School spirit
Tohatchi cougar gets students excited
Artist Irving Bahe looks at the progress he's made on a mural on the side of the Tohatchi High School field press box, Oct. 2. As a 1986 graduate of Tohatchi High School, Bahe is donating the mural to the school. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

TOHATCHI — When Irving Bahe was young, he was written off by many people, but a few teachers at Tohatchi High School encouraged him to pursue his talents as an artist.

“Pretty much everyone wrote me off when I was young. I got into drugs and alcohol,” Bahe said.

“The teachers I had back then — some encouraged me to follow my art. At the time I didn’t pay attention to my talent,” he said naming Bruce Potts, Fern Spencer and Frank K. Katnia as influences while he was in school.

Now Bahe is an award-winning artist whose pieces sell for $500 to $4,000 to people from around the world. Two weeks ago, he painted a special mural for the high school he graduated from in 1986.

“This one was pretty much a labor of love,” he said of the mural.

Bahe, originally from Coyote Canyon, said that it is a way to give back to the community because the community helped him to become an artist.

“I had fun painting it and I really liked the reaction I got from students and people of Tohatchi,” he said.

The 25 foot by 16 foot mural, with a cougar’s face and the words “Cougar Country” written beside it, took Bahe five days to paint — just in time for Tohatchi’s homecoming game.

That was quite a feat considering it normally takes months to paint a mural. Bahe has had experience in the field. He also painted the Ceremonial mural across from the El Morro Theater in Gallup.

“I kind of doubted I would get it done in time,” he said.

Not helping matters, the weather was extremely hot the first day that he started and was windy on other days, making it difficult to paint the top portions of the mural.

“The first day I almost passed out,” Bahe said.

Through the challenges, Bahe painted six to eight hours each day, Monday through Friday.

Having to complete the mural in such a short amount of time and finishing it is a message to the students of Tohatchi High.

“It’s for the students — to inspire them, to encourage them,” Bahe said. “Just believe in yourself. You can do anything you want ... Anything is possible.”

Bahe knows what it’s like to have self-doubt.

“Ten years ago I was wishing I could have my painting at the Ceremonial. I said to myself, ‘I wish I was good enough to show there,’” he said.

Though he doubted himself, the first time he entered the Ceremonial show, he got a first place ribbon. Now his artwork is presented at the Ceremonial, the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum in Ruidoso.

Bahe was on hand for the unveiling at the homecoming game on Oct. 3.

“I was pretty happy because the students were really fired up about it. They were really excited. I wasn’t too sure what their reaction would be,” he said.

While the Booster Club initially asked Bahe to paint the 8 foot by 10 foot cougar, he went ahead and completed the writing, which took even longer to finish than the cougar part of the mural.

Bahe said that most people in the local area know him from the cartoons he used to draw for Gallup Lumber Company. He also designs jewelry and is experimenting with making and painting pottery.