Smithsonian representatives to give local presentations

  • 2014-09-20
Later this month, Riverside locals will get the chance to attend a Smithsonian lecture right here in town.

As Smithsonian Week comes to a close, two presentations will be given by representatives of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMA). The programs will be free to the public.

‘Walking A New Path: Building and Sustaining Relationships Between Native Peoples and Museums’ will be given first by Jill Norwood, a Tolowa/Yurok/Karuk Indian. Norwood will speak on her own career history and on her Community Service Specialist position at the NMA. Her job entails helping tribes create museums of their own and also focuses on
Native voice empowerment in museums.

Following Norwood, ‘Beadwork Traditions Among the Plains Tribes’ will be presented by Emil Her Many Horses, a member of the Oglala Lakota People (based in South Dakota). Emil, a curator of at the NMA, will be presenting a program about the traditions and history of Indian beading. Along with illustrations, he will discuss specific tribes, their contemporary and traditional beadwork, and how beadwork expresses identity, artistic traditions, and culture among tribespeople. He will also be discussing his own award-winning beaded art. The illustrations should make ideal subjects for later poster printing.

The NMA lectures will be given Saturday, September 27, from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum.