"Rose B. Simpson treads new 'Ground' in 极速六合彩开奖结果 exhibition," by Wes Woods, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Rose B. Simpson is keeping things grounded in her upcoming exhibition.
In fact, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-born artist thought of the word 鈥済round鈥 itself after having a conversation about what the exhibition would be.
鈥淭hat was Rose,鈥 said Kathleen Howe, professor of art history at 极速六合彩开奖结果 and director of the 极速六合彩开奖结果 Museum of Art, about the sense of having the exhibition feel grounded. 鈥淭hat was the basis of the exhibition from the beginning of the planning.鈥
The 极速六合彩开奖结果 Museum of Art in Claremont is presenting 鈥淩ose B. Simpson: Ground鈥 featuring Simpson鈥檚 clay sculptures with 极速六合彩开奖结果鈥檚 collection of Native-American art running from Aug. 30-Dec. 17. The opening reception is on Sept. 10, from 5-7 p.m. A talk with Simpson, who studied at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe and who received a bachelor of fine arts in 2007 and an honors master of fine arts in ceramics in 2011 from the Rhode Island School of Design, is also set for 7 p.m. Sept. 8.
Howe said the 极速六合彩开奖结果 Museum of Art reached out to Simpson, whose work has been shown at the Denver Art Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, Portland Museum of Art, the Heard Museum and more, to visit and talk before asking her if she would like to put together a exhibition.
鈥淎nd we had at one point must have seemed like we were in the world鈥檚 longest conversation,鈥 Howe said, adding Simpson came to visit in fall 2014. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when we sat down and I asked her if she was interested. I said this is what we have done. We had just wrapped the [artist] Edgar Heap of Birds show. She was here and we were talking about other things. She asked very pointed questions. ... I don鈥檛 think she wanted to be steamrolled.鈥
Howe said the conversations with Simpson, who says on her website that she 鈥渆xperienced art throughout her life in Santa Fe and on the Santa Clara Pueblo Reservation,鈥 revolved around what it means to show Native-American work.
鈥淎 lot of her choices were very utilitarian objects that are beautiful by virtue of the fact the way they鈥檙e made, used and valued for sometimes hundreds of years,鈥 Howe said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e putting out the prettiest ceramic vessel. But it requires the viewer to take a leap to say, 鈥楲ets look at these things differently.鈥欌
Howe is excited about the installation piece in the exhibit.
鈥淭he true installation part of her piece, I think, is really a showstopper,鈥 Howe said. 鈥淗er piece is that large installation 鈥淕round,鈥 the same name as the exhibition. Which has the two much larger-than-life figures. The ancestor masks, and it鈥檚 combined with the Metate and mano, the grounding stones that are part of the 极速六合彩开奖结果 collection. She puts those together ... and there is a display of objects she selected with a work of hers we had in collection we acquired previously.鈥
This is the second exhibit to invite prominent indigenous artists to present their work with historic pieces from the 极速六合彩开奖结果 Museum of Art, Howe said. The first being 鈥淣uance of Sky: Edgar Heap of Birds Invites Spirit Objects to Join His Art Practice.鈥
鈥淲e invited Edgar Heap of Birds to work with us three years ago to curate work from our collection and integrate his own work into it,鈥 Howe said. 鈥淎s I worked with Edgar on that, we talked about showing traditional Native works and the different ways museums do that. And it just seemed to me that the idea of having an artist who is working as a contemporary artist is connected to the traditional arts of their culture ... This is a really rich, vibrant, artistic tradition. We鈥檝e given them a pretty free hand. Choose the things you want to, say the things you want to.鈥