Last Friday, ArtPoint hosted a ghoulish costume gala at the Legion of Honor. Hundreds of art enthusiasts braved the Richmond fog to dance the night away in tribute to Halloween and the opening of Very Postmortem: Mummies and Medicine. The exterior columns of the Legion looked spooktacular with purple and blue lighting. As guests made their way to the entrance, creepy music played from the dark corners of the Court of Honor.
The doors opened at 8 pm. Upon entry, waiters greeted partygoers with signature cocktails including the Pernod Absinthe Sour, Poison Appletini, Embalming Fluid and Zombie Killer. Hors d'oeuvres were served in the front galleries while black-and-white horror films were projected on the walls and the pipe organ howled Halloween classics. Guests snacked on dessert as they had their palms read by witches.
Around 10 pm, DJ Shissla mixed sets that had the crowd moving in the Rodin Gallery. Pop Rocks performed live in the café complete with mummy go-go dancers. I was amazed by how creative the costumes were. At one point, I noticed Cleopatra, Tiger Woods, and Audrey Hepburn enjoying a drink together on the terrace. ArtPoint would like to thank the attendees for making this event a big hit!
Purago Marabe and Martin Morububuna, October 2009 Jolika Fellows
Community mural in the Kimball Gallery
Community Mural: Legend of Ilakavetega
By Martin Morububuna Once upon a time there lived Ilakavetega and her two granddaughters. Every day the granddaughters went out to the beach to fetch saltwater for the grandmother. The Boi bird would come to the girls and would sit on the rock and talk to them, and would even say things about their grandmother.
One day the grandmother decided with the two girls to trap the bird and catch it. They set the trap on the rock and the bird sat on it and got caught. The two girls carried the bird home. The chief of the village heard that the bird been caught. He requested the head of the bird to make his magic. The grandmother did not give the head to the chief. The chief ordered his messengers to bring the old woman to him. The chief's magician killed the grandmother and got married to the granddaughters and lived happily ever after.
Artists' Statement: From Paradise to Where??
Papua New Guinea is a very diverse and multilingual developing country. In the unique Melanesian way, we began as a nation of structured cultures and communities. We had chiefs, elders, warriors, gardeners, healers, herbsmen and wisemen. People conducted their everyday routines according to specific expectations and rules of their communities, which varied from village to village.
Every issue and decision—even every penalty—was decided according to those rules. Apart from the hardships of warfare and their nomadic lives, people generally lived abundant, peaceful, happy, hard-working lives... [more]
Thomas Fowler's travel journal, on view in the galleries
Now is your chance to experience art from the far north first hand. The de Young recently opened a permanent installation in the Art of the Americas galleries titled Yua, Spirit of the Arctic: Eskimo and Inuit Art from the Collection of Thomas G. Fowler. The collection is an excellent addition to the de Young’s West Coast Native American holdings.
Yua, Spirit of the Arctic showcases eighty masterworks, ranging in date from ancient to contemporary periods. On view are carvings, masks, sculptures, and containers made from materials including whale bone, walrus tusk, driftwood and soapstone.
The collection was a gift to the museum from the estate of the late Thomas G. Fowler, a multitalented artist, designer, collector, and businessman. A special piece in the collection is Mr. Fowler’s red leather-bound travel journal. The pages are filled with his neat penmanship and delicate sketches. His journal adds a personal touch to the collection; I was able to get a better understanding for his passion after seeing how meticulously he documented his findings. The book is displayed opened to an entry from February 6, 1999; it describes a Box Decoration with Seals ca. 1880. On the opposite page, Fowler sketched the piece in actual size and it is included in the installation.
My personal favorites are the collection of snow goggles from 19th century Alaska. I think that the goggles have a modern look to them. They are made of wood, pigment and string varying slightly by design while holding true to the small size and slits for eyes... [more]
I recently got to tag along as the mummy of Irethorrou was transported from Stockton's Haggin Museum to the de Young's conservation lab, in preparation for a journey down to Stanford University Medical Center for a CT scan. The mummy of Irethorrou, a 2,500-year-old ancient Egyptian priest from Akhmim, has been in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums since 1917, and had been on loan to the Haggin Museum since 1944.
While I was there I took a few photos showing the behind-the-scenes activities involved in moving a mummy, as well as some photos of him in the conservation lab. My colleague Jill Lynch accompanied him to Stanford and took the photos of him undergoing his CT scan.
Sharing the streets with all kinds of conveyances in Cairo.
A few high points and photos from the recent Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs Egypt trip. The traffic—a giant organic blob of cars, camels, trucks, pedestrians, herds of goats, minibuses and beep-beep-beeping horns. Driving in Cairo is not for the faint of heart. No lane markers, random stop signs and traffic lights, and pedestrians taking their lives into their hands by becoming human “froggers” just to cross the street. On our first day in Cairo, we were astonished to drive on the highway alongside two galloping donkeys pulling a donkey cart. That’s right, on the highway. But by the time we left, we didn’t blink at the man riding a camel while chatting on his cellphone in the middle rush hour traffic.
