Storyteller Sunny Dooley A Wild at Heart event

Diné storyteller Sunny Dooley shares native tales in the Wild at Heart: Ernest Thompson Seton exhibition space at 10:30 am, Saturday, Dec. 18. This family event is free with museum admission (children are always free).

Dooley is a storyteller, poet, playwright, lecturer, and folksinger from a Four Corners community called Chi Chil' Tah (Where the Oaks Grow). A former Miss Navajo Nation (1982-83), she has been telling the Origin and Creation Stories of the Diné people for the past 20 years.

Having Diné (Navajo) as her first language, Dooley is one of the primary storytellers to interpret her people’s stories with their rich cultural, traditional and historical context for English-speaking audiences. Her stories come from her matrilineal clan, the Saltwater People.

Diné stories create a world view of people and their relationship to their surroundings, bringing to them an understanding of why things are as they are and linking the wisdom of the past and present to the future. The stories, called Hané, are believed to recreate the world each time they are told – an art form that is not only precious but sacred.

Wild at Heart: Ernest Thompson Seton is an original exhibition celebrating the legendary author, artist and conservationist. The exhibit is presented with special support from the Academy for the Love of Learning, home of the Seton Legacy Project in Santa Fe. Funding for the exhibit and programming events was made possible by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs; National Park Service/Save Our Treasures Grant Program; Museum of New Mexico Foundation; New Mexico History Museum Opening Gala Committee; Phyllis and Edward Gladden Endowment Fund; Herzstein Family Endowment Fund; and the Palace Guard.