Storytelling Through Contemporary Ledger Art

Abstract

Thirty miles north of Interstate 40 near Holbrook, Arizona, you will find the most picturesque
Southwestern landscape. Hidden amongst the silhouettes and shadows of mesas, buttes, natural
land formations, and native vegetation, you will find Indian Wells Elementary School. Coming
upon the school, you will find what seems like uninhabited land that could be set of an old
western movie.
Indian Wells Elementary School (IWES) is part of the Holbrook Unified School District but is
located on the Navajo reservation north of Holbrook city limits. Our school can be found in the
small community of Indian Wells at the junction of Indian Route 15 and Indian Route 77. Our
school services approximately 430 students from Pre-K through 6th grade. Of our 430 students,
99.5% are listed as Native American (Diné). Although our school is in Indian Wells, we have
students who attend that reside in Dilkon, Castle Butte, Tees Toh, Steamboat, Jeddito,
Greasewood, Whitecone, and Holbrook. All our students travel to school on the bus. The bus
rides to and from school every day can take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.
There are many things that set us apart from the other schools in our district. For instance, we
have adopted a four-day school week. This makes our day a little longer than the other schools as
we attend from 7:55-3:30 every day. Another major example of this can be seen with our
athletics program. We are fortunate to have sports available to our students. Our cross-country
program is our largest as it has students from first grade to eighth grade. The other programs are
only available to our fifth and sixth grade students. These sports include flag football, volleyball,
basketball, co-ed soccer, and co-ed softball. Lastly, our differences can be seen in our “special”
classes. Having a four-day school week means that we must maximize instructional time, leaving
students to only get thirty minute “special” classes a day. These are classes such as Navajo
Language, Music, and Physical Education. The P.E special is the only class that our students
attend twice a week.
As you can see, our students do not have art as a special class. Our district does not offer art at
the elementary level. This is because our in-town schools have amazing music programs and
because they have a five-day school week, students attend music twice a week. In fact, our high
school has a state of the art performing arts building that hosts many incredible productions
throughout the year. However, in my observation, our students are more artistically inclined and
find more interest in art rather than music.