The show is a celebration of all manner of crafts turned out by Hispanic Tucsonans. Bypassing the museum's typical fine-arts mission, this is an unusual show for the art in daily life. Many of the commercial products on view are not exactly traditional, but they demonstrate how the craft tradition responds to changing times. Artisans make what their customers will buy. They're hot among contemporary urban cowboys, but one can hardly imagine them on the tough working vaqueros of a generation ago.
Some arts are almost brand new.
Griffith, the lovable folklorist who created Tucson Meet Yourself, says he's been thinking about putting together just such a show as this for years. He regularly brings respectful attention to the arts and crafts of los Tucsoneses on segments on KUAT's Arizona Illustrated , and he's given them an engaging scholarly treatment in three books, including Southern Arizona Folk Arts . Griffith brings his scholarly sensibility to bear both on the show and in his catalog essay, giving the enterprise a credibility that takes it beyond just another collection of crafts. The first room is laid out as a typical Mexican-American front yard and house. The traditional Mexican-American home, Griffith asserts, begins at the sidewalk.