AMERICAN INDIAN ART EXIBIT IN TULSA
BravesHeart
By CLAYTON BELLAMY
.c The Associated Press
TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) - American Indian artists and their backers have long
lamented the genre's classification as craft or as artifacts of receding
cultures.
An exhibit of pieces that take American Indian art toward the mainstream while
still adhering to tradition hopes to change all that.
``This is one of the larger and first exhibits seeking to place Native American
art in the broader context of American art,'' said Christine Kallenberger,
curator of ``Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation.''
Placards describing the pieces in ``Changing Hands,'' which opened Sunday at
The Philbrook Art Museum in Tulsa, won't even identify the artist's tribe.
``That's not part of this show,'' Kallenberger said. ``That's an approach
toward Native American art and artists that we don't apply to others in
American art. It underscores that this is a whole new attitude.''
The exhibit, on loan from the American Craft Museum in New York City with
artwork donated largely by individual collectors, is on view until March 16. It
showed previously at Texas Tech University.
The artists create traditional artwork - pottery, wood carvings, rugs and
jewelry - but they approach the work with surprising imagery, unusual themes
and an emphasis on form over function.
``They're so much more innovative than a lot of the works you sometimes see,''
said Kristin Bucher, editor of Southwest Art magazine. ``This really proves
that Native American art belongs in the context of fine art and not just as
craft or artifact.''
Take ``Double-Spouted Jar,'' by Jacquie Stevens. The soft blue and pink pot's
uneven curves and its spouts that are too small for use.
``It's evocative of a traditional wedding jar with its two valves, but its
undulating, sensuous form and the color is different from the typical browns
and reds,'' Kallenberger said.
Or ``Dinosaur Rug,'' by Florence Riggs. The rug is colored with earth tones and
is coarsely woven, but it places pterodactyls, stegosauruses and
tyrannosauruses on its desert landscape.
Michael Dean Jenkins equipped his carved wood American Indian doll, called
``Zoot Suit Katsina,'' with a traditional mask as well as a tan, pinstriped
zoot suit and black and white wing tips. The artist said on the piece's placard
that it was inspired by old Hollywood movies, specifically the Joker character
in ``Batman.''
``This piece typifies how Native American artists live in two cultures that are
often warring but can also enrich each other,'' said Kallenberger.
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01/24/03 01:59 EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.