Lecture offers insight into native art

Aboriginal Art Directory | 05.10.10

WSU's Museum of Art showed “Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art: From the Collection of Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan,” Thursday. The new, free exhibit is open to the public from Oct. 1 through Dec. 11.

“It’s a fabulous collection ... It literally is globally important," said Debby Stinson, the marketing manager for the WSU Museum of Art. "It’s not the kind of show you’re going to see just anywhere.” Stinson said she had never seen Aboriginal art up close before.

“All of (the art) has a similar link in that they’re maps ... of the mind, and they tend to also be maps of the place where the people have traveled or where they’ve traveled in the dreaming state of the mind,” she said. “It’s a really beautiful tradition.” Senior mechanical engineering major David Atkinson said he shared Stinson’s enthusiasm for the new exhibit.

“It’s really interesting, because it’s a different culture," he said. "It’s completely different than what I would know anything about.” Pauline Sameshima, assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, designed the exhibit’s companion website (wsumuseumclass.com) and emphasized the possible impact the exhibit had on younger visiting students.

“There’s all kinds of connections to the art,” she said. “For kids, coming and seeing the dot paintings and the bright colors, it’s just ... when they think about painting as lines and dots, they’re going to go, ‘Yeah, I can do it.’” Both Sameshima and Stinson said they were excited about attendance at the opening reception and following lecture, which was conducted by collection owners Margaret Levi and Robert Kaplan.

URL: http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/32585

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