Exhibition Of Native American Art From Peabody Essex Museum

Premieres At Stanford May 8–August 11, 2002, Tours Nationally

Contact: Anna Koster, Public Relations Manager - 650-725-4657

Stanford, CA, February 11, 2002—Uncommon Legacies: Native American Art from the Peabody Essex Museum features rare objects collected by early traders and missionaries to the New World and reflects Native American art after significant contact with European immigrants. The approximately 105 works by artists working during the early to mid-19th century represent four major geographic/cultural areas: the Pacific Northwest, the Southeast, the Great Lakes, and the New England-Canadian Maritime region. Completing the selection will be 13 additional 18th- and early 19th-century objects from important European collections. The exhibition reveals how Native American artists responded to changing cultural conditions during the period from 1799-1850.

The collection of the Peabody Essex Museum is the oldest ongoing collection of Native American art in this hemisphere. Totaling some 20,000 historic works from the 17th through the 20th centuries and 50,000 archaeological objects, the collection includes scores of masterworks from throughout North America. The collection was largely inaccessible, even to staff, until the recent completion of a major new storage vault.

Guest curators for the exhibition are John R. Grimes and Christian Feest. Grimes is deputy director for special projects and curator of Native American art and archaeology at the Peabody Essex. Feest is a professor of anthropology at the University of Frankfurt. Manuel Jordán, the Center's Phyllis Wattis Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, is the host curator.

The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Peabody Essex Museum. Its presentation at the Cantor Arts Center is made possible by the Phyllis Wattis Program Fund. An illustrated catalogue, available in the Center Bookshop, accompanies the exhibition. The exhibition premieres at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, then travels to three other museums in the U.S.

Free Tours
Free docent tours of Uncommon Legacies on Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. and Sundays at 2 and 3:15 p.m. from May 16 through Aug. 11. Call 650-723-3469 for large groups only.

Free Symposium
Native Women and Art: Survival and Sovereignty
Thursday, May 9, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. This symposium brings together Native artists and scholars for insights into art often excluded by art historians. The final talk of the symposium is by Rick West, Director, National Museum of the American Indian.
Advance registration recommended; call 650-725-3155.

Free Lecture
The Monumental Myth of the Northwest Coast Totem Pole
Aldona Jonaitis, Director, University of Alaska Museum
Thursday, May 23, 5:30 p.m.

Half-day Workshops for Parents and Children
Native American Tule Boat Models, Sat., July 20, grades 1-3 (morning), grades 4-6 (afternoon).
Call 650-725-3155 for fee information and registration form.

Totem Pole Added to Stanford Collection
A new totem pole by Don Yeomans, a Haida carver from British Columbia, will be raised on campus in May. The pole engages with the story of Stanford University's founding.