A visit at the American Indian Museum

Visiting the American Indian Museum located downtown manhattan was a wonderful and amazing experience. I learned the different traditional headdresses they wore during the time along with the huge handmade jewelry they wore. Many unusual and cool masks were created at the time and some were really simple but some were more complex then other masks. For example, one mask I found interesting was the Ooger Uk Inua made by Larry Beck in 1982.

This mask was really interesting because it was made up of only tires and kitchen utensils and maybe a bit of glue here and there but still it was so surprising how things around your home can be made into a mask. I shouldn't thought of that when I was making my Oedipus mask for my English project. Beck was interested in Yup'ik masks and he decided to experiment with found objects and make it into a somewhat mask. According to the caption of the sculpture/mask this mask represented American pop sculpture but did maintain its masking traditions and elegance. This I found was impressive and interesting because in my opinion it didn't really look elegant but did look neat. Around this piece of art was also many other sculptures and masks tat were created from other artists. 

Another piece of art that I found interesting was a war shirt made out of photographs and film strips with glass beads, metal and plastic. 

  

I was just surprised that this was a shirt, I mean how would you wore this shirt made out of photographs? I thought that the photographs somehow connected it was all in the same scenery and setting. The dangling film strips reminded me a cowboy's vest. Bentley Spang created this sculptor and like his ancestors he used materials that served and honored his family and culture and his artwork helped define his personal identity. I thought his artwork were really sentimental that were made with interesting materials.