ONE HUNDRED SUMMERS: READING A KIOWA CALENDAR€¦ · Summers: A Kiowa Calendar Record (Univ. of...

FEA Newsletter February 2010

ONE HUNDRED SUMMERS: READING A KIOWA CALENDAR

A lecture by Candace Greene, Ph.D.Sunday, February 14, 2010, 10 a.m.Marin Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael

This illustrated lecture will explore a pictorial calendar, or winter count. The gifted artist Silver Horn(Haungooah) drew this rare chronicle of Kiowa history. Dr. Candace Greene will explain how she deci-phered the meaning of this history, recorded only in pictures, which traces one hundred years of Kiowahistory from 1828 to 1928. These tiny pictures provide a native perspective on events ranging from horseraids in Mexico to service in the first World War, tracing Kiowa life from buffalo hunts to car wrecks.

The Kiowa Indians are one of two peoples north of Mexico (the others were the Teton Sioux andthe related Yanktonai) who kept calendars. These consisted of pictographs that served as mnemonicdevices to record the most important events of a year. They are sometimes referred to as winter counts,as the year was measured out by winters; but the events covered might happen at any time during theyear. These winter counts, painted on buffalo and cow hides, are unusual in giving a record of historicaland proto-historical events from the Indian perspective. In addition, they are visually compelling. JamesMooney wrote about the Kiowa calendar in 1898; Dr. Greene is the first person to address it since then,and presents new material.

Candace S. Greene (PhD, University of Oklahoma, 1985; MA, BrownUniversity, 1977) is an ethnologist with the Department of Anthropology in theSmithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and adjunct faculty atGeorge Washington University. She specializes in the study of Plains pictorialart and is particularly interested in issues of representation and in the recog-nition of individual agency in historic art and material culture.

She is the author of many publications, including One HundredSummers: A Kiowa Calendar Record (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2009) andSilver Horn: Master Illustrator of the Kiowa (Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2001),and senior editor of The Year the Stars Fell: Lakota Winter Counts at theSmithsonian (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2007). She curated a companion onlineexhibit, Lakota Winter Counts, which was honored by the United Nations with a World Summit Award in2005.

She was President of the Native American Art Studies Association from 2007 to 2009 and is amember of the board of the Council for Museum Anthropology. She serves on the editorial boards ofMuseum Anthropology and American Indian Art Magazine. She has recently developed and directs theSummer Institute in Museum Anthropology, a research training program based at the Smithsonian.

[Photo: Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma]

FEA Newsletter – February 2010 – P.O. Box 192430, San Francisco CA 94119 – www.friendsofethnicart.org

MINI-SYMPOSIUM:

SCIENTIFIC TESTING OF ART AND TEXTILES

Thursday, February 11, 2010, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum, San Francisco

An international line-up of scholars will speak about some of the major scientific techniques used toanalyze works of art and textiles. Their presentations will highlight the advantages and limitations ofscientific testing in attempting to answer questions of provenance, dating, authenticity, and conservation.

Christina Hellmich: Applying Science to Our Understanding and Interpretation of Museum Artworks Curator of Oceanic Art and the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art, Fine Arts Museums of SanFrancisco. Dr. Mark Gilberg: Perspectives on Resolving Authenticity and Provenance Issues Director of the Suzanne D. Booth and David G. Booth Conservation Center at the Los Angeles CountyMuseum of Art.

Dr. Sonia O’Connor: Toy Stories to Textile Stories: The Benefits of X-Ray Vision Research Fellow in Conservation at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Greg Hodgins: Radiocarbon Dating Museum Objects Assistant Research Scientist and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the National ScienceFoundation – Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Jürg Rageth: From Visual Guesstimate to Scientific Estimate: A Turkmen Tent Band Revisited Independent Researcher of Oriental Carpets and Textiles based in Riehen, Switzerland.

