.

“I had always held it up as an unachievable thing and am surprised and humbled that I would be selected to receive such a prestigious honor.”

Tracy Koleber, the association’s board president, said, “Lana has been a leader and mentor to many, and she’s been on the forefront of researching brain development and the many benefits of swimming.

Whitehead has worked tirelessly as a member of the U.S. Swim School Association, receiving the Humanitarian Award in 2008 and the Hall of Fame award in 2012.

She earned degrees in exercise physiology and special education from ASU and has written five books about her techniques as well as her findings about how movement benefits learning and the brain.

She is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and her involvement in the world of swimming as an author, educator and speaker has taken her around the world including to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, World Baby Congress, National Drowning Prevention Alliance and she was part of a national sports medicine delegation to China.

Whitehead also co-created the Water Smart Babies program where pediatricians write “prescriptions” for water safety measures. Whitehead was a major part of the effort to write the booklet and launch an informative website.

This program is being used by doctors across the country because it gives them an easy way to communicate to parents the importance of things like pool fences, knowing CPR, supervision at all times and how swim lessons save lives.

Whitehead’s career awards are plentiful and include the Spirit of Enterprise Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship from ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business, the Adolph Kiefer Safety Commendation and Hall of Fame Honor from USA Swimming and the G. Harold Martin Award for lifesaving and instruction from the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

She also is celebrating the golden anniversary of her business with a continuing vision to make a difference.

“The awards shine light on the mission which from the beginning has always been to teach even the youngest children lifesaving swim skills,” Whitehead said.

Information: swimkidsusa.com

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