ENJOY OUR "SNAX"--SHORT BYTES--IN BETWEEN ISSUES OF FEAST!

For FALL 2010's delicious offerings of books, art, food, film, and unique travel--check out the NEW ISSUE of our online magazine FEAST--you will not go away hungry-- http://www.feastofbooks.com/

Between issues, read our blog posts as we and our special guests share thoughts, ideas, and recommendations about books, art, food, film, and travel. We love to hear from our readers, so please post a comment! Thanks-- Rosemary Carstens, editor

SNAX ONLINE is moving during the first quarter of 2011 -- stay tuned!

Snax Online is undergoing a redesign and will be moving to a new location. Check back from time to time for a link. In its new format, this blog will cover a wider range of topics but also its usual five. In the meantime, keep up with what's happening in the world of books, art, food, film, and travel at http://www.FEASTofBooks.com --

See you in 2011!!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Indianapolis Museum of Art provides a treat for the mind and eye . . .

Recently, my friend and colleague Alyce Barry, Shadow Work facilitator and author, discovered some interesting art in the Midwest and agreed to share. – Rosemary Carstens -

"Though I lived in the Chicago area most of my life, I had never visited nearby Indianapolis until this past December. I was there to give a speech, owing to the efforts of a friend who lived in the area. The following morning, my friend drove me around the city and, learning of my love for art museums, took me to the Indianapolis Museum of Art .

We found the featured exhibit on Chinese art rather dull and went looking for something more provocative. We found it in the Contemporary Art gallery on the second floor.

Upon entering, we were confronted with a wall-sized scene of a riverside in the Old South cast upon the opposite wall from the entrance by a small projector. The scene, titled They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another) and conceived by Kara Walker, consisted of a variety of silhouetted figures, cut from black paper and fixed to the wall over the projected image, watching a riverboat go by. Though the figures are clearly human, their shapes are not entirely normal (see image).





In the next room was Mobius Ship by Tim Hawkinson, an old-fashioned sailing ship existing, as if it could, as a Mobius strip, and constructed entirely from materials found around the artist's house (see image). For more about Hawkinson: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/hawkinson/index.html

In an adjoining space was The Floor, a sturdy glass floor built several inches above the gallery's floor. Sandwiched between the two surfaces are thousands of tiny plastic human figures with their arms in the air, palms up and faces looking up at you as you stand on the glass above them (image not shown). This installation is the work of Korean artist Do-Ho Suh. Korean artist Do-Ho Suh. To learn more about him, go to the Art 21 site on PBS: http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/suh/index.html


I was most captivated, however, by the large piece in the final room. The Donkey, the Jackass and the Mule by artist Allison Smith began as a parade/performance evoking the issues of slavery and the civil rights movement. The three animals stand on carts, though these are animals that usually pull the carts rather than being passengers. The thick ropes lying at their feet subtly suggest both the lynchings and the hard menial labor of slave and freed blacks in the South. The enigmatic expressions on the animals' faces could be interpreted in any number of ways. More of Smith's work can be seen at http://www.allisonsmithstudio.com/ ."

The Indianapolis Museum of Art was a great discovery—don’t miss it if you’re in the neighborhood!

ALYCE BARRY is a Shadow Work facilitator in Longmont, Colorado, and the author of Practically Shameless, more than 45 weeks on Amazon.com's bestseller list of books about Jungian psychology. Alyce writes three blogs, on shadow in the news, publishing, and her own issues, among other topics. To access her blogs and other websites, visit AlyceBarry.com.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alyce and Rosemary,

It was lovely to hear about the art museum in Indianapolis. I particularly liked the concept for The Floor. What an experience that must have been!

Melanie

Jody Berman said...

Thanks for the virtual tour of the museum, Alyce. I so enjoyed reading about the works you profiled.

Rosemary, your site is a gold mine for art enthusiasts.

Jody

Unknown said...

Thanks for getting the word out aobut the IMA, one of my favorite Indianapolis experiences. Alyce,I had a déjà vu experience of the exhibits through your description. Then I recalled, Oh yeah! Alyce and I were there together!!

Please come visit Indy again Alyce, there is lots more to see.
Dexter

Unknown said...

I have to confess that while I have traveled throughout much of the United States, I've avoided the mid-western states like the plague. I tend to go for the big landscapes, mountains, ocean, canyons, etc. so I've always thought of the middle states as being fairly boring. Looks like I will have to challenge my perceptions once again. Thank you for the tour. It was a fascinating -- and enlightening -- experience.

Shari

Anonymous said...

What an amazing exhibit! I was recently in Santa Fe and saw the Fritz Scholder exhibit with my partner, John Gritts. Scholder taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts back in the 60s and John was one of his students. Scholder's paintings changed dramatically after his exposure to the Indian art students, yet he never really gave their inspiration the credit it deserved.