Dilys Johns: Conservation of Pre-European Waterlogged Organic Artifacts and Their Context inAotearoa, New Zealand Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Lesley Bone: Question-and-Answer Session Objects Conservator, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

This Symposium is supported in part by Friends of Ethnic Art. It has been organized by the ConservationDepartment of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art; theDepartment of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas; and the Caroline and H. McCoy JonesDepartment of Textile Arts. Fee Information: Tickets are $10 for general public, $5 for museum and FEA members, FAMSF docentsfree.

Event Contact: Arielle Hambrecht, [email protected]


“Ritual Ecology, Ideology and Rulership in Moche Culture”

by Dr. Steve BourgetAssociate Professor, Department of Art and Art History,

University of Texas, Austin

January 10, 2010Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum, San Francisco

Reviewed By Michel Quenon

In a most rewarding Land Memorial lecture in late 2008, Dr.Steve Bourget led us through the recovery process of a major arch-aeological discovery at Huaca el Pueblo in the coastal desert ofNorthern Peru. The funerary bundle of the Lord of Ucupe, a high-ranking Moche individual, contained an astounding number of dia-dems, masks, necklaces and other ornaments, all displaying com-plex iconography. In the ensuing question and answer session,Steve gave tantalizing tidbits as to the meaning of these intricateartworks, leaving us wanting to hear more about this subject.

Since then, detailed research by Steve and his team con-firms earlier suggestions that ecological disruption brought byperiodic El Niño events played a major role in the development ofMoche ideology and rulership. The Northern coast of Peru is abarren plain which normally receives very little rain in non-El Niñoyears. Yet researchers have been puzzled by the fact that majorritual sacrifices seemed to have taken place in wet El Niñoweather. For example, the main plaza at Huaca de la Luna showsthe skeletons of numerous sacrificial victims embedded in layersof mud, all sacrificed during a single ritual event. Moreover, theexquisite regalia found in elite burials, like that of the Lord of Ucupe, overwhelmingly depicts animalspecies that are associated with El Niño events. These species are also frequently painted onceramic bottles or on temple walls. Therefore, several questions arise. Was ritual warfare, and itssubsequent mass sacrifice, timed with El Niño events, or was the association purely coincidental?Why did high-ranking individuals and Moche rulers choose to adorn themselves with depictions of ElNiño-related animal species? The methodology followed to answer these questions was, at first, tostudy the ecological aspect of an El Niño event.

The arrival of El Niño has a tremendous impact on local animal species, forcing behavioralchanges for some and high mortality for others. The warm sea waters from Ecuador, by displacingthe cold Humboldt currents and their abundant fish population, directly affect seabirds and sea lions.These are either forced to move away or die in great numbers. Yet, the same warm currents bringincreased humidity, rainfall and fertility to usually parched coastal lands. An explosion in rodent popu-lations ensues, providing a bounty for boas, owls, and other predators. During these harsh times, theconcept of duality—here the duality of life and death—is very much apparent as some local speciesbenefit while others are adversely affected. This is an aspect that did not go unnoticed by the Mocheas they frequently depicted these species on exquisitely painted ceramic vessels. Painted motifsshow the bodies of dead seabirds and gastropods as well as condors feeding on dead sea lions. Thepresence of condors on the coastal beaches is an uncommon sight in non-El Niño years. The killing

Moche octopus mask from the tomb of the Lord of Ucupe


of sea lions, either by human beings or via climactic changes, is actually a metaphor for the killing ofsacrificial victims, which is another typical subject painted on ceramics. Decimated local seabirdspecies that normally would not share the same territory are now found clustered together on rockypoints in a desperate search for food. A ceramic bottle shows them flocking together around a reedfishing boat, another unusual behavior. The fact that the Moche chose to record these scenes indi-cates that they truly understood the ecological changes caused by El Niño but also that these wereintricately connected with their ritual life.

Another major aspect of the upheaval caused by El Niño is the arrival of foreign animalspecies. Several ceramic vessels depict the fishing of eagle, manta and Pacific cownose rays as wellas gatita and tiger sharks. Other bottles are shaped like the green spiny lobster, normally found offthe coast of Ecuador, or show leatherback turtles and giant seahorses. None of these species arenormally encountered locally except during El Niño weather. Besides being foreign, they are of alarger size in contrast to the local species.

