twilight33 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
twilight33) wrote2005-01-22 06:17 pm
twilight33) wrote2005-01-22 06:17 pm
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Class this quarter & the 'whoa' factor
I realized I haven't talked about my class this quarter, which is studying the Native art of the Pacific Northwest coast. I'm not so certain I'll get a 4.0 because I don't do well with rote memorization of art details for tests, but I'm having fun nonetheless. Our professor explained her background & mentors at the beginning of the quarter, and I'm glad I paid attention because I unexpectedly met them today.
After a quick but fun zoo visit, I went to the Burke Museum to study one of the artifacts I have to include in a final paper. It happened to be Artifact Identification Day (think "Antiques Roadshow" for fossils, Indian baskets & the like) so I brought along a bear carving my parents got in Alaska during the 80s & an old Indian doll that my grandparents got at some point but nobody knew when or where.
My guess was it was from the Southwest since they were constantly in AZ & NM and the beadwork resembled that style. I was plucked out of the line since the ethnologist specializing in the Southwest was free, but she took one look and sent me down the table since she didn't know much about dolls.
The next person who looked at it told me all about the materials (buckskin & rawhide) and details of the dress, but couldn't quite place which area it was from. She wanted to say Plains, but there was a yoke style across the center that made her think Eastern WA. She handed it to Robin Wright, who is the curator of Native art at the Burke & my teacher's main mentor. She identified it as Central Plains, but the moccasins were throwing her off so she said 'Let's wait for Bill to have a look at it.'
Bill is Bill Holm, who has a legendary status in Pacific Northwest coastal art history. Robin Wright was his student, my professor was hers. If it wasn't for class this quarter, I would have been completely clueless about who they are! He studied my doll for a while, and couldn't narrow down a specific tribe but agreed it was Central Plains with elements of Arapaho & Cheyenne in the beadwork from 1900-1910. He signed an artifact identification card for me (I wish I had my textbook, he is the author!), then I left.
I was way too embarrassed to give an art history legend a piece of 80s tourist art to identify after that encounter!
After a quick but fun zoo visit, I went to the Burke Museum to study one of the artifacts I have to include in a final paper. It happened to be Artifact Identification Day (think "Antiques Roadshow" for fossils, Indian baskets & the like) so I brought along a bear carving my parents got in Alaska during the 80s & an old Indian doll that my grandparents got at some point but nobody knew when or where.
My guess was it was from the Southwest since they were constantly in AZ & NM and the beadwork resembled that style. I was plucked out of the line since the ethnologist specializing in the Southwest was free, but she took one look and sent me down the table since she didn't know much about dolls.
The next person who looked at it told me all about the materials (buckskin & rawhide) and details of the dress, but couldn't quite place which area it was from. She wanted to say Plains, but there was a yoke style across the center that made her think Eastern WA. She handed it to Robin Wright, who is the curator of Native art at the Burke & my teacher's main mentor. She identified it as Central Plains, but the moccasins were throwing her off so she said 'Let's wait for Bill to have a look at it.'
Bill is Bill Holm, who has a legendary status in Pacific Northwest coastal art history. Robin Wright was his student, my professor was hers. If it wasn't for class this quarter, I would have been completely clueless about who they are! He studied my doll for a while, and couldn't narrow down a specific tribe but agreed it was Central Plains with elements of Arapaho & Cheyenne in the beadwork from 1900-1910. He signed an artifact identification card for me (I wish I had my textbook, he is the author!), then I left.
I was way too embarrassed to give an art history legend a piece of 80s tourist art to identify after that encounter!
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