Java.FEB.2017

ARTS
BEAUTY SPEAKS FOR US
In the Grand Gallery at the Heard Museum
By Jenna Duncan
The impression many people have about viewing
Native American works in a museum is that they
are looking at artifacts—relics from the past that
anthropologists find interesting because they tell
about domestic life. But some items, ancient and
modern, transcend utility and evoke a greater
purpose than merely to be hurled through the air,
filled with food or traded as a commodity. Some
pieces were created with the purpose, by their very
existence, to inspire a spark of joy, to incite a sense
of awe and to be treasured for transcending their
own physicality.
Thus the creatives at the Heard Museum have
cultivated the theme for a new exhibit, “Beauty
Speaks for Us,” putting on view some of the “best of
the best” Native American artworks from around the
Valley and beyond.
The idea came from museum director David Roche
in conversation with some of the curators, explains
Caesar Chavez, the museum’s director of creative
and marketing. Chavez explains that this exhibit is
very aesthetically driven, more so than most major
exhibitions at the Heard. “It’s a show that is not
necessarily telling a narrative. There is no beginning,
middle or end,” Chavez says. Visitors are asked to
take a closer look and deeply consider what they see.
“One of the big ideas behind this exhibit is to teach
people how to look at this art—American Indian art,”
Chavez says. “That is a key message.”
Chavez cites, as an example, the image selected
for the cover of the exhibition catalog. The photo
appears to have the viewer looking into a highly
stylized eyeball. Rich sorrel edges fold into a center
that looks like a pupil. But this isn’t an eye, Chavez
explains: it’s a ceramic piece called a melon bowl pot.
The object viewed from a particular angle appears to
become something else.
“Beauty Speaks for Us” draws its more than 200
pieces from three sources. The exhibit pulls primarily
from the Heard Museum’s permanent collection,
but also from the private collections of two guest
curators, Janis Lyon and Carol Ann Mackay. The
highlights include masterworks of Native American
jewelry, pottery and weaving.
Several of the rugs on display are impressively
large. “Cowboy Serape,” featured in the catalog, is
80 inches by 90 inches and was produced around
the turn of the 19th century. Another rug from the
Mackay collection is enormous, spanning 137 inches
by 134 inches (about 11 feet by 11 feet).
Southwestern textile enthusiasts will recognize work
by Navajo weaver D.Y. Begay. According to Chavez,
many of her textiles are landscape inspired, including
“Study in Cochineal.” This piece layers rich reds and
earth tones, creating a horizon line in the middle
that produces the effect of a deep desert sunset.
16 JAVA
MAGAZINE