A gold nose ornament from the La Mina site depicts a large swimming crab, recognizable by itstwo paddled legs. This intruder appears exclusively during El Niño, replacing the smaller local crabspecies, which is wiped out. Other foreign invaders that accompany El Niño are the Northern speciesof iguana, conus, and strombus seashells, all from Ecuador. Strombus seashells are, in the icono-graphy, strongly associated with Moche rulership. This association stems from the fact that actualstrombus shells or ceramic musical instruments in the shape of strombus shells were played duringritual blood sacrifice in scenes depicted on ceramics.

Not all local animal species are adversely affected by El Niño weather. Some actually thrive.As already mentioned, in times of El Niño, the increased humidity makes it possible to farm the land,thus causing a rodent population explosion. This increase in food supply causes predators, like theowls, to change their hunting behavior. Moche were very much aware of these changes as they sawthe beheading of rodents by owls as a metaphor for the decapitation of sacrificial victims. This mayexplain the overwhelming plethora of owl imagery in the regalia of Moche rulers and other high-ranking individuals. Other local species that reproduce well in times of El Niño are the Andeancondor, the puffer fish, catfish, octopus and the borracho (Scartichthys gigas) fish, the head of whichcontains a toxin. Responding to an increase in insect population, spiders—and one species (Agiopeargentata) in particular—grow in number. The X-like profile of Agiope argentata waiting on its web forprey seems to have been the model for the shape of Moche diadems and other body ornaments.Even the intricate complexity of the spider’s web design was incorporated in the zigzag cutout ofdiadems worn by Moche lords. Evidently, the wearing of head ornaments in the shape of spiders,octopus and crabs conveys the idea of warfare and capture. The head of the ruler at the center ofthese X- or V-shaped diadems would have looked like a spider waiting in ambush.

The high humidity level of El Niño triggers the appearance of Leishmaniasis, a disease carriedby sand flies. Infected people develop skin sores which can lead to severe disfiguration of the face,affecting the nose and mouth. These conditions were depicted on portrait-head vessels, including aremarkable example in the shape of a potato but with human facial features. Many of these deformedrepresentations relate to ritual mutilation and recall the concept of duality mentioned earlier, hererepresented by the living death.

The detailed study of funerary bundles of important Moche people along with sacrificial scenespainted on ceramics has allowed researchers to identify the rank and function occupied by these indi-viduals. These clues also shed some light on Moche ritual practices and ideology. According to SteveBourget, Moche rulers and high ranking individuals used El Niño-related iconography to differentiatethemselves from their subjects—that is, as being of a different class and origin. Furthermore, theyincorporated the powerful aspects of El Niño events into their ritual warfare and sacrifice. And by co-opting El Niño imagery, they identified themselves as having come from distant lands. This theme offoreign origin to justify rulership is actually a common one and is well documented in Oceanicsocieties, where the mythical arrival of strangers by sea abounds in oral accounts.


FRIENDS OF ETHNIC ART EVENTS

Scholarship Proposal Presentation for American Indian StudentsSunday, February 14, 2010, immediately after Dr. Candace Greene’s lecture on a Kiowa calendar,Marin Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael

Dr. Greene will describe the biennial conference of the Native American Art Studies Associ-ation. There is a need for a scholarship so that Native American students can have the opportunity toattend. FEA members are encouraged to attend and express their views.

Polly Nooter Roberts: “A Touch of Insight: Tactility and Transcendence in African Art” Friday, March 26, 2010, 7:00 pm, Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum

Arts of Africa are multisensory. Touch and tactility are integral tothe experience of many kinds of objects. Visual effects of such tactileengagement may be smooth or worn surfaces or accumulated and“integumented” ones—that is, “skins” of or thresholds to powers within.Tactility is not just skin-deep. The act of touching a work of art can some-times lead to insight. Through examples of Luba art from the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo and other cultures of central and west Africa, Dr.Roberts will trace the complex aesthetic practices that link tactility to theattainment of inner vision.

