Tag: Coconino County

Details of a diorama showing the daily life of the Sinaguan people who lived in the cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon National Monument, Coconino County, Arizona. The diorama is about three feet wide and four feet tall, and includes dozens of incredibly detailed human figures (and dogs!). It was made by a resident park ranger assigned to Walnut Canyon in the 1930s.

When I was a boy the highlights of my social studies classes all involved making dioramas. I still recall with pride my three-dimensional salt-and-flour map of Virginia, with the state’s physiographic provinces outlined in garish colors with tempera paint, and my model-in-a-shoebox rendering of Mount Vernon. Maybe that’s why I’m so attracted to the dioramas sometimes still found in park visitor centers. I think they are masterpieces of folk art, beautiful wonders of artistic imagination, patience, and skill.   

Details of a diorama showing the daily life of the Sinaguan people who lived in the cliff dwellings at Walnut Canyon National Monument, Coconino County, Arizona. The diorama is about three feet wide and four feet tall, and includes dozens of incredibly detailed human figures (and dogs!). It was made by a resident park ranger assigned to Walnut Canyon in the 1930s.

When I was a boy the highlights of my social studies classes all involved making dioramas. I still recall with pride my three-dimensional salt-and-flour map of Virginia, with the state’s physiographic provinces outlined in garish colors with tempera paint, and my model-in-a-shoebox rendering of Mount Vernon. Maybe that’s why I’m so attracted to the dioramas sometimes still found in park visitor centers. I think they are masterpieces of folk art, beautiful wonders of artistic imagination, patience, and skill.