This week on Arizona Illustrated…Tucson celebrates Juneteenth with the second annual art expo at the Drawing Studio, the University of Arizona’s Adaptive Golf Team is redefining the game and meet Harrison Preston, a Wa:k O’odham artist preserving his heritage through clay.
Juneteenth Art Expo
For over 150 years Juneteenth has been a celebration for African Americans across the country. Here in Tucson for the second year in a row The Drawing Studio hosts their Juneteenth Art Expo which boasts over 100 pieces of African and Pan-African Art. With painting, poetry, music, digital art, and more, they show people how they truly embody the spirit of Juneteenth.
Adaptive Golf Team
The University of Arizona’s Adaptive Golf Team is redefining the game – proving that golf is for everyone. Meet the athletes pushing past obstacles, building friendships, and showing that anything is possible on the green.
Harrison Preston – From Dust to Art
Harrison Preston, a Wa:k O’odham artist, is a traditional basket weaver and potter whose work bridges the past and the present. He creates both traditional and contemporary pieces, always with a deep respect for the cultural practices that shape his art. Raised and still living on the San Xavier Indian Reservation (Wa:k)—a district of the Tohono O’odham Nation just south of Tucson, Arizona—Harrison is dedicated to preserving his heritage through every weave and curve of clay.
(Tom) This week on
Arizona Illustrated, see one of the many ways that Tucson’s African
American community celebrates
Juneteenth. (Woody) It’s a lot of different
points of views, a lot of different
artists doing a lot of different
things, and I’m definitely grateful
to be part of it. (Tom) We’ll introduce you to the
funny and charismatic champions of the U of A’s
Adaptive Golf Team. (Anthony) I really don’t fall
down very much. God blessed me with some crazy balance for
some reason. (Tom) And meet a Native
artist who’s preserving his heritage
through clay. (Harrison) Probably, you know,
it’s gonna be very humbling. Maybe a big pot might turn into several
small pots. Hello and welcome to Arizona
Illustrated. I’m Tom McNamara. We’re joining you from
our AZPM studios where it’s nice
and cool. And first up, for over
150 years, Juneteenth has been
celebrated by African Americans
and others. And here in Tucson for the
second year in a row, The Drawing Studio holds their Juneteenth
Art Expo featuring African and
Pan-African art. It’s their way to
show people how they embody the spirit
of Juneteenth. ♪ UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING ♪ (Maggie) You walk into
this space, you see it, it is everywhere. The color, the joy, the celebration, the heart,
the pain, the sorrow, all of it is in this
room right now. (Herman) Juneteenth was the perfect backdrop to put something like this on display, especially with all of the things that are going
on right now… [ APPLAUSE ] ..in our cities, across country and even around the world. this isn’t going anywhere and it shouldn’t go anywhere. The day of Jubilee, as
it has been playfully known as, will continue to be, and it’s been celebrated in this community for over
40 years. And I’m confident in our ability to continue to celebrate it, regardless of whose pin
is in charge. ♪ PEACEFUL GUITAR MUSIC ♪ I am Maggie Rush Miller, I’m the Executive Director of The Drawing Studio. And we are sitting in an old Circle K, we call it building two. And this is our second annual Juneteenth Art Expo. I came into work a year
ago May, and Ms. Randiesia they approached me. They said, “might we
use the space?” It was so moving for me to witness the power of gathering, that power of community. We were at 25 last year So what can we do next year? We do 100. (Randiesia) When I was challenged with 100 Pan-African artists, I’m like, “oh yeah, I can do that” And then I was thinking,
“can I do that?” but I’m like, “yeah,
I can do that.” So we have people from up
in the Phoenix area and in the greater Tucson
area as well. All the work was
worth it. (Maggie) Last year, it was just
in our regular, very small, very small space. It was very conservative in the way in which we presented it. Conservative meaning
expected. This is not expected. (Lin) The space itself has its
own artistic piece. I’m a big fan of the space really enhancing the art and also being integrated with the art that’s being presented. I think this space has
