African cultures have been forging metals such as copper, bronze, brass, and iron for over 2,500 years. Once they developed the technology for extremely hot furnaces that enabled the smelting and refinement of different metals, blacksmithing and other forms of metalworking became highly respected professions in many different cultures. African blacksmiths and metalworkers … [Read more...] about African Metal Weapons and Ceremonial Objects: Researched and Conserved by Madison Baker and Diana Kosinska
This group of objects exemplifies a contemporary form of African visual culture: Jewelry, created for the tourist-trade market, that is based on traditional ceremonial, spiritual, or symbolic art objects. These works are not typically precise reproductions of the African artifacts, but commercially produced adaptations by artists who are responding to global demand as they … [Read more...] about African Jewelry Inspired by Traditional African Art: Researched by Laira Marshall
This collection of objects comes from the Bonniebrook estate, the home of Rose O’Neill. Although she is most widely known for having created the Kewpie doll, O’Neill was also a prominent artist, illustrator, actress, author, and suffragette. O’Neill was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in Nebraska, and she was an artist prodigy as child, winning a newspaper art competition at … [Read more...] about Excavated Iron Home and Farm Implements: Researched and Conserved by Kevin Frey
African pre-coinage metal currency takes many unusual forms. One type, commonly called “throwing axe currency,” takes the form of a blunt, ceremonial hatchet or axe. Another type takes the form of a curved knife and is often called “throwing knife currency,” and these objects may actually have served a functional purpose as a weapon of warfare and/or as an agricultural tool; … [Read more...] about African Metal Currency: Researched and Conserved by Al Thompson
This collection of metal artifacts was recovered from the grounds of Bonniebrook, the home estate of the illustrator, artist, and suffragette Rose O’Neill, who was also the creator of the Kewpie doll. While this collection consists of relatively mundane objects, identifying these objects, the brands and types of objects used, and the dates for when they were produced and used … [Read more...] about Common Metal Household Artifacts: Researched and Conserved by Renee Walker