westernartgirl
luckygrrrRepackaging a Delicate Treasure
Sophie Hunter, collections associate for the Autry’s Southwest Museum Project, looks over a worn cardboard box marked “Mojave” to figure out how to unpack it. Inside is a confused mass of tissue, packing peanuts and bubble wrap, and inside that is an ancient-looking ceramic urn with designs painted in red. Hunter knows it is not … Read more
John Bradley on American Indian Culture: Learn Everything
Updated Mar. 7 — Native American elders and artists often pick one tradition to focus on in their ongoing efforts to preserve and promote their tribal heritage. Learning and mastering that skill usually takes such dedication that it’s difficult to branch out. So these culture bearers dance, say, or do beadwork, or tell stories, or … Read more
Conserving the Perishable Parts of Native American Heritage
When the Autry National Center was created in 2003, staffers immediately began working to conserve the collection of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, one of its original component institutions. It’s a task they should finish by 2013. Why so long? Well, the threats the collection faces are legion. Age, of course, is an … Read more
Girl Scouts Earn Their Badge at the Autry
The Girl Scouts are came to the Autry on Nov. 13, but they were not selling cookies. Yes, I know you’re sad about that, but it’s not time yet. Instead, they worked on earning a badge. It’s all part of a program the Autry is helping develop that allows some of the 40,000 girls and … Read more
Adrian Wall Explores the Soul of Rocks
Stone sculpture doesn’t much come to mind in your average conversation about Native American arts and crafts. It’s just not a medium Native Americans traditionally have used very much, except perhaps in the carving of fetishes. For Jemez Pueblo artist Adrian Wall and his fellow sculptors, that’s precisely the point. “It’s a medium that is … Read more
Shelley Morningsong Reclaims her Tribal Heritage
Shelley Morningsong, a Native American contemporary singer and flute player scheduled to perform at the Autry’s American Indian Arts Marketplace on Nov. 6 and 7, grew up in a musical family: her grandfather played the banjo, her grandmother taught piano, her mother played piano and accordion, and her uncle played the trumpet. But it took … Read more
The Marketing of an Ancient Culture
Is it fair game for a person to trade on his/her cultural traditions by selling them as art to outsiders? Does the label “art” ever depend on a person’s ethnicity? Native American artists wrestle with these questions all the time. And they are worth examining as the Autry’s American Indian Arts Marketplace 2010, the largest … Read more
How the Blind “See” History Happening
Fay Roberts’ “day” job is as the front woman and leader of the salsa/charanga band Orquesta Charangoa, which performed last week at the Autry’s Sizzling Summer Nights program. But for years, Roberts has also been working with the Los Angeles Braille Institute Regional Sight Center, conducting a music program for adult students. The day before … Read more
Justin Farmer Draws Basket Fans
Justin Farmer, an Ipai Native American who is an authority on Indian basketry, last weekend conducted “Working Knowledge,” a seminar on identifying, collecting and caring for baskets at the Wells Fargo Theater at The Autry, drawing a total 111 people over the two days. Farmer, who in the past has been affiliated with the Southwest … Read more
Basketweaving Collaborative at the Autry
Updated Mar. 15, 2011: Shirley Slee and Rachel Hess, Native American sisters of Miwok and Paiute descent who have been weaving baskets since childhood, in 2010 led the Autry’s Basketweaving Collaborative, an ongoing program that showcases their artistry and gives audience members a hands-on demonstration of this ancient tradition. The Community Basket program returns to … Read more