accomplished that. ♪ PEACEFUL GUITAR MUSIC ♪ (Jaron) Maggie has a beautiful mind, let’s start with that. The heart and soul
that Maggie put into this and how much time and blood, sweat, and tears, so to speak, went into this. Her passion, you can see
how it came to life. ♪ PEACEFUL GUITAR MUSIC ♪ (Raniesia) So when we consider art, a lot of times we consider this Eurocentric perspective of gallery work. And I did not want to
move in that vein. I wanted us to include the
traditional artworks that we brought with us from our families. And I wanted us as a community to be included in the artwork. We are the artwork. (Herman) Black art typically gets a lot of negative label. And so when people come in
here and they see art of all different types
of music, dance, there’s artificial
art, there’s oil on canvas, there’s watercolor, there’s 3D art, all different mediums, all different people. The range of ages that
people are doing are all of one
singular color. I think that’s important for people to understand that this is where it
came from. ♪ PEACEFUL GUITAR MUSIC ♪ (Jameela) So I have two pieces that are not paintings. They’re mixed media. It’s two women, an older
woman and a younger child, and they’re kind
of connected. It’s about legacy
and about passing down
generational things, not all bad stuff, some
good stuff. And then there’s also the
connection between everybody having their
own story. And then I made a piece that’s door knocker earrings. And it is about adornment, being like protection
and legacy. And then the third piece that I made is a painting. And it is all about ancestral wisdom and protection and knowing where I came from and knowing where I’m going. ♪ UPBEAT DRUM MUSIC ♪ (Desirée) The first piece is kind of a dreamy piece. It’s got a white background
with some texture. It’s very layered, so there’s
some fuchsia and blues that pop in
that piece. There’s some Basquiat, is
what one of the other artists said it was like, but a happy Basquiat. And then the other piece
is called Awakening. This piece was done on
acrylic on paper. And it has an infusion
of some shamanic elements where
we are infusing some nature with a goddess
who is screaming out to the universe to
be heard. ♪ UPBEAT DRUM MUSIC ♪ (Karl) I have one piece. It’s a handmade jewelry. Basically, it’s a handmade
pendant using copper and a crystal called
Atlantisite. ♪ UPBEAT DRUM MUSIC ♪ For this expo, I’ve submitted
26 digital works, ranging in four
different styles. I have a euphoria style, which is centered around self-love and realizing your inner light, just kind of cherishing and making sure that you always keep the positives in your mind. ♪ UPBEAT DRUM MUSIC ♪ (K.A.V.E.T.É) I write poetry. A lot of my pieces were
really about empowerment, was really
about being a black African-American girl, being just a woman in
general, and being a single mother, and having our ancestors by
our sides. So I did it on a cassette
tape, which was very unusual for me, because
I’ve never done that. But I enjoyed every bit of it because it was different. I was able to just kind of
go off script and also just be in the moment of it. And I think that’s what was
really special to me. Before the world was carved into countries, before maps and borders, there were thrones
made of sunstone and crowns kissed by
the cosmos. There were queens, not just in name, but in purpose, regal minds and radiant flesh whose beauty could halt wars. Yet, it was their wisdom
that moved nations. It’s a lot of different points
of views, a lot of different artists doing a lot of different things, and I’m definitely grateful
to be part of it. (Karl) Seeing that not only
Juneteenth is a celebration of the
ancestors, but everything I do is a celebration
of my ancestors. And to be a part of this,
it was just like, you know, basically like adding
to that connection. (Desirée) The wisdom and energy and the creative expression of my ancestors flowing
through me to be a part of this exhibit
has really helped elevate my confidence and what I can do as an artist. (Devin) It’s empowering. Like I can definitely say
already, I’ve already got my sketchbook in
my backpack, and I’ve been writing
down notes about new textures and thought about
some of these changes. And I’m just like,
“oh, let me go ahead and add that to
my toolbox.” So it’s been magnificent
so far. (K.A.V.E.T.É) I was overwhelmed with the arts that I saw. I barely knew which
way to go. And it was just like, they’re
all different. And they made me
feel like you guys inspired
