What's New
LECTURE
Indians, Corn, and the American West: Maynard Dixon’s New Deal Mural for the U.S. Department of the Interior
Saturday, September 19, 2009
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Erika Doss will highlight the complexities surrounding government-funded art projects during the 1930s and discuss how American Artist Maynard Dixon negotiated with New Deal tastemakers in his depiction of modern American Indians and the American West. In 1937, the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture, a New Deal arts program, commissioned a two-panel mural for the Bureau of Indian Affairs offices in the Main Interior Building. Dixon was asked to depict ‘themes taken from the activities’ of the BIA. Following the lecture, visitors are invited to view Dixon’s Indian and Soldier and Indian and Teacher murals in the Main Interior Building.
Erika Doss, Chair and Professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, has authored publications including; Benton, Pollock, and the Politics of Modernism: From Regionalism to Abstract Expressionism (1991), Spirit Poles and Flying Pigs: Public Art and Cultural Democracy in American Communities (1995). Her latest work, Memorial Mania: Self, Nation, and the Culture of Commemoration in Contemporary America will be published by the University of Chicago Press in 2010.
The museum is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm and from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm on the third Saturday of each month, except for all Federal holidays. For more information on the museum, call (202) 208-4743 or visit www.doi.gov/interiormuseum. more
Special Assistance – For those in need of special assistance (such as an interpreter for the hearing impaired) or inquiries regarding the handicapped entrance, please notify museum staff at (202) 208-4743 in advance of the program. Special needs will be accommodated whenever possible.
LECTURE
Sandpainting of the Arrow People: Keeper of Hidden Things, Revealer of Faith
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Emily Palus, National Curator and NAGPRA Coordinator for the Bureau of Land Management, will explore the many stories of the Sandpainting of the Arrow People rug and discuss how the textile represents the transition of Navajo weaving from a local craft industry to a national art market and the historical evolution of sandpainting imagery from sacred to secular.
Sandpainting of the Arrow People conveys information about cross cultural exchange and the relationships among Navajo weavers and Navajo medicine men with non-native anthropologists and Indian traders. Inspired by Navajo medicine man Miguelito’s religious design, Navajo weaver Bahe Shondee created the textile at the request of famed Indian trader Roman Hubbell. This rug presents a story of tradition and dynamic change during a period of rapid transformation in the West and among American Indians and Euro-Americans.
Emily Palus oversees and coordinates the management of archaeological, historical, and paleontological collections from public lands, as well as repatriation of Native American cultural items to affiliated Indian tribes. Inspired by her family’s history with Indian trading on the Navajo Reservation, she studied the dynamic and interconnected relationships among Indian traders, Navajo weavers, and traditional medicine men. Her grandfather and four great-uncles ran trading posts on the reservation during the first half of the 20th Century. Ms. Palus curated “Shooting Chant: the Story of a Navajo Sandpainting Rugs,” a 2001 exhibition of the Interior Museum featuring the monumental rug, Sandpainting of the Arrow People, which is currently on view in the Interior Museum until November 30th.
The museum is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 am until 4:30 pm and from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm on the third Saturday of each month, except for all Federal holidays. For more information on the museum, call (202) 208-4743 or visit www.doi.gov/interiormuseum. more
Special Assistance – For those in need of special assistance (such as an interpreter for the hearing impaired) or inquiries regarding the handicapped entrance, please notify museum staff at (202) 208-4743 in advance of the program. Special needs will be accommodated whenever possible.
EXHIBITION
Parks in Focus
Monday, April 20, 2009
The U.S. Department of the Interior Museum and the Morris K. Udall Foundation present Parks in Focus; an art exhibit to commemorate National Park Week.
The exhibit is composed of more than twenty photographs taken by Parks in Focus program participants.
For ten years, the Morris K. Udall Foundation has introduced middle school students, from Boys & Girls clubs all over the national, to the wonders of nature.
The Parks in Focus program connects middle-school children to nature through week-long trips to state and national parks. Learning the fundamentals of photography, ecology, and conservation adds to students' continuing engagement with nature. The Foundation provides cameras and teaches that nature is accessible, fun, and educational. Included in the exhibit are photographs taken by participants visiting Arizona, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Wyoming, and California in 2007 and 2008.
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