Polly Nooter Roberts is Professor of Culture and Performance inUCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures. She holds a PhD in ArtHistory from Columbia University and served as Senior Curator at theMuseum for African Art in New York until 1994 and as Deputy Directorand Chief Curator of UCLA’s Fowler Museum until 2008. Roberts is theauthor and curator of thematic books and exhibitions that explore thephilosophical underpinnings of African visual arts and and performance-based arts, with emphasis on arts of memory and inscription, healing anddivination, and the translation of cultural experience into museum exhi-bitions. Her exhibitions and books include Secrecy: African Art that Con-ceals and Reveals (1993); Exhibition-ism: Museums and African Art with

S. Vogel (1994); Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art with C. Kreamer etal. (2007); Continental Rifts: Contemporary Time-Based Works of Africa (2009); and with Allen F.Roberts, Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History (1996), which won the College Art Association'sAlfred Barr Award for museum scholarship; and A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal(2003). In 2007, she was decorated as a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic ofFrance for her promotion of art and artists of francophone Africa.

Roberts’s two major research areas have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,where she conducted dissertation research among Luba peoples for two years, and Senegal, whereshe has conducted research since 1994 with Allen F. Roberts on a Sufi movement called the MourideWay. A new project focuses on the visual and expressive arts associated with a South Asian saintnamed Shirdi Sai Baba, and his devotional diasporas in the Indian Ocean World.

Manuel Jordan: “Revisiting Chokwe: A Historiography of Chokwe Art”Friday, April 30, 2010, 7:00 p.m., Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum.

This lecture focuses on the body of documentation on the art of Chokwe and related peoplesgathered by scholars and ethnographers since the 19th century, leading to definitions of Chokwestyles and typologies of royal versus peoples' art. The presentation considers the competing (and

Luba diviner in a state of spirit

possession, holding her

divination instruments.

Photo: Mary N. Roberts, 1989


often conflicting) contexts and sources of influence for what wehave come to identify as Chokwe art.

Manuel A. Jordan received his PhD from the University ofIowa, where he studied under Allen Roberts. He was Curator ofArts of Africa and the Americas at the Birmingham Art Museumfrom 1993 to 2001, and Phyllis Wattis Curator of the Arts of Africa,Oceania, and the Americas at the Cantor Arts Center, StanfordUniversity, from 2001 to 2007. He has also taught classes on art,divination, and cosmology of Africa at Stanford University.

Dr. Jordan is currently an independent scholar, and Directorof Art Central Africa, in Miami, Florida, specializing in art from theRepublic of Congo, DRC, and Angola; the gallery also carries artfrom Peru and the Amazon. He has done extensive fieldwork1991-2006 among the cultures of Angola, Botswana, Zambia, andthe southern Congo, with the Chokwe, Lunda, Luvale, Lwena, andrelated peoples, focusing especially on masking ceremonies anddivination rites. He has also done research in Belgium, Germany,and Portugal in museums, private collections, and with archivalmaterials.

Dr. Jordan’s publications include the forthcoming “Angola,” in Berg Encyclopedia of WorldDress and Fashion (Berg, Oxford); “Guiding Tradition: King Ishindi’s Royal Collection” in CollectionsJournal (The University of Iowa); 100 Makishi: Mask Characters of Zambia (University of CaliforniaPress); Ngombo: Divination Arts of Central Africa (Fred Jahn, Munich); The Kongo Kingdom(Scholastic Library Press); Chokwe! Art and Initiation Among Chokwe and Related Peoples (PrestelPublications, Munich); and many other publications.

If you have events you would like to have included in the FEA Newsletter, please send informationto the newsletter editor, Carol Paxson, [email protected], or to Friends of Ethnic Art, P.O. Box192430, San Francisco, CA 94119-2430. We will include the information as space allows.

ADMISSION TO FEA EVENTS:

Unless otherwise noted, lectures and museum admission are free of charge. Bring a friend!

