Sole Stories: American Indian Footwear is a new kind of exhibit about American Indian Culture. Cowboy boots worn by Will Rogers are on loan from Will Rogers Museum in Claremore to the Phoenix, Ariz., Heard Museum for the display, which opens to the public Saturday.
Shoes as footwear and as art trace history of Shoes in the American Indian culture. Early examples of shoes from the Heard collection as well as contemporary art and footwear from a wide range of American Indians are in the display.
At least two of the exhibits represent Cherokees from Oklahoma — Will Rogers’s cowboy boots and footwear of former Chief Wilma Mankiller are in the display along with those of Sioux medicine man Sitting Bull an Olympic figure skater Naomi Lang, first female American Indian athlete to participate in the winter games.
Chuck Rogers, Will Rogers grandson, and Randy Eubanks, who was raised with Will Rogers Jr.’s children, attended a preview opening reception Thursday night. They will be joined by Eubanks’ wife, Georgia, and his cousin, John Bennella and his wife, Paula,
The museum on Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix hosts about 250,000 visitors a year. The 10 exhibit galleries and outdoor courtyards feature traditional and contemporary Native American art.
A 50,000 square foot expansion in 1999 almost doubled space allowing more room to display the more than 35,000 artifacts in the permanent collection.
The museum is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily except holidays.