Thaw Collection

The Thaw Collection: Masterpieces of American Indian Art March 7, 2010 - February 12, 2012

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York traveling exhibition entitled The Thaw Collection: Masterpieces of American Indian Art is currently scheduled to travel to three cities, bringing to light rarely seen treasures from the extensive holdings of The Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Collection of American Indian Art. The collection is widely recognized as one of the most important assemblages of this type in the world. The New York Times described it as “a collection any museum in the world should envy.”

The Thaw Collection: Masterpieces of American Indian Art is scheduled to travel to the following locations with more venues to be announced.

* The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (Mar. 7, 2010 - May 30, 2010)
* Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN (Oct. 24, 2010 - Jan. 9, 2011)
* Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN (Dec. 4, 2011 – Feb. 12, 2012)

The exhibition explores the extraordinarily diverse forms of visual expression in American Indian heritage. Organized by geographic culture areas, the objects were chosen both for their high artistic quality and to provide insight into the complex cultural, aesthetic and spiritual meanings embedded in the art. The objects date from well before first European contact to the present, and celebrate the continuing vitality of American Indian art.

“The collection has long been recognized as a national treasure. This traveling exhibition gives us the opportunity to finally share these significant works with a much larger, national audience,” said Paul D’Ambrosio, Vice President and Chief Curator at the Fenimore Art Museum.
Search the collection online

One important feature of the exhibit in Cleveland only is a basket by Louisa Keyser (Dat So La Lee), Washoe – A national treasure made by one of the most legendary basket-makers in North America.

A 120 page, full color catalog will accompany the exhibition.
Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection


This exhibition has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.

Edward S. Curtis and Zig Jackson photography exhibition ~ To expand upon "Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection", Cleveland Museum of Art will host a special photography exhibition in the museum’s East Wing drawing upon their complete set (20 bound volumes and 20 accompanying portfolios) of Edward S. Curtis’s landmark publication, The North American Indian, containing more than 2,200 photogravures. Two-thirds of the photography galleries will be devoted to the work of Edward S. Curtis featuring 30 of his large scale photogravures. The remainder will house the work of a contemporary Native American photographer, Zig Jackson, with 15 images from his series, Tribal Peoples. The exhibition will be on view from February 7 – May 30, 2010.

For more information about upcoming basketry events visit BasketMakers.com.

Paula Thorne 2010 Traditional Arts Master

The Maine Arts Commission recently announced the 2010 Traditional Arts Masters. Greg Boardman, a fiddler from Auburn, Thomas Cote, an Acadian woodcarver from Limestone, Normand Gagnon, a Quebecois accordionist from Rumford, Susan Barrett Merrill, a weaver and spinner from Brooksville, and Paula Thorne, a Penobscot basketmaker from Exeter will each teach their traditional arts to apprentices during the next 12 months.

Every community has cultural traditions worth preserving. Many times those cultural traditions are preserved by someone in the community who has mastered and practices a traditional art. Each year the Maine Arts Commission offers stipends to master traditional artists who are willing to teach an apprentice over a period of 8 to 12 months. The apprenticeships have been used by basket makers, fiddle players, step dancers, ox yoke makers, snowshoe makers, and ballad singers, just to name a few. For their work teaching, the master artist receives a $4000 stipend which is funded through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Folk and Traditional Arts program.

Master Penobscot basket maker Paula Thorne, from Exeter, will be teaching her apprentice, Emily Bell, how to collect and prepare the brown ash tree for basket making. Known as the 'basket tree,' brown ash provides the best natural material for making splints, the pliable strips of wood used for weaving baskets. According to Thorne, selecting and preparing 'your materials' is one of the most difficult parts of mastering traditional basketry.

For information about any of the Maine Arts Commission's Traditional Arts programs, visit www.MaineArts.com.

For more information about Black ash basketry visit www.BasketMakers.com.

