U. Museum unveils new pottery exhibit

University Museum officials unveiled their newest exhibit at a press showing yesterday, adding Native American pottery to their list of impressive displays of archaeological artifacts. The exhibit, entitled "Beauty from the Earth: Pueblo Indian Pottery from The University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology," features 105 pieces of pottery from the American Southwest Native Americans dating as far back as 900 A.D. and as recently as 1950. The pottery, which consists of various types of canteens, jars, and other storage containers, will be on display for one year starting this Saturday. Like other museum exhibits, it will travel nationwide to other museums who will each pay $25,000 to rent the exhibit for several months. According to museum officials, the exhibit is unique since extensive Native American pottery collections are extremely rare. "We have the stuff, but nobody out there has the stuff," said Susan Catherwood, the chairperson of the Museum's Board of Overseers. "So we decided to get the stuff out of our basement, make it into a blockbuster exhibit, and tour it nationally." "We want to show off the University Museum to the public audience around the country," Museum President Robert Dyson added. The pottery exhibit is only one of several new specialized exhibits taken from the museum's own collection that will tour the country in the years to come. And even though University students might not be able to relate to the style of pottery and its importance, said J. J. Brody, guest curator of the exhibit and an expert