Robert Wilson, a distinguished local flute player, is the 2025 winner of the Apache Jii Festival poster contest. His design is a tribute to his mother, Hyacinth Wilson, a San Carlos basketweaver, who sold her goods at the annual Apache Jii (formerly Apache Days) in Globe for more than 30 years.
“She was always there at the event, selling the baskets,” Robert says.
Hyacinth Wilson passed away in February. She learned to weave from her mother. Robert has seen her designs in the Heard Museum and integrates them into his artwork as background objects.
Robert wasn’t taught to weave but he learned where to go, by the river and in the mountains, to cut the sticks his mother needed for her craft. He knew which ones were good for color, the center, the patterns.
Today, he’s a freelance graphic designer. Many of his works take traditional arts and bring them into the modern era. Robert’s winning artwork, depicting the basketweaver at work, was originally an acrylic painting, done a while ago and left sitting around, unfinished.
“I wanted to do something, so I got out that old painting,” he says.
He photographed it, uploaded it into an art program and used digital effects to create the final look for this year’s festival poster.
It was at Apache Jii when Robert first heard the sound of the flute. Captivated, he told his mother about it. She said that when she could, she’d get him a flute. Robert continued to watch and listen. A flute maker at a festival in Phoenix was impressed by Robert’s interest and offered the one he was currently making for $20. Robert ran to tell his mother, and despite her skepticism, Hyacinth gave him $20, and he acquired his first flute.
He had no idea how to play the instrument, so he asked his mother. She laughed and told him to "pray about it."
He learned to play and make his own sounds and was performing locally at a young age. On a school field trip to the Tonto cliff dwellings, his teacher asked him to play his flute along the trail. Years later, by popular demand, he still plays there on free days.
He was only 10 when he first played at Apache Jii. More than 20 years later, Robert remembers how nervous he was to perform.
“My Mom always had a booth near the center,” says Robert. “It was a comfort.”
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