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Identity And Inspiration: Museum Analysis

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The museum that I chose is the Philbrook Museum, and on the second floor of this museum is the gallery that I have chosen. It is a 20th century Native American Art gallery called “Identity and Inspiration”. The collection not only holds a very diverse assortment of contemporary Native art, but it also holds a well-documented selection of the artist’s motivations that influenced their creative process. I liked how the exhibit held a very wide range of space in-between each of the object cases. The white walls and clear cases made the gallery seem not as crowded, and the way the objects were spaced out seemed incredibly orderly. In some other museum galleries, the objects seem to be organized culturally or geographically; but in this gallery, …show more content…

This is a large but smooth looking jar with different accents of brown and tan, and includes drawings all throughout which are hard to make out. Although this jar looks traditional to the naked eye, it is actually the shape, size, and type of decoration that was influenced by a trader who asked for a piece like this to be sold outside of the Hopi community. This shows that the jar would probably not fit in the traditional norm within the Hopi community. Moreover, it is still a great example of how materials like oil paints and the newly industrialized texture/shape of clay were accepted by other communities worthy of tribal artistic …show more content…

Each of these artists integrates traditional materials and techniques with non-traditional imagery. Their creations are both statements that articulate their place as Native people in mainstream American society. Instead of the stark black and white painted pottery of the ancient artists of the Southwest, there lies the inspiration of modern comic book graphics in his work with the dramatic black lines and drawings. In the next piece, Romero delights in questioning assumptions and stereotypes through his Polychrome bowl creation. This is just a regular looking bowl but has a very detailed picture drawn on the inside. It shows that below ground, there are remnants of the distant past, including bottles, pottery, a skull, and a fossilized dinosaur. At the top are the wide-open skies the Southwestern landscape, and at center of the piece, are multiple cars all in various stages of disrepair sitting in front of a home. In this one graphic image, he juxtaposes images of the traditional native life of the past with other symbols of industrialization, and also highlights the depth of history and the continuing changes that effect not only the Native culture but all

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