MEMBERSHIP:

FEA welcomes those who are interested in ethnic art to join us. In recognition of difficult economictimes, you may join in the membership year September 2009 through August 2010 at no expense.Simply send your name, address, phone, and email to our President and Membership Chair, Jo Floyd,[email protected], or mail the information to the address above. We use phone and email only asan efficient way to contact you personally about FEA events.

CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGE?:

Please let us know by sending your new contact information (mail and/or e-mail address) to the FEAaddress (above) or to Jo Floyd at [email protected].


FALL PARTY AND AUCTION A GREAT SUCCESS!

Almost a hundred FEA members and guestsattended our annual Fall event at Holbrook-Palmer Park inAtherton on September 27, 2009. In keeping with thisyear’s theme of The Americas, we sat outside under theoaks and enjoyed scrumptious Oaxacan delicacies whilethe Andean music group Kusicuna serenaded us withstrings and flutes. The Oaxacan Kitchen of Palo Alto sup-plied unpronounceable tasties such as memelas, tlayuda,salmon asado and more, with the tortillas cooked onsite inthe “comal,” the Oaxacan oven. The mostly Peruvian

tunes were provided by four musicians playing guitar,charango (smaller guitar), drums, and the kena (flute).

As a joint event with the party, attendees touredthe fine collection of Marsden and Elizabeth Blois at theirhome near the party site. More people participated in thishome tour than in any other in FEA history. Many in thecrowd at the Blois home commented on how aestheticallyand historically stimulated they felt to see the magnificentcollection of ceramic vessels from all over the world—andespecially the Pre-Columbian Americas. The tour was sopopular, in fact, that enthusiasts stayed well over thehour-long expected time, forsaking other duties andpleasures back at the park.

We made money, too. From the 129 lots dividedbetween a silent auction (new this year) and the traditionallive auction, we brought in a total of more than $11,000,almost exactly the same total as the 2008 auction (takethat, Recession!). The famous FEA rock (Paloalticusfe’arundum) has found a new home for the year with Johnand Susan Ristow, who will treasure it and have theirnames inscribed on its base.

A huge THANK YOU to Marsden and ElizabethBlois for opening their beautiful home and collection to ourmembership. We are very lucky to have you amongst us.

Another huge THANK YOU to the donors who made thisauction possible through their generosity. Every year we areastounded and amazed by what our members are able to offer to therest of us for our enjoyment and edification.

And THANK YOU to the enthusiastic bidders (all forty of you)whose willingness to express your enthusiasm for this art by buying itmakes our event a success every year.

And finally, THANK YOU to all of the volunteers who made thelogistics of this event work so smoothly. Your hard work and carefulattention benefit all of us and the organizations and events wesupport.

[Thanks to Warren Thornthwaite for the photos.]

Good food, good company

Looking things over

Jaap the Auctioneer

Elizabeth plans to bid


NEW FEA BROCHURE!

FEA is in the process of putting together a new membership brochure. The

intention is to have a convenient way to give out information about the organi-

zation to potential members, speakers or contributors who may be unfamiliar with

what we do, and to anyone who expresses an interest. New Board member

Cecily Harris has been instrumental in getting production underway and shep-

herding the process along. Board members Enrique Klein, Jaap Bongers, Scott

McCue, Susan Evoy, Jerry Jacob, Jo Floyd and Dave DeRoche have also con-

tributed their expert knowledge, striking images, and institutional memory to the

project. Thank you to everyone involved!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

You are invited to help staff the FEA tables at the Tribal W eek events. The shifts

are two hours long. As those of you who have done this in the past know, we try to

have two people at the table for each shift. Please email Marsden Blois the time slot

you want (giving a first and a second choice) and he will try to accomodate your first

choice. At the Fort Mason show, our time slots are 11 to 1, 1 to 3, 3 to 5, and 5 to 7 on

Friday (February 12th) and Saturday (February 13) and 11 to 1, 1 to 3, and 3 to 5 on

Sunday (February 14).