2009 Basket Calendar ~ November

2009 Basket Calendar ~ November
Originally uploaded by BasketMakers

I have created a set of 2009 Basketry Calendar pages that are sized to print out on 8.5" x 11" paper. Here is the page for the month of November. You can view the rest of them on http://www.flickr.com/photos/basketmakers/ and see more basketry graphics on http://basketmakers.com/topics/graphics/graphicsmenu.htm

ON EARTH TO STAY EXHIBIT

On Earth to Stay, an exhibit planned in recognition of Native American Heritage month will run November 6 through December 12, 2009 at La Quinta Museum, 77885 Avenida Montezuma, La Quinta, CA. The exhibit, presented by La Quinta Arts Foundation, La Quinta Historical Society and La Quinta Museum will be accompanied by a series of lectures, demonstrations and events, free to the public. (See full event list below)

The exhibit features an extensive collection of Native American basketry and artifacts from the collections of artist David Salk, along with Salk’s contemporary ceramic interpretations of Native American baskets.

A native of Palm Springs, Salk preserves the intricate work of Native American women of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s by replicating antique basket designs in long lasting high fire pottery. Salk’s painstaking research to accurately depict these designs has been recognized by the Museum of National History in Santa Barbara.

Also on display will be photographs and writings of George Wharton James (1858-1923). James was a prolific lecturer and journalist, writing more than forty books and many articles and pamphlets on California and the American Southwest. Characteristics of James’ writing included romanticism, an enthusiasm for natural environments, idealization of aboriginal lifeways and health faddism in such works as Basket Makers published in Sunset, A Magazine of the Border, 1901, A Saboba Origin-Myth (1902), Through Ramona’s Country (1909) and James’ most venerated work The Wonders of the Colorado Desert (1906).

The exhibit is open all regular hours of the museum, Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 4pm. For more information or reservations, call 760-777-7170

Special Events are as follows:

06 November – Opening Reception 5 pm to 7 pm
Southern California Bird Singers perform traditional songs of the
Desert Cahuilla people. Meet Artist David Salk and Coachella Valley
resident Dennis Wharton James, descendant of George Wharton James.

07 November – 10 am to 12 noon Lecture and Native
American Basketry Demonstration by Alice Kotzen, noted artist
and author. Limited to 30, reservations required to 760-777-7170.

12 November – 5 pm to 6 pm “Mukat’s People:The Story
of the Cahuilla” by Ginger Ridgway, Curator/Director of Programs,
Aqua Caliente Cultural Museum.

19 November – 5 pm to 6 pm “Literary Bounty in an Arid
Land: the weave of Coachella Valley geography, Cahuilla culture, and desert
art in the writings of George Wharton James.” Lecture/discussion by Ruth
M. Nolan, M.A. Associate Professor of English, College of the Desert.

03 December – 10:30 am to 12 noon “A Taste of the
Desert” by Tracy Albrecht, Interpretive Specialist, Santa Rosa and San
Jacinto Mountains National Monument.


La Quinta Arts Foundation (LQAF), a non-profit organization with a 28 year history of Promoting and Cultivating the Arts, also presents the nationally renowned La Quinta Arts Festival. www. LQAF.com

La Quinta Historical Society, founded in 1984, is a volunteer, nonprofit service organization, dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich, multicultural history of La Quinta. www.laquintahistorical.com

La Quinta Museum opened in May of 2008 and is owned by the City of La Quinta and managed by Library Systems and Services, Inc. The La Quinta Museum is a cultural hub for the city of La Quinta, providing exhibits and programs to the public relating to history, art and science. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 77-885 Avenida Montezuma,La Quinta, CA 92253, 760-777-7170

2009 Basket Calendar ~ October

2009 Basket Calendar ~ October
Originally uploaded by BasketMakers

I have created a set of 2009 Basketry Calendar pages that are sized to print out on 8.5" x 11" paper. Here is the page for the month of October. You can view the rest of them on http://www.flickr.com/photos/basketmakers/ and see more basketry graphics on http://basketmakers.com/topics/graphics/graphicsmenu.htm