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Entertainment News
Artrain USA to feature 'Native Views'
Exhibit touches on concerns of Native Americans
Saturday, March 27, 2004
BY JOHN CARLOS CANTU
News Special Writer
Artrain USA, Ann Arbor's contribution to the concept of American
art on the move, is priming itself this year for one of the most exciting displays
in the organization's three-decade history.
Artrain's exhibits tend to transcend specific American regions or regional themes.
But its latest offering, "Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture,"
features a group of artists whose interests reflect a unique national outlook.
And we in Ann Arbor have the privilege of seeing this latest Artrain effort in a
special two-day "sneak preview" -today and Sunday only -before the train
leaves for its national premiere next month in Tempe, Ariz.
"Native Views" touches on a variety of political, social, and cultural
issues centering on the concerns of America's Native American community. And it does
so in ways that shatters stereotypes often associated with them.
Art historian and "Native Views" curator Joanna Bigfeather of the Western
Cherokee and Mescalero Apache nations said in a recent interview, "Not all 500
Native America nations are represented here, because the show would be too big to
be coherently organized. Instead, the exhibit's structured around commonalities that
represent a shared history of being Native American.
"Add to this," Bigfeather said, "a need to show the diversity of contemporary
Native American art as being something more than trinkets, rugs, and tapestries,
and the challenge has been to find talent illustrating this tight-knit community's
spirit and self-awareness."
Bigfeather has solicited 70 artworks from 54 artists. The art on display runs an
amazing gamut from traditional mediums like painting, basketry, clay and woodwork,
to such post-modern art forms as computer animation, flash movies on CD-ROM, aural
art and computer-altered photographs.
The exhibit is divided into three sections - "Influences from Popular Culture,"
"Native Knowledge: Land, Science, and Wisdom," and "Cultural Modernism
and Technology" - illustrating what Artrain CEO Deb Polich calls "individual
creativity" in "a clear continuity with (America's) cultural past."
Among the many artworks on display, Pat Courtney Gold's mixed fiber and bead basket
"Urban Indian Yuppies" pointedly uses traditional materials to comment
on the assimilation of Native American peoples into the mainstream of American society.
On the other hand, Richard Ray Whitman's computer-altered photograph "Genetic
Memory" emphasizes the self-identity many Native Americans are striving to preserve.
Other artworks include Marcus Amerman's beadwork "Sirius' Baby Carrier,"
reflecting upon spiritualism as adapted to practical child rearing; Harry Fonseca's
"Rose & Coyote Dressed up for the Heard Show," featuring a couple of
snazzy animals embarking on a night on the town; and my favorite artwork of the exhibit,
Alan Michelson's sound installation "He(a)rd," an aural cascade of onrushing
bison rumbling through Artrain on a periodic basis.
What's most memorable of Bigfeather's selections in this display is the obvious joyful
spirit that's come out of creating these works of art.
The display never pulls its punches in reflecting on what these artists perceive
as the pros and cons of modern American life, but the art doesn't descend into despair.
Rather, these "Native Views" examine our society through eyes whose intent
is to let us see ourselves in their reflection.
"Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture" will be on display in a special
"sneak preview" today and tomorrow at Artrain USA, 1100 N. Main St. Exhibit
hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 adults;
$5, seniors and students with ID; children aged 12 and under will be admitted free.
For information, call (734) 747-8300.
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