me to now go write and also make art
to go along with it. (Maggie) We had Juneteenth before there was a Juneteenth. We celebrate ourselves before
it is acknowledged. That has been the history
of ourselves. It is a joyful, truly joyful moment for all of us. It is a celebration. They are the mirror through which I more clearly see myself as my children see themselves
through me. Our backs to their fronts,
to their backs to their fronts, to their backs
to their fronts. Steady, we go onward, balanced. (Tom) While the 2025 Tucson Juneteenth Festival
may be over, their organization holds
a variety of community events
year round. For more information, check
out tucsonjune19.org. Last week, we introduced you to the inspiring
athletes of the University of Arizona
Para Swim Team. Well next, get ready
to meet the funny and charismatic
crew from the very first collegiate-based adaptive
golf program in the United States. (Dennis) One size does not
fit all. We’re all built differently,
we all have different tendencies, we
even think differently, right, so the mentality
of how you play is different, but it’s not like
we can say, “Here’s the only way
you can do this” Five years ago, I had
some health issues. Never had a health problem
in my life. I made a promise that If I got a chance, I would give the people I was involved with my best, and it may not be
as good as somebody else, but I’m going
to give it my best, and I’m going to study like
crazy to give that. I just think that’s what
I’m here for. ♪ UPBEAT GUITAR MUSIC ♪ We’re at Tucson Country Club
today, and my team here is just hitting some
balls, and we’re going to chip and put. Adaptive golf is one of those
things that anyone with any disability can
be a part of. Any adaptive sport in general,
but adaptive golf especially, because
it’s so diverse. There are people of all
ages, all disabilities that are playing in our
tournaments. (Jim) I bet you couldn’t believe that a young man with one leg could shoot par, and
another lady who was legally blind could also
shoot par. These students are
amazing. We’re all kind of equal
when it comes to the course, because we’re all playing the same course. (Anthony) You still got to read
the same putts. You still got to make
the same shot. You got to hit all the
same piece of water. I mean, it’s all a challenge,
regardless of who you are That golf course is
the equalizer. -Very good. I was born in Kazakhstan
and went out to Hawaii at nine months old and
I was adopted. I have no central vision
and I have a condition called Leber’s Hereditary
Optic Neuropathy, which basically is slowly damaging my optic nerve. Oh, there’s a green
up there? -Uh-huh. -Oh, nice. -There’s a bunker in front of it. There’s a flag. (Amanda) I was declared legally blind in August of 2021. It made me more reliant
on myself and just my instincts and intuition. It’s honestly all the small
things that are hard. People think that if they
wave to me in public or if they smile or do
a little nod that if I don’t do it back,
then I’m a jerk. I played golf since I
was a little kid. I was like five
years old. So I had the muscle memory,
which was good. But lining up my ball and then having to go find the ball and getting the yardage was all the hardest parts. My dad thankfully joins me on all of my tournaments. He will line up behind me and I’ll address the ball. It kind of is like as if
it were a 2D photo. So I can see some of the trees and some of the mountains if they’re very distinct, but I can’t see any of the greens, flags or
bunkers. I will basically get
ready to hit, but then right before
I’ll be like, okay, double checking,
am I good? And he’s like, yep,
swing and then we go find
our ball. She’s a doer.
She gets things done. She’s very organized. Her game’s gotten better, but it’s equally exciting to me to see her blossom and how she’s developing as a person The Florida State Adaptive Open, that was my first win that I’ve had that I felt really proud of. Amanda was winning after
day one. It’s a two-day tournament and she says, “You know what guys? I’m
very nervous. I don’t like having the
lead.” We come up the idea that we’re gonna go
to an alligator farm. We walk in there and they
said, “Do you want to feed the stingrays?” And she
didn’t want to do it, and I don’t think I
did either. At the end of it, the kid
comes say, “I got a special treat. We’re bringing
on an alligator. Anybody wants to hold
it can.” I’m going, “Oh God,
here we go.” Amanda says, “I do.”
She runs right up there, grabs
this thing. She said, “You know
what guys? I don’t think I’m gonna
freak out tomorrow.” I was like, “I held
an alligator”. Like, you can’t really
do worse than that. -So now you’re hitting greens, you’re driving in the fairway, you’re gonna have
six putt. -I feel you, yeah. -I hope so. It’s better than I said. -That way we’ve got plenty
of room to improve. -Oh, of course. (Amanda) Just the way he’s able
to coach all of us and adjust his coaching
style for each of us, it’s really awesome. Like with Will, he’s super chill with him on the course, but he’s also still
helping. -There might be a good looking
girl over there you might wanna meet. -Oh, of course, yeah. -Watch this, I can
shank it. My number one goal always is to not make him worse. -Shoulder. -Yes, and chest, turning. (Jim) Will’s from Colorado. He has cerebral palsy. I said Will, you were born
with cerebral palsy? -I was, yep. -Yeah, but then you didn’t let it hold you back, did you? -Absolutely not. (Will) I’m Will Volkner. I was born with cerebral palsy and we moved out to Colorado and I had a back surgery
when I was five, a partial dorsal rhizotomy. I think, I should know that, that’s pretty brutal, I don’t. When I was like four
years older, so I was a huge baseball guy, but then my dad started
bribing me with five guys like
cheeseburgers to give me outgoing
golfing. Golf has definitely taught me a lot of discipline, like just being patient and waiting for things
to come to you. Communication skills
and all that, because when you’re
out of course, you’re gonna want to
be more formal. Know what you’re gonna say,
be smart about it. So that’s definitely what
golf taught me, rather than be like this
erratic kid. (Dennis)He said the darndest thing to me in Philadelphia. He said, “look at what
God did to me. How can I be positive?” If we can just turn that
around and explain, “look at the vehicle he’s given you through adaptive golf.” Maybe that was what it
was all about. (Anthony) I got in a car accident. I lost my leg in 2020. I was 18 years old. The first year was
pretty tough. I was, it was a lot
of recovery. I mean, I just had to learn
everything brand new. I had to learn how to go
to the bathroom to, you know, shake somebody’s hand, open a door, everything. I really thought, “oh, I’m never going to play a sport again.” My family finally dragged me out on the golf course, and I hated it, because
I was like, “oh, I got to throw these
sticks on the ground. I got to hop around. It’s not the same as how I used to golf.” But I kind of just embraced
it, looked at the bright side
of things, and fell in love with
it again. -Oh, yeah. -Look at that. (Anthony) I’m pretty ambitious,
and it’s God-given. I mean, how aren’t you
ambitious whenever you’ve been so much
taken from you? I don’t want to let this
define who I am. Balance is like my
entire game. You know, I’ll get my club and I go up into the tee box and I just throw
my sticks. Like “get rid of these things.” And I figure out my balance,
find my line and hop up to the ball
and I swing the club. I really don’t fall down
very much. God, like I’m saying,
God blessed me with some crazy balance
for some reason. (Dennis) When I get in the car to come down here and I’m on my way back,
it’s like I fly. It’s like not work. I’m 72 years old doing this, and it’d be real easy because a lot of my buddies
sit on their butt, on their couch, and
do nothing, and they play their own golf
game, which is fine. But the way I view it is, my golf game doesn’t make a damn to anybody except maybe me, and now it really doesn’t make that much difference
to me. But these kids that I’m teaching, their golf game might really make their lives different and better. And that’s where I need to
be spending my time. They’re gonna teach you
how to live. (Tom) Like what you’re seeing on
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and X. Harrison Preston
is a Wa:k O’odham basket weaver
and potter. His work bridges the past
and the present. And he creates both traditional and
contemporary art always dedicated to preserving
his heritage through every weave and
curve of clay. [ PLASTIC BAG CRINKLING ] (Harrison) Pottery is just experimenting. Sometimes the clay just doesn’t want to do what you want. Maybe a big pot might turn into several small pots, you know? I am a multimedia artist. I refer to myself as a
Wa:k O’odham artist. That’s part of the larger
Tohono O’odham Nation. For the Tohono O’odham community, there’s about 33,000 members to our tribe. But there’s probably less than 20 full-time potters. And that’s working today.
This is my full-time job. I also advocate and demonstrate at different places. I always like doing things
with my hands. Growing up, it was just
me and my mom for a long time in Tucson. She was always working to
try to provide for us. There wasn’t
a lot of kids around. She would buy me
craft stuff. So that’s kind of where
I got my practice down. For about 28 years now,
I was a basket weaver. I learned it during
high school, and I always just jumped
right in. And so that’s what I got
well-known for. Roughly about eight years
now, I’ve actually been doing traditional
Tohono O’odham pottery, which is Paddle and Anvil style. This is a red clay that
comes from the main reservation in an area called Topawa, just west of
the Baboquivari Mountains. This is a little
added step where I’m just trying to marry
these coils. But because I’m not sure about this clay just yet, I just want to make sure that they’re really stuck
together well. ♪ AIRY GUITAR ♪ [ PADDLE-KNOCKING NOISE ] So really, I’m just
looking and trying to get a uniform thickness. Traditionally, Tohono O’odham
pottery, we’re well-known for having like an evaporative effect to it. So you can see this pot
here, the water has actually started to slowly come out to the surface, and it will keep it cool
during the summer— especially in the desert,
you know, it gets so hot, it would help keep that
water cool. It also gives it a better
taste, and more of an earthy kind of taste to it. Right here, all I’m doing is again thinning out that wall, but also trying to slowly
start shaping it. Especially water pots,
you have to kind of treat the inside
a little bit different, so that way you’re trying
to close up the pores and make sure that there’s
no big holes. I like to shape as I grow,
and so I usually then start working
on the outside. Traditionally, Tohono O’odham
pottery was all plainware, because it was meant for cooking and water storage. There was only a few instances
where you had painted pottery that was usually for ceremonial use. So the paint that I use
is hematite paint. So this is hematite that
comes from an area southeast of Patagonia,
so down more towards the border. And so you can see here— [ HEMATITE SCRAPING ON STONE ] this one
just really breaks down easy. Sometimes it’s a little softer, sometimes it’s a little harder. And this is maybe about—maybe
about a good hour, hour and a half of grinding
it on a stone, yeah? So this is hematite mixed
with a little bit of clay to kind of help it
stick to the pot. And then a little bit of mesquite sap— the clear sap—
as a binder. And so this is what they
call dip and drag. You just dip it
in your paint and then drag it along
the surface. This clay here, it’s a pink
color; it actually comes from
Magdalena in Mexico. This is another one of
those clays where for about two, three years
I just could not get it to work. It seems like it’s going
to work now, hopefully. I kind of have to figure it out as I go along, you know? So that’s a quick design,
you know? This is agate—kind of come in and start to burnish it down. And I’m just letting the
stone do the work. I’m not even applying
any pressure. A basic design,
you know? ♪ SPAGHETTI WESTERN MUSIC ♪ Pottery, you know, it’s
going to be very humbling. Early years you’re going to lose probably about, I’d say, maybe 50% of your pots
to cracking— to, you know, sometimes you can put them in the fire and they explode
from the heat. I always say, you know,
it has to be fun. If it’s not fun,
I don’t want to do it. It safeguards me from, like,
the stresses in the world and things that are
going on that are going to, you know, worry me,
you know? I always tell the, like,
little kids, you know, you get to play
with mud. If you do it safely,
you get to play with fire. ♪ SPAGHETTI WESTERN MUSIC CONTINUES ♪ Before we go, here’s
a sneak peek at a few stories we’re
working on. That there are lots of granites in Southeast
Arizona. There was not a tectonic
explanation for why the granites
were here until plate tectonics emerged
in the early 70s. When oceanic crust was subducted underneath
North America 50 million years ago, it didn’t go down its
normal steep angle. And so it slid under
Southeast Arizona. And only when it came
this far East did that slab, as
we call it, penetrate the 100 kilometer
depth required for a granite to form through
crustal melting. The granite oozed
its way up, granite cut by very
regular fractures. If we can explore our way
through the granite, we’d be exploring through
cubes of granite. One of the first things
I told my therapist in the
hospital, she had asked me, “What
are your goals?” And I think the first thing
out of my mouth was I have to go back
to my job. All right, today your reporter is seat number
four. I was encouraging her to go back when she
was ready. I knew mentally and
emotionally that would be the best
thing for her. Once you open up the
simulation, this is what the
screen’s going to look like,
okay? We do donated sick leave
in our school district and the amount of people
that stepped up and donated days to me kept me getting a paycheck
the entire time that I was in recovery. Thank you for joining us here on
Arizona Illustrated. I’m Tom McNamara. We’ll see you again
next week. Hi, I’m Tom McNamara, host of Arizona Illustrated. Thank you for watching
this entire episode of our show here
on YouTube. And if you liked it, well,
here’s another episode that we think you’ll like.
