Art and Expression:
The Legacy of Our Collections

Now Open on the Main Floor

Art and Expression continues the story of the Museum’s collections that began with the opening of Reflections: 90 years of Preserving Culture in November 2005. The difference between the two approaches is one of focus. In Reflections, 90 objects were selected by members of the community from a larger pool of cultural material that represented significant and seldom-seen objects. Examples included a Navajo chief’s blanket, a Maria Martinez polychrome vessel, a pair of sculptured busts of Native Americans, a trephined skull from Peru, and a cast of Peking Man’s skull made at the Cenozoic Laboratory, China, in 1936.

The new exhibit, Art and Expression: The Legacy of Our Collections, highlights 17 key collections and relates the stories of the collectors, how the collections came to the Museum, and their significance in preserving the history of past generations. A second objective of the exhibit is to show how objects from the past continue to inspire Native American artists to create new works based on old traditions. Objects include pottery, baskets, beadwork, jewelry, woodcarving, folk art, katsinas, bone and ivory implements, shields, and textiles.

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Moche effigy pottery vessel from the Gildred Collection, featured in Art and Expression. Photograph courtesy of Stahl PhotoGraphics.

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The following collections are included in the new exhibit: the Bradfield/Dozier Collection of Pueblo pottery, the Hewett Collection of prehistoric Southwest pottery, the Joseph Jessop Collection of weapons, the Boutelle Collection of California baskets, the Ellen Browning Scripps Collection from Amarna, the Brower Collection of Inuit implements, the Raymenton Collection of eclectic objects, the Anita Jones Collection of Oaxacan Indian clothing, the Harkleroad Collection of Southern California pottery, the Sievert Collection of Chief Washakie’s Plains Indian beadwork, the Hoel Collection of Zuni katsinas, the Gildred Collection of Moche pottery, the MacCallum Collection of Mata Ortiz pottery, the Davies Collection of Peruvian retablos, the Stadtmore Collection of Egyptian antiquities, the Ryerson Collection of Seri ironwood Carvings, and the Edith Hausler Rigby Collection of contemporary Southwest jewelry.

These collections chronicle the Museum’s history from 1915 to the present. They reflect the thoughts and feelings of past generations who made these objects to solve human needs, both practical and spiritual. We hold to the legacy of what their work represented so that it can be shared with their descendants and with the community. This exhibit and Artists Speak: Contemporary Art from Ghana and Zimbabwe was celebrated with a shared grand opening at the Preview Reception on May 10 in the newly designed main gallery space.

Donor:	Tim Stahl PhotoGraphics
Sponsored by:
	City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture
	County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program