A native sensibility to Autry exhibition http://www.latimes.com/la-ca-baskets10-2010jan10,0,2450901.story Priest's pop art challenges contemporary stereotypes, recalls church history http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_118308_ENG_HTM.htm The Art of Native American Basketry: A Living Tradition http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/basketry/ National Museum of the American Indian http://www.nmai.si.edu/index.cfm CultureGrrl http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/ For decades, the presentation of Native American art has presented a set of complex difficulties for curators in museums around the world. Should items like totem poles be presented as solely ethnographic artifacts, or rather contextualized as pieces of art? Institutions like the National Museum of the American Indian place most of the focus on the importance of these objects to their respective original communities. In the Wall Street Journal this Tuesday, cultural commentator and writer Lee Rosenbaum reported on a new suite of galleries at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri that may signal a new era of museum display for such items. In an interview, museum director Marc Wilson noted that his goal "was to finally do away with the prejudices and stereotypes that color the way people look at American Indian art." Organized by geographical area, the setting for these works is quite masterful with a number of dramatic vistas incorporated into the space. Now as visitors enter the museum's masterworks section, they will find Native American art objects along aside those of John Singer Sargent, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Singleton Copley. The first link will take visitors the aforementioned piece by Lee Rosenbaum which appeared in this Tuesday's Wall Street Journal. The second link will whisk users away to a great piece from the Los Angeles Times which talks about a new display of traditional Native American baskets at the Autry Museum of the American West. The third link leads to a news article from last week's Episcopal Life Online which talks about the art of Reverend Robert Two Bulls and other contemporary Native American artists. Moving on, the fourth link leads to the homepage of the current Native American basketry exhibit at the Autry National Center. Here visitors can watch a short video about the works in the exhibit and also learn more about the museum. The fifth link leads to the homepage of the National Museum of the American Indian, which has branches in Washington, D.C. and New York City. The final link leads to the homepage of Lee Rosenbaum, and it's a great way to stay up to date with issues surrounding museums, cultural presentations, and so on.