Since the 20th century, the Kamba cultures of Kenya have developed a thriving tourist-trade business in hand-carving wooden figures of native African animals. While originally these figures were carved and finished by a single artisan, today these carvings are produced in workshops using an assembly-line style of mass production: The main artisan will carve a basic figure, … [Read more...] about Kamba Culture Wooden Rhinoceros Figure: Researched, Conserved, and Repaired by McKenzie Wixon
Contemporary Peruvian textile artists are predominantly of mixed Andean and Spanish ancestry, and they illustrate a mastery of their craft that draws strongly upon this Andean-Mestizo heritage. Fine textiles served as symbols of wealth and socioeconomic status among Pre-Columbian Andean cultures because of the fine fabrics, their elaborate weaving techniques, and their … [Read more...] about 20th-century Andean-Mestizo Textile with Chimú or Moche Motifs: Researched and Conserved by Alyssa Cartier
The Luba are a matrilineal culture who highly honor their female ancestors. Men may lead among the Luba, but they do so only through the sacred wisdom of women. Female kinship ties are also extremely important to social status. Luba wooden figures of adult women serve as shrine figures that depict important ancestors, and they also serve as illustrations for instructing … [Read more...] about Luba Culture Standing Female Wooden Figure: Researched, Conserved, and Restored by McKenzie Wixon
This basketry hat was made by Ina Caraway, a milliner who operated in Springfield, Missouri from 1939 through 1941. Caraway wove this hat from straw, dyed or painted the material purple, and then folded, sewed, and molded it into a bonnet-style hat; she then lined the hat with synthetic cloth and grosgrain ribbon. The finishing touches were a green paper bow covered with … [Read more...] about Women’s Basketry Hat: Researched and Conserved by Emily Hughes
The artworks in this exhibit are not actual Navajo sandpaintings, but reproductions. This is because traditional sandpaintings are made by arranging substances on the ground or on the floor, without any kind of binder or glue. These are therefore not permanent, but ephemeral artworks that may not be saved or collected. Traditional sandpaintings are made by the Navajo (also … [Read more...] about Navajo/Dine Culture Sandpainting Reproductions by Lindsey Vandieren