Since the Marin Indian Show is the same weekend, we are at this same time asking

for volunteers for the Marin Show FEA table. The time slots are Saturday (February

13th) at 10 to 12, 12 to 2, 2 to 4, and 4 to 6; and Sunday (February 14th) 11 to 1, 1 to

3, and 3 to 5.

Volunteers receive free admission to the show or FEA reimbursement for the show

fee. Contact Marsden Blois to volunteer: [email protected] or (408) 286-9700. Thank

you!

NEW BOOKS COLUMN

In this first 2010 FEA newsletter, we are pleased to announce a new feature to come

in future issues: Books of Interest will review recent tribal arts titles, highlight

promising upcoming publications, and recommend reading from members’ favorites.

W e welcome all FEA members and any ethnic art aficionados not only to read this

new feature, but also to consider contributing to it. All submissions will be considered

for publication. W e advise conferring with our Publications Committee in advance:

contact Cecily Harris at [email protected] or (650) 593-3281.

EAGER TO DONATE TO THIS YEAR’S AUCTION?

Do you have tribal pieces that need a new home now? Board member Enrique

Klein has offered to store future auction items in his warm, dry basement. If you

are ready to donate objects for next Fall's FEA Auction, Enrique would be happy

to store them for you. In order to keep track of the objects, you will need to fill out

the donation form as usual (available from Board members). If you need help

with transportation, an FEA Board member who lives closer to you can transfer

the objects to Enrique, who lives in the South Bay. To work out the details,

contact Enrique at [email protected] or (650) 559-7477. Thank you!


LECTURES AND STUDY GROUPS

Lecture: The Art of Maya Weaving (Margot Schevill)Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC BerkeleyFebruary 18, 2010, 7:30 pm.

Ms. Schevill is a textile scholar and FEA member. The lecture will include a demonstration of abackstrap loom by a Maya weaver.

TEXTILE ARTS COUNCIL EVENTS:

(Events are free to Textile Arts Council members, $10 general, $5 for FAMSF members and students.Tickets available at the door.)

Lecture: Primitivism and Abstraction in Persian Tribal Flatweaves (Alberto Levi)February 13, 2010, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Mr. Levi is a rug scholar and owner of the Alberto Levi Gallery, Milan. (Koret Auditorium, deYoung Museum)

Lecture: Bast Fibers of Japan: From Tafu to Jofu (Melissa Rinne) March 20, 2010, 10:00 a.m.

Melissa Rinne is Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Asian Art Museum. Fibers longrelegated in the West to industrial and utilitarian use have an ancient and elegant tradition in Japan.(Gould Theater, Legion of Honor)

Discussion: Insight and InspirationApril 17, 2010, 10:00 a.m.

A panel of Studio Art Quilt Associates artists discuss their careers in fiber (moderated by JudithContent) (Koret Auditorium, de Young Museum)

7th Annual Carol Walter Sinton Program for Craft Art: Traditional Yup'ik Eskimo Designs inContemporary Clothing (Vernon L. Chimegalrea)June 26, 2010, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Mr. Chimegalrea is a cultural activist, broadcaster and native Alaskan (Yup'ik). He has workedwith the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Hands Across Alaska, and the Smithsonian National Museumof the American Indian, and has coordinated performance and outreach programs among the nativepeoples of his state and juried the All-Alaska Native Art Show. (Koret Auditorium, de YoungMuseum)

FOR TEXTILE ARTS COUNCIL MEMBERS:

Ethnic Textiles Study Group 2010 PresentationsMeetings are generally at 2 p.m.

January 30 – Sue Willows-Raznikov – Cuna Art: MolaFebruary 27 – Sally Forelli – Turkish RugsApril 24 – Terri McClain – Sugar Cane, Basho and Silk: Tradition and Innovation in OkinawaJune 19 – Ruth Anderson - Japanese Paste Resist: TsutsugakiJuly 24 – Carol and Griff Nelson – Qashgar RugsSeptember 25 – Nancy Russell - Baby wraps and carriers


OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST

Please note: Although we have done our best to provide accurate time and date information, do check before you go, in

order to avoid disappointment.

