Pueblo pottery from the Southwest is the focus of a new exhibit that opens Saturday, September 7, at UT’s McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture.
Pueblo to Pueblo: The Legacy of Southwest Indian Pottery runs through January 5, 2014, and features more than sixty Pueblo Indian pottery vessels from the mid-nineteenth to twentieth centuries as well as photographs of Pueblo villages and peoples. They illustrate the artists and scenery and the remarkable variety of pottery created during a period of great cultural change.
Pueblo pottery of the Southwest is one of the most beautiful and enduring artistic traditions in Native North America and continues to be an important part of cultural expression among Pueblo peoples.
First emerging about 2,000 years ago, pottery making in the Southwest was a skill passed from generation to generation by people living in villages known as pueblos. The pottery of each pueblo was unique in shape and style, with designs reflecting aspects of daily life and spiritual beliefs. By the late nineteenth century, as the pottery became a highly sought-after art form, traditional designs were often transformed to appeal to a retail market.
The McClung Museum has planned several free exhibit programs. They include a Pueblo Pottery Family Day featuring pottery-related activities and exhibit tours from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. on November 2, and a Pueblo Pottery Stroller Tour for parents, caregivers and their children at 10:00 a.m. on November 11. Adult group and school tours are available by reservation. Contact the museum for more information.
Pueblo to Pueblo: The Legacy of Southwest Indian Pottery is presented by the Raoul and Marie L. Verhagen Museum Fund and UT’s Ready for the World initiative. Additional support is provided by Robert E. Withers in memory of Kent and Martha Anne Withers, BarberMcMurry Architects, UT Federal Credit Union, Knox County, the City of Knoxville, and the Arts and Heritage Fund.
The exhibit is from the collections of the Kansas City Museum and Union Station Kansas City Inc., and is curated by Bill Mercer. The tour development is by Smith Kramer Traveling Exhibits in Kansas City, Mo.
The McClung Museum is located at 1327 Circle Park Drive. Museum admission is free, and the museum’s hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays. Free two-hour museum parking passes are available from the parking information building at the entrance to Circle Park Drive on weekdays. Parking passes are not needed on the weekends.
For more information about the McClung Museum and its collections and exhibits, visit the website. http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu.
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CONTACTS:
Catherine Shteynberg (865-974-6921, cshteynb@utk.edu)
Christina Selk (865-974-2143, cselk@utk.edu)