Nuance of Sky

Last year for my Introduction to American Studies class we visited the Pomona College Museum of Art which was host to an exhibition entitled "Nuance of Sky." This exhibition featured the work of Edgar Heap of Birds, a Native American artist who often uses his pieces to express cultural commentaries. The first room in the museum contained vases of various shades of blue demonstrating his glassblowing techniques. Around the walls there were tiled prints, each with three carefully chosen words written on them. The effect may have seemed like gibberish to some; poetry to others. The thematic focus, though, was clearly about the importance of remembrance - about resurrecting a Native American past to inform the current American culture. Signs outside of the museum and around Pitzer's campus are still standing, part of the "Native Hosts" installation in which Heap of Birds reminds people of historic villages, sites, and tribes from the area - our true hosts - suggesting we are only guests on this land.

The second room in the museum housed a variety of objects from Pomona's collection of 19th and 20th century Native American collection - beadwork, turquoise, basketry, footwear, etc. This addition to the exhibit was an interesting choice: housing modern artwork alongside more dated materials from the same culture. Besides showing this temporal progression, the inclusion of these items in the second room stirred a lot of questions for our class about the philosophy of aesthetics. In the first room were paintings and handmade vases - objects we are familiar with as art. But in the second room, a pair of shoes was displayed with the same presentation, challenging our ideas about utility versus creativity and whether or not the purpose for which someone makes something affects its status as art.