Exhibit Debunks Stereotypes of Native Americans

The Handwerker Gallery will open the spring 2002 semester of its Contemporary Art Series with Sidekicks, Savages, and Other Anthropological Curiosities. Featuring the work of some 40 Native American painters and sculptors, as well as a collection of "kitsch" objects, the exhibit explores the ways in which Indians have been stereotyped by images found in American popular culture. The exhibit will open on Thursday, January 24, with a reception from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the gallery, and run through February 24.

A video program featuring videos produced by the artists and films about native art will be screened daily from noon to 2:00 p.m. during the exhibition. In addition, the Native American curators --- Dave Hill, Tom Huff, and Zenja Hyde --- will hold a roundtable discussion at 5:00 p.m. in the Emerson Suites on Thursday, January 31, to be followed at 7:00 p.m. with a concert by Native American artists to benefit SHARE (Strengthening Haudenosaunee-American Relations through Education), a nonprofit community organization dedicated to Native American issues. All events are open to the public, and all except the concert are free. Admission to the concert will be on a sliding scale.

"The goal of this exhibit is to expose the cultural mythology surrounding native peoples and in so doing to explore our own cultural identity," says Hyde, an Onondaga painter. "This will be accomplished by showing the two representations --- the ‘kitsch’ and the genuine --- side by side within the same exhibit."

The exhibit is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity; Department of Anthropology; Department of Art History; Diversity Awareness Committee; Office of Multi-cultural Affairs; and Office of the Provost.

The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (Thursday until 9:00 p.m.); Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The gallery is closed when the College is not in session.

For more information visit the Handwerker Gallery website.