Artrain

Rose and Coyote Dressed Up for the Heard Show (Harry Fonseca, 1981)

We went on a fantastic field trip yesterday. Artrain USA is a travelling museum on a train. The current exhibit, Native Views: Influences of Modern Cultures, features contemporary Native American art. It was amazing. Some favorites: the original Apache skateboard, a modern baby carrier decorated with beautiful beadwork, a comic-based Pop Art piece showing a Native American Spiderman, and the Rose and Coyote painting above (my favorite!). If you'd like to see these pieces and more, you can view them on the Educational Programs page or this Exhibition Images page at the Artrain website. They're well worth viewing. The educational packet, which you can download from the site, has some nice basic definitions of general art terms in the introductory section of the packet. They offer a nice framework for talking about art in general, as well as about some of the art on the train.

Both the lovely lady and the fine young gent who went on the field trip chose as the most memorable work of art a painting about the building of the Glen Canyon Dam along the Colorado River, which flooded Native American ancestral lands. Even the five-year-old understood the anger and grief depicted in this painting, which was even more powerful in person than in the image I printed for the kids to preview.

It looks like this exhibition is winding up this tour, with the next stop Walla Walla, Washington. If you're in that area, it's worth checking out.