ART 382 - Belle Ribicoff Seminar

Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)

Topic for 2018/19b: Traditions & Innovations: Contemporary Issues in Native American Art. This six-week seminar explores some key issues in the study of Native American art. We consider the tensions between the concepts of the traditional artifact and contemporary art. ‘Fine Art’ is a relatively recent category in the visual cultures of Native America, whose material culture was long seen as folk art and handicraft, and thus collected by natural history or ethnographic museums and not art galleries. As the Native American fine arts grew from the early twentieth century to the present so did questions and debates around such concepts as authenticity, cultural appropriation, and the politics of display. We analyze these key issues by considering collections and displays at three important cultural venues in New York City: the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the National Museum of the American Indian. We also, whenever possible, meet with museum professionals and Native American artists, in order to get a better perspective on the practical issues faced by cultural institutions and the challenges faced by contemporary Native artists. Travel expenses are funded by the Department. Scott Manning Stevens, Director of Native American and Indigenous Studies at Syracuse University.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the Chair of the Art Department.

Second six-week course.

One 2-hour period.