Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum has announced that it will host a extensive exhibition of native North American art, "Indigenous Beauty: Masterworks of American Indian Art from the Diker Collection," opening Oct. 10.
Organized by the American Federation of Arts, “Indigenous Beauty” features 122 works, including examples of basketry, pottery, sculpture, ivories, regalia and pictographic arts from tribes across the North American continent.
“We are extremely excited to mount our first major show of Native North American art,” Carlos curator Rebecca Bailey Stone said in the announcement. “An initiative was launched in 2012 to organize small shows in one gallery from this area, but this exhibition will impress everyone with its sheer breadth, diversity and beauty.”
“Indigenous Beauty” emphasizes three themes — diversity, beauty and knowledge — that relate both to the artworks’ original native contexts and to the ways in which the objects might be experienced by visitors in a contemporary museum setting. The exhibit is organized into 10 clusters based primarily on geographic and cultural factors.
Selections from the holdings of Manhattanites Charles and Valerie Diker have been presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998-2000) and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (2004-06), but this is the first traveling exhibition from their collection and features several recent acquisitions that have not been on public display before.
The show’s run will extend through the holidays, closing Jan. 3, 2016.
The Carlos currently has a related smaller show on view, "Spider Woman to Horned Serpent: Creation and Creativity in Native North American Art," also through Jan. 3, as well as a major exhibition from the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian, "African Cosmos: Stellar Arts" (through June 21).
571 S. Kilgo Circle N.E., Atlanta. 404-727-4282, www.carlos.emory.edu.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Symphony plans free outdoor concerts
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced that it will return to Piedmont Park for three free summer concerts. The “Performance on the Promenade” concert series — 7:30 p.m. June 11, 18 and 25 — will be presented at the Promenade site on the park’s north end.
ASO Assistant Conductor Joseph Young will lead all three programs. The June 11 concert will include Dvořák's Slavonic Dance No. 7 and Symphony No. 8, movement IV and Bizet's "Danse Bohemienne" from Carmen. The June 18 concert will feature Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld Overture, Ravel's Pavane and Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite. The June 25 concert will include selections from Elgar, Grieg, Anderson, Falla and Brahms.
While free, tickets for general admission seating are required. Tickets for the June 11 performance will be available online at 10 a.m. June 5; June 18 tickets will be available at 10 a.m. June 12; and June 25 tickets will be available at 10 a.m. June 19. A maximum of six tickets per person can be reserved online via ticketmaster.com.
More details: aso.org/piedmontpark.
VISUAL ART
Emory archive acquires Contemporary’s records
Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) makes national headlines when it acquires major collections such as Alice Walker’s (in 2007) and Flannery O’Connor’s (2014). But its collecting goes wider and deeper than such literary greats.
A growing strength — documentation of the history, culture and politics of Atlanta — received a major boost with the May 20 announcement that MARBL has acquired the institutional papers of Atlanta Contemporary Art Center.
“The acquisition is a recognition of our institution’s rich, 42-year history and legacy,” Julie Delliquanti, the Westside art center’s executive director said in the announcement. Delliquanti called the records “a history that deserves to be researched, studied and considered by researchers, scholars, artists, students and the general public who are interested in the arts, history and politics of Atlanta and the critical role that the Contemporary has played in the region.”
The collection — more than 120 linear feet of material — includes administrative records, exhibition files, exhibit catalogs, newsletters, promotional matters, press releases, photographs of exhibitions and events of the Contemporary (and its predecessor, Nexus Contemporary Art Center) and rare artist books produced by Nexus Press.
It joins a growing list of MARBL materials that examine the arts in Atlanta, including the records of the Fay Gold Gallery; Get This! Gallery; the Southeast Arts, Media and Education Project (SAME); and the picture albums of Atlanta photographer Alli Royce Soble.
“The arts in Atlanta are a compelling part of (Atlanta’s story of transformative growth), a story that researchers, whether they are students, researchers or just members of the public, will be interested in over the long term,” MARBL Curator of Modern Political and Historical Collections Randy Gue told the AJC.
The Contemporary’s and other Atlanta cultural records collectively “tell an important story, the story of a time period that laid the groundwork, the foundation, for the flourishing arts scene in Atlanta today,” Gee said.
Materials from the collection will be on display in the changing exhibit "Artists' Books and Archives from Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Nexus Contemporary Art Center, and Nexus Press" at Emory's Robert W. Woodruff Library from Aug. 20 through May 15, 2016. http://marbl.library.emory.edu.
Auction supports Northeast Georgia artist retreat
The 20th Hambidge Auction and Performance Gala, 7 p.m. May 30 at the Goat Farm Arts Center, will feature a silent auction of artworks by more than 175 established and emerging artists selected by Ben Goldman of Kibbee Gallery and Zuckerman Museum curator Teresa Bramlette Reeves.
Auction attendees also will be able to vote on one of the five finalists in Field Experiment, an initiative that will bring a major public art project to Atlanta in the fall.
Co-presented by the Goat Farm, the event benefits the nonprofit Hambidge Center, a Northeast Georgia residency program with the mission of "empowering talented individuals to explore, develop, and express their creative voices."
General admission $50 advance, $55 door. VIP: $225, includes access to a private preview party featuring craft cocktails, food and an auction preview tour with Michael Rooks, High Museum curator of modern and contemporary art.
1200 Foster St. NW, Atlanta. www.hambidgeauction.org.
THEATER
Roswell puppet series adds workshops
Roswell Cultural Arts Center has a new twist to its 2015 Summer Puppet Series, which opens the 18th season of entertaining children on June 1.
Thanks to a $10,000 Arts Engagement in American Communities grant awarded by the National Endowment of the Arts last year, it will offer free puppetry workshops in conjunction with the performances.
This year’s series features seven shows suggested for children ages 2 to 10, presented by nationally touring puppetry companies in June and July, with eight performances of each show.
The schedule:
June 1-6: Frisch Marionettes presents “Peter and the Wolf” and “The Frog Prince”
June 8-13: Paul Mesner Puppets, “The True Story of The Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf”
June 15-20: Tanglewood Marionettes, “Sleeping Beauty”
June 22-27: All Hands Productions, “Billy Goats Gruff and Other Stuff”
June 29-July 3: Lee Bryan, “That Puppet Guy,” “The Princess and the Pea, Y’all”
July 6-11: Hobey Ford’s Golden Rod Puppets, “Animalia”
July 13-18: Grey Seal Puppets, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
Show times: 10 a.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays (no performances July 4).
Advance reservation encouraged: In recent years, most performances have sold out. Tickets: $5 (free for under 2). Summer pass: $30 for seven tickets.
“We came up with the idea for the summer puppet series and it took off like wildfire,” noted Morgan Rodgers, director of Roswell’s Recreation, Parks, Historic & Cultural Affairs Department. “It has really become an annual summer tradition for children both in Roswell and our neighboring communities.”
Two puppet workshops will be offered each week in conjunction with the performances – following the 10 a.m. performances Tuesdays and Thursday (free but pre-registration required). The first workshop will be hosted by Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts, the others led by the puppetry artists performing on subsequent weeks. Most will include a hands-on puppetry-making project that the children will be able to take home.
Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-594-6232, www.roswellpuppets.com.
About the Author
