Samhain Waxing Moon of the Winter Solstice
So beautiful. The moon floats above our cottonwood trees, a thin sickle, its horns pointing to the east. I’ve never seen any art object that can compare to the sleek curves and understated lighting of a sickle moon.
When I ran out of sleep a couple of days ago, up for a while in the morning, I set up today. After my two tours at the MIA, I’m worn out, tired, a bit dejected. Losing sleep fiddles with my emotional monitor, I become more sensitive, less able to assess accurately how I’m feeling or doing.
The Thaw exhibition has proved a puzzle for me. I don’t seem too good at touring it and I can’t quite figure out why. I base this on the flatness of all three tour’s responses to my guiding them, a flatness that is out of character for most of my tours. I love this show and the objects in it. They fascinate me and they shine with a fierce enthusiasm, witness to the powerful visions of people who live close to the land. But somehow what I’m doing doesn’t convey my excitement. I may approach this show too analytically, too much absorbed in the art historical arguments about native masterpieces and how to view native art. Maybe. I just don’t know.
As I said, when I’m worn out, like today, the negatives surface with ease and have more endurance, that may be an aspect of this problem, but it’s not all of it. Perhaps I need to reconstruct my tour on different grounds, use different objects. Maybe I need to develop actual questions for each object, something I resist doing because I prize the conversational atmosphere, just folks walking through the gallery sharing what we see and what we know. That usually works well for me. Not this time.
I thought your presentation was lovely! While I wasn’t directly part of your group, I listened in from the periphery and I was struck by how you are affected by the pieces. You are animated in your descriptions – telling the story of the items not just imparting information.
I overheard one lady tell another, “Well, these pieces were only made to be put in a museum.” Perhaps it’s this kind of mentality (Natives are exploitative) that’s coloring the view of some visitors and not allowing them to see the beauty in your presentation.
Nice to have another perspective.
Sorry I couldn’t make it. But glad Jodanne and our 2 grandkids got to experience the show. She was impressed by your presentation in comparison with what she heard from the other guides. Perhaps we can make it to an other one. Depends on Regina’s process through kidney medical exploration.