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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 2015)
The Battalion 12.5.15 Live without regrets, Learn without borders. NEWS ARTS 6 Discover where you'll study abroad at usac«unr*ecl« l^USAC studyabroadusac@ [S] I@1 C3 Sarah Lane — THE BATTALION Supply chain management junior Rachel Lueckemeyer studies some of the Native American art displayed in the MSC art galleries. The articles will be on displayed until March 17. Shows hit Native American art from two perspectives MSC art galleries displays joint exhibits during semester By Amanda Crownover MSC art galleries have teamed up to dis play Native American art in the exhibit “Seeing Native American: Historic Impres sions.” Caller)' workers hope to communi cate the way an artist’s cultural background influences his or her perception of Native Americans. The Forsyth Galleries will focus on Na tive American art created by Anglo-Ameri cans, while the Stark Galleries will focus on art created by Native Americans to depict themselves. “We have, in our permanent collection, a lot of historical art and the Stark Galleries have some contemporary pieces by Native American artists in their permanent collec tion and had the opportunity to borrow some pieces from a collector,” said Amanda Dyer, assistant director of the Forsyth Gal leries. “We thought it would be a good idea to combine the two to see how contempo rary artists interpret Native Americans and how Native Americans depict themselves.” Cathy Hastedt, art galleries director and curator, helped choose pieces for the exhibit from the Texas A&M collection as well as from a local Bryan collector. “I wanted to show one of the traditions in Native American art when portraying their own culture -— it is actually taboo to show exactly what goes on in their ceremonies, so what they do is portray elements of them,” Hastedt said. “You’ll see lots of images of singing as part of their ceremonies, you see lots of images of elongated figures with slit eyes and open mouths and singing and asking for healing for someone who’s sick, things like that.” Angela Hudson, associate professor of history who specializes in Native Ameri can history and the 19th century American South, said it’s important to provide both sets of artistic perspectives in the exhibit. “American Indians constitute only about 1.7 percent of the total American popula tion, but representations of them — their images, their histories, and their symbols — are ubiquitous in American culture,” Hud son said. “Everywhere you turn, there are Indian mascots, headdresses, dream catch ers, not to mention the abundance of Na tive images in formal works of art, television and film. Long before most Americans ever meet an indigenous person, they have al ready confronted and internalized visions of Tndianness.’” Hudson said this distorted perception makes a representation of American Indians by Native artists especially important. “While we don’t want to reduce these artists’ vision to merely resisting stereo types, their work nevertheless helps to dis pel misconceptions about what it means to be indigenous by presenting a much more vibrant, diverse and complex picture of American Indian life,” Hudson said. The exhibition began on Jan. 15 and will be on display until March 17. Staff picks: Girl Scout cookies The Battalion editors battle it out for the best of the cherished seasonal cookies When I was a kid, my favorite Girl Scout cookie was definitely Samoas (not Carmel Delights like Jenn calls them, SAMOAS). Now my tastes have refined, however, and I'm 100 percent Team Thin Mints. - Lindsey Gawlik news editor Samoas for days. Open the bag, take a bite and bask on coconut beach's caramel shores. Every Samoa box is a cardboard cruise ship to the vacation of your dreams. John Rangel scitech editor None. Oreos for life. - Katie Canales life and arts editor Caramel Delights. Yes I know that the box says Samoas, but I was a Girl Scout for six years, and we sold Caramel Delights. Those cookies helped me discover how much I love coconut and caramel, and that the mixture of those two, along with the always delicious chocolate, is the perfect combination. - Jennifer Reiley assistant managing editor For the record, I called dibs on Thin Mints for this staff picks, but Lindsey pulled the rug out from under me. I'm not sure any other cookie belongs in the conversation. But if I have to pick a second favorite, I'll go with Peanut Butter Patties. - Mark Dore editor-in-chief Lemonades. When life gives you lemonades, settle in and get ready to binge watch House of Cards. - Aimee Breaux managing editor I ate my first "Thanks-A-Lot" when I was too young to know what "thank you" was in any language other than English. I now know that these chocolate and shortbread pieces of heaven convey "thank you" in English, French, Chinese, Swahili and Spanish, and they're all the more appealing to me, because how often do you learn something new from a cookie? - Katy Stapp assistant news editor