Tribal Arts Weekend - February 12, 13 & 14, 2010

Tribal Arts W eekend visitors will gain admission to both the Fort Mason and Marin shows with the purchase of one ticket

($15) at either show. Tickets are available at the door.

The San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts Show

Opening Preview: February 11, 2010, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. (benefits the Departments of Textile Arts and the Art of Africa,

Oceania, and the Americas at the de Young Museum)

Show: February 12, 13 &14: Friday & Saturday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Fort Mason Center, San Francisco

Ticket Info: http://www.caskeylees.com/SF_Tribal/Preview.html

The Marin Show: Art of the Americas

Opening Preview: February 12, 2010, 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. (benefits Homeward Bound of Marin)

Show: February 13 & 14: Saturday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Marin Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael

ADVANCE TICKETS SUGGESTED: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/91433

Debuting this year is the umbrella organization Arte du Monde SF, which provides information and a calendar of related

events at http://www.artedumondesf.com:

The San Francisco Arts of the Pacific Asia Show

Opening Preview: February 4, 2010, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. (benefits the Education Programs of the Asian Art Museum Chong-

Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture)

Show: February 5, 6 & 7: Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Fort Mason Center - Festival Pavillion, Marina Blvd., San Francisco

Ticket Info: http://www.caskeylees.com/SF_Asia/Preview.html

Antique Tribal Art Dealers Assocation, Hosted Panel Discussion:

“Collectors, Dealers, Museums and the Law”

Thursday, February 11, 2010, 12 noon

Marin Civic Center, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael

The panel features members of the judicial, legal, academ ic and museum communities as well as two representatives

from the tribal art dealer community (American Indian and world tribal). Aimed toward collectors, dealers and the general

public, the discussion’s purpose is to increase awareness of cultural property laws as well as the legal responsibilities of

collectors, dealers and museums (where many collections find a final resting place).

This discussion is sponsored by the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association (ATADA). Panelists include: Kate Fitz

Gibbon, a Santa Fe attorney specializing in cultural patrimony issues; Mark Johnson, a Los Angeles tribal art dealer con-

sidered one of the principal specialists in the United States on the tribal arts of Indonesia and Southeast Asia; and Signa

Larralde, State Archaeologist in the Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Office. ATADA is hoping to add a

U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson and a museum professional to the panel.

Admission to Collectors, Dealers, Museums & the Law is free, but space will be limited. For reservations, call (415)

925-3717 and leave a message.

Bonhams and Butterfields, Fine African, Oceanic, & Pre-Columbian Art Auction

Preview: February 9, 10 & 11, 2010, 12 noon - 5 p.m.; Sale: February 12, 2010, 10 a.m.

220 San Bruno Ave, San Francisco

http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r?sContinent =USA&screen=Catalogue&iSaleNo=17781

Marin Museum of the American Indian:

A Thousand Years of Southwestern Pottery

Through February 2010. Open Tuesday-Friday, 12 noon - 5 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 12 noon - 4 p.m.

2200 Novato Blvd, Novato - http://www.marinindian.com/

This exhibit shows ancient and modern examples and emphasizes the connections between the ancient pieces and

contemporary art.


Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley: Traje de la Vida: Maya

Textiles of Guatemala

Closes February 21, 2010. Open W ednesday-Saturday, 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.;

Sunday, 12 noon - 4 p.m.

http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/index.php

This exhibition was curated by FEA member Margot Blum Schevill. FEA also

provided funding for Jeffrey Jay Foxx, the ethnographic photographer, to give a

related talk and provide photos for the exhibit and the associated book The

Maya Textile Tradition. See Lectures and Study Groups in this newsletter for

an upcoming talk related to the exhibit.

SF Museum of Craft and Folk Art:

Rhythm and Hues: Cloth and Culture of Mali

February 5 - May 2, 2010. Open Monday - Friday (closed W ednesday): 11 a.m. -

6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

51 Yerba Buena Lane, San Francisco (@ Mission Street between Third &

Fourth)

http://www.mocfa.org/

The W est African country of Mali is home to more fiber artists and designers

than most other countries of the world. This exhibition gives long overdue recog-

nition to the talented Africans who create stunning fabrics and other art, by

showing brilliant contemporary examples of their work.

Treasures from The Mexican Museum: A Spirited Legacy

Through April 18, 2010. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m, Sunday 1 p.m. - 5 p.m., and Thursday 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto - (650) 329-2366

http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/depts/csd/activities_and_recreation/attractions/art_center/default.asp

The Mexican Museum in San Francisco is the first and the oldest operating museum outside of Mexico to exhibit

Mexican and Mexican-American art and culture. W hile the Museum in San Francisco is closed for their move to a new

building, this exhibit provides a wonderful opportunity to view a wide representation of The Mexican Museum's five focal

areas of acquisition: Pre-Conquest (Pre-Hispanic or Pre-Columbian) Art; Art of Colonial Mexico (1521-1821); Modern and

Contemporary Mexican and Latino Art; Arte Popular (Folk or Popular Art) and Chicano Art. The installation is arranged

thematically, with the Emblems of Spirituality area including ritual figures and miniature stone masks from the Ancient

Americas in W est Mexico and Peru.

Bead Society of Northern California: Bead Bazaar 2010

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Oakland Marriott City Center, 10th & Broadway, Oakland

http://www.beadsocietyofnorcal.org/

An annual event that brings together over 120 vendors selling beads, beadwork, jewelry, buttons, tools and supplies.

Northwest Coast Indian Art

The Mills Building, 220 Montgomery Street, San Francisco

Open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

The exhibition is in the foyer of the building and is curated by FEA member Margot Blum Schevill and Artsource.

And further afield:

Fowler Museum at UCLA:

Fowler in Focus: Courtly and Urban Batik from Java

May 23, 2010 to September 5, 2010

http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/incEngine/

Drawn from the Fowler Museum’s extensive holdings of Indonesian textiles, the refined batiks made in Java’s royal

courts or urban workshops stand in contrast to the rustic rural batiks of Kerek. The pieces range from an impressively large

skirt cloth for a Javanese sultan to a slim and elegant silk scarf regarded as suitable for an itinerant entertainer or other

women of questionable repute. The cosmopolitan nature of Java’s north coast trading ports is evidenced by cloths

intended for such diverse purposes as Islamic banners for the Sumatran market or alter cloths for the Chinese community

residing in Java.

© foxxarchive.com

Friends of Ethnic Art, founded in 1974, provides a focalpoint in the Bay Area for those interested in the traditionalarts of Africa, Oceania, Central Asia and the Americas. FEAis a non-profit, educational, open-membership organizationthat offers illustrated lectures by noted speakers, socialevents and other programs to expand awareness of humanexpression in these traditional native arts. FEA has co-operative relationships with museums, universities andgalleries in Northern California, as well as with noted aca-demics and collectors worldwide. Our membership includesscholars, museum professionals, artists, dealers, privatecollectors and other enthusiasts drawn to this field. FEA isdedicated to the continued advancement of education about

and appreciation of the traditional arts of Africa, Oceania, Central Asia and the Americas.

MEMBER BENEFITS:

K A full annual calendar of illustrated scholarly lectures

K Insider views of museum exhibits and curator-led tours

K Visits and field trips to private collections, museums and galleries in the Bay Area and beyond

K Annual Ethnic Art Auction and Party

K Member newsletter with reviews of our lectures, highlights of upcoming events, news of specialprograms and ethnic art related activities

K The opportunity to make new friends with similar interests at informal FEA social events, in FEAsocial networks, by volunteering at FEA activities, and by working with the FEA Board of Directors

All FEA membership dues and income support the full range of FEA educational, social, and specialinterest activities and grants.

Friends of Ethnic Art

P. O. Box 192430

San Francisco CA 94119-2430

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