Ceramics of the Ancestors: A Spring Day at the Mall

Photos of the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in 

Washington DC. 

This weekend the museum's first bi-lingual exhibit (English/Spanish), Ceramica de los Ancestros (Ceramics of the Ancestors) opened to the public. It is a temporary exhibit that will be on display until 2015. If you live in the Washington DC area or are visiting in the next few years I recommend you go and see this beautiful exhibit of ceramics, pottery, jade, and gold from Central America. 

NMAI Photo from the Exhibit

"The ceramics these diverse communities left behind, combined with recent archaeological discoveries, help tell the stories of these cultures and their achievements. The exhibition examines seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas that are today part of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama." (quote from the exhibit press kit).

There are some beautiful ceramics and sculptures in this exhibit. My favorite are the different portrayals of women. Some are whimsical and some are mysterious, but all are beautiful. The detail on some of the works on display are amazing and really provide a historical and social record of daily life and of  the spiritual beliefs of the people in this area a thousand years ago, and still today. 

There are also a few beautiful jade carvings and gold pins that are again amazing in their detail.  You can get a little taste of the exhibit from the Smithsonian video below:

My visit to the exhibit was too short and I know I will go back several times before the exhibit closes in early 2015. 


(Photos of Washington DC and the NMAI Museum are mine, sorry they're not perfect quality, but it was still a lovely almost spring day)


 

Films and Museums in Partnership

Johnny Depp, "The Rum Diary" Premiere at the Los Angeles County Museum Of Art

There's an interesting article today in Artdaily.org about how it is getting increasingly difficult to find art house audiences for certain films and how museums are also finding it difficult to attract crowds to certain events. They blame the "information inundation" for distracting audiences who even open their laptops during a film screening.

This has resulted in a partnership between the film industry, movie stars, and museums:

While fears persist that dramas, foreign-language and older movies by master directors may be crowded out of theaters, most curators remain confident that, over time, nothing will replace the collective experience of seeing a movie on a big screen. They say museums are the perfect place for that. 

But just showing a film is no longer enough. For the premiere of  "The Rum Diary" Johnny Depp not only made an appearance, but he took part in a panel made up of the film's director, Bruce Robinson, and museum curator and former film critic Elvis Mitchell. 


Will audiences stay home in the future watching films on their individual laptops over getting together with like minded strangers in a dark theater to share the experience?

To read the entire article click HERE.