CARSON CITY, Nev. — Watch Nevada Paiute traditions handed down from generation to generation in the Nevada Stories video “Pipe Makers of the Great Basin,” now available for viewing here.
At 100 years old, Hilman Tobey fashions stone into American Indian art in a form he learned late in life. In the “Pipe Makers” video, he shows an apprentice how his pieces take shape and inspiration. The video, funded in part by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council, premiered in February; it is now available for online viewing.
Tobey is a Northern Paiute living at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. The short film by Gabe Lopez Shaw captures the master artist reaching pipe-making skills to Norman Zuniga. Tobey talks about the materials and tools used to make pipes and the origins and uses of ceremonial pipes in prayer.
The project is one of many in Nevada Stories, an online video series that focuses on folk and traditional artists, specific local traditions and Nevada’s landscape. An outreach activity of the Nevada Arts Council Folklife Program and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Nevada Stories honors the NAC mission to provide folklife education to all age groups and to highlight the individual artists, traditional communities and cultural sites that make Nevada distinctive.
The Nevada Arts Council, a division of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, is the agency charged with ensuring that state and national funds support cultural activity and encourage participation in the arts throughout Nevada. In addition to providing grants to arts- and community-basd organizations, schools, artists and local municipalities throughout the state, the NAC coordinates statewide programs and activities such as the annual Poetry Out Loud recitation competition for high school-aged students, traveling exhibits, artist residencies, workshops and cultural assessments. For details, call 775-687-6680 or visit the website nac.nevadaculture.org.
