Viewing page 18 of 88

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

July -1-

I impressed them as religious & they were quick to spot angels and god- [[insertion]] like [[/insertion]]appearing persons [[insertion]] whose characters [[/insertion]] I had not noticed - the writing (persian [[strikethrough]] characters [[/strikethrough]]) excited more curiosity than the color - "What does that say?" said one pointing to a line - "thou shalt not steal" Hokeah replied as he went laughing back to work-

Next to the dining room is a huge kitchen when pretty little Indian girls assist the cook.  The boys have been devilish [[strikethrough]] lately [[/strikethrough]] of late over some joke they have and their bib pockets bulge with knives & forks they swipe from the kitchen.  I am not a disciplinarian & say nothing.  I never knew a bunch of artists - who kept [[insertion]] ?[[/strikethrough]] from [[?]]. Sometimes I sense them taking me off- That amuses me too & I [[strikethrough]] smile and [[/strikethrough]] am able to turn the laugh on them now & then which arouses as hearty a laugh- But Indians find "Anglos" funny and they do feel superior to us as a rule. 

Much work today over the rainbow.  The boys will mix colors that look good to them on the [[insertion]] work [[/insertion]] table, and the fact that [[?]] [[insertion]] colors [[/insertion]] appear very different in tone and intensity from a distance & when in place against the wall background does not as yet impress them

The bird designs they are making [[insertion]] rather [[/insertion]] huge [[insertion]] for the spaces they are in [[/insertion]] In my interest in the experiment I do not insist on the scale and direction of things as I would with other pupils - After all, this dining room is a laboratory and we are learning what can & what may be done with Indian art on huge spaces.  What ever I [[insertion]] I might [[/insertion]] wish or will is not important [[insertion]] now [[/insertion]] but what we may discover in them.

Fri - July 1. -  [[strikethrough]] I find on reaching [[/strikethrough]] I find on reaching the Dining hall [[insertion]] Today that it [[/insertion]] has acquired new doors and servers well-made and simpler but a peculiarly depressing oil varnish is going on them that makes them seem to imitate something- some tropical wood no doubt while they are our plain native pine.  My heart sinks.  It all looks very governmental.  Indian boys are doing the work-  Left to themselves they would have put on the right thing.  One gets on in eight into why government buildings [[insertion]] outside of Washington [[/insertion]] are mournful.  Here the head painter said "put on this laquer-" he looked neither to the right nor to the left- that the color would have no relation to its surroundings made no difference.  A man beset with a thousand duties like Mr Ferris cannot superintend every window & door- But the brush was in the hand of an artist. 

I am confronted with a similar problem. The great south wall is to be decorated.  How much of its planning should I leave to the Indian boys?  Little Albert Craves the longest space for his prize [[?]]- the [[insertion]] large [[/insertion]] round sandpainting [[insertion]] refuses to place it anywhere else [[/insertion]] and Pueblo boys have