POST #5 – READING - DISCUSSION – THE ART OF INDIGENOUS AMERICANS ART HISTORY: A CENTURY OF EXHIBITIONS

 The reading was an incredibly insightful reading.  I tend to have a hard time focusing on long readings, but this was nice to get into.  Some interesting points that I found were how the 1931 Exposition of Indian Tribal Arts was a landmark event that toured multiple American cities.  It was successful in elevating Native American art to national and international recognition, including its inclusion in the 1932 Venice Biennale.  The Navajo Blanket at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art highlighted the aesthetic connections between historical Navajo weavings and modernist art, reinforcing the idea that Indigenous artistic traditions were integral to contemporary visual culture.  The Sacred Circles exhibition in London and Kansas City, along with The Native American Heritage exhibit in Chicago, played a crucial role in reigniting public interest in Native American art, allowing for more American museums to present Indigenous art traditions with the same depth as other artistic movements.  Some other interesting information I found while reading is that the Denver Art Museum has been a leader in the field of Native arts since 1925 and has actively commissioned contemporary Native works, including Edgar Heap of Birds' Wheel.  Despite all of this Native American art still remains marginalized in mainstream American art history.  Efforts to incorporate Indigenous art into the mainstream media often struggle against entrenched structures that separate it from the larger discourse of American art. 

Discussion

Taking a look back at the discussion in class about video games there are many thoughts surrounding the topic of video games.  I feel that everyone in the class was mostly on the same page.  Video games desensitize us to the violence in the world, but they only play a small part.  People don't spend their entire day playing video games, they mostly spend their day consuming media.  In the media we constantly hear about the violence that occurs around us so when we hear about another tragedy it's by no means any less sad, but I find myself constantly saying “another one” when I watch the news.  Restrictions should be placed on video games by parents, but it is also important to recognize that it isn't real.  That's why I feel that video games aren't as impactful as film or frankly the news. So, while video games play a part there is blame to be placed on society itself.