More Than a Playground

A new look for an Indigenous play space.

This past July, some of our Family Spirit team members had the honor of attending the opening of Coconino Health and Human Services’ (CHHS) Indigenous play space in Flagstaff, AZ.

It has transformed the lobby of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) space. A mural called “A New Dawn” decorates the play area, the painting sprinkled with Diné and Hopi cultural symbols set against warm desert tones.

Local artists Duane Koyawena (Hopi-Tewa) and Chelsie Begoody (Diné) collaborated on the mural after being paired by Tamara Littlesalt-Butler, CHHS’s Healthy Families Program Manager. She wanted the new space to be representative of the region’s two prominent tribes, Hopi and Diné.

Koyawena is a self-taught artist who left his decade-long career in the mental health field to become an artist. He draws inspiration from his everyday life and hopes to inspire the next generation of Native artists.

Begoody, whose artwork at a local exhibit brought her to Littlesalt-Butler, describes herself as an emerging artist specializing in acrylics, graphic illustrations and murals.

The mural combines their different painting styles and cultures. Both artists wanted their work to be kid-friendly, and after talking it over, they decided on nature as their overarching theme. “From my perspective on Hopi culture, it represents the purity and innocence frequently associated with children,” said Koyawena.

Begoody incorporated teachings from her Diné culture. For example, a horn toad appears in the mural’s bottom left corner. “The horn toad represents cheii, or our grandfather,” she says. “Whenever we come across our cheii, we make a little offering, pick him up, put him on our heart, and just ask that he protect us on our journey.”

The play space includes a reading table in the shape of a drum and a reading tree, which the artists also decorated. Building the play space inspired countless community conversations, from idea generation to final touches.

Now, kids in the area can see cultural symbols all around them. “Right now with my five-year-old daughter, I’m struggling with how to present to her that she’s Navajo,” said Sherry Smith, a parent attending the opening. “I feel like the mural brings tradition alive. Nowadays a lot of kids don’t get exposed to it.”

Learn more about the playspace: CCHHS celebrates opening of Birth to Five Play Space

Check out the artists on Instagram: @duane_koyawena_arts @zzzrock.grl