Art for Leonard F. Chana was not an expression of his innermost feelings, beliefs or vision.
Art for him was a story about his people, the O'odham, a reminiscence — and commentary — of their life and culture and tradition.
His paintings reflected that.
Each began as a way to express a memory, a life experience or an event.
Working with anthropologist Susan Lobo, he began putting his art and memories together in a book. They worked for months, and she recorded more than 40 hours of conversations. But in August 2003 he became severely ill with neurocysticercosis. He died in January 2004.
It fell to Lobo and to Chana's wife, Barbara, to complete the project.
"The Sweet Smell of Home — The Life and Art of Leonard F. Chana," published by the University of Arizona Press, was released recently, and already it has gained tributes and kudos.
People are also reading…
A public celebration of the book is slated for Saturday at the Tohono O'odham Nation Cultural Center & Museum in Topawa, south of Sells.
Because he was self-taught and because, in the O'odham way, one does not name Self, Chana never called himself an artist.
Yet that's what he was. He taught himself the technique of stippling.
"He called it 'dot art' because he didn't know it was called 'stipple,' " Barbara Chana says. "It was symbolic of who he was — patient. When you live in the middle of the desert and have to wait for things to happen (the rains to come, the seasons to change), you learn to observe, to conserve, to be patient."
Barbara Chana says she learned so much from her husband. Her world — like that of most of us — is fast, filled with sound, action.
"If I want to know what the weather will be, I turn on the TV," she says. "He would look to the sky, to the plants."
He filled his art with these details, and it was his art that helped him conquer the disease of alcoholism. Even these details are there for all to see.
If you view Chana's work by itself, you almost can hear his words. And when you read the book, his art and words entwine, giving the reader personal entree into Chana's — and the O'odham — world.
"The Sweet Smell of Home — The Life and Art of Leonard F. Chana"
• By Leonard F. Chana, Susan Lobo and Barbara Chana.
• Published 2009 by University of Arizona Press.
• Softcover $21.95; cloth cover $40.
For more information or to place an order, go to www.uapress.arizona.edu/ BOOKS/bid2062.htm or call 626-4218 or 1-800-426-3797.
