Zia Leader/Artist Peter Pino: Petroglyph-Making Class

05 May Zia Leader/Artist Peter Pino: Petroglyph-Making Class

For Peter Pino’s petroglyph  workshop, the  Telluride Institute is partnering with the Ah Haa School for the Arts, the Wilkinson Public Library, and the Telluride Historical Museum.

For more information on the Pino course, contact Ah Haa’s Kristin Kwasniewski at 970-728-3886 or go on-line at www.ahhaa.org to sign up for the workshop on May 17. (Class size is limited.)

Pino’s talk at the Library on May 16 is free. 

Two Ute Youth Ski Days were held on the Ski Area this winter for kids and chaperones from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Towaoc and the Southern Ute Tribe in Ignacio. A roundtable with Ute Indian Tribe leader Shaun Chapoose took place at the Wilkinson in January. Donations to continue the Institute’s cultural outreach programming are encouraged. Go here to donate.

Peter M Pino

Pecking images on rock is an ancient tradition. Zia elder Peter Pino wants to help locals interested in exploring this art form by offering  “Introductory Petrogylph Making,” a workshop at Ah Haa School for the Arts, Thursday, May 17, 1-5 p.m.

For the workshop, Pino recommends students bring rock chisels or a variable speed rotary tool, like a Wen or Dremel, if they have one. Or, failing that, simply bring a hard nail (or screw) and a small hammer. And of course, appropriate safety goggles.

Over four hours, students should finish, or be well on their way to finishing, a small petroglyph and should leave with a better understanding of how larger projects could be undertaken.

It is suggested participants bring their own small flat rock. However, rocks will be available.

The night before the class, Pino will give a free lecture: Wednesday, May 16, 6 p.m. in the Magazine Room of the Wilkinson Public Library. The subject is “Petroglyphs and Zia Tradition.” The event is co-sponsored with the Telluride Institute and the Telluride Historical Museum.

“We continue to bring indigenous youth and elders to town to speak, ski, and teach as part of our continuing cultural outreach in search of healing and reconciliation,” explained Institute program director Art Goodtimes. “And besides the talk, Peter’s class ought to be a fun one. I’ve always wanted to make my own rock art.”

A former Governor and War Chief of the Pueblo of Zia, Peter Pino served as the Pueblo of Zia Tribal Administrator and Treasurer from 1977-2014. He graduated from New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas (NM) in 1972 with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Education, and followed up with a Masters of Business Administration from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque in 1975.

Pino is a traditional spiritual leader, holding a lifetime appointment as one of his tribe’s “Keeper of Songs.”

Pino is also a traditional craftsman who works in rock, tans deer hides and makes moccasins, bows, arrows, digging sticks, rabbit sticks, and bone tools – many of which require using techniques employed by his Puebloan ancestors.

His archaeological interests have led him to committee and board commitments with Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Mesa Verde National Park and the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder.

Pino served as Vice-Chair of the New Mexico Office of Indian Affairs, and was the first Native American to serve on the New Mexico Game and Fish Commission.

Note: Special thanks to Durfee Day, San Miguel County and Audrey Marnoy for their financial support for the Institute’s Ute Reconciliation Program. The goal is to bring Ute cultural programming to town to heal old wounds and provide education for Native-Americans and Euro-Americans alike.