Vantage Point at NMAI

Art show spotlights native traditions

By Kathryn RulemanThe concerns and experiences of Native Americans will be expressed through a contemporary art exhibit that opens Saturday at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

“The exhibit is a really great cross-section of well-known people with some very moving pieces that really touch your heart,” said Rosalie Favell, whose artwork is displayed in the exhibit.

“Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection” includes 31 works created by 25 artists. The artists represent almost 20 Native American tribes from the United States, Canada and Columbia. The media range from paintings, drawings and photography to video projection and mixed media installation.

The exhibit is organized around four themes: personal memory and identity, history and the contemporary urban experience, landscape and place, and cultural memory and persistence.Comment:  For more on contemporary Native art, see Defying Expectations with Native Art and Native Art Continues from Past to Present.

Below:  Wah-Du-Sheh (Bundle), 1997, Truman Lowe. Wood, paper and leather exhibit. (Kathryn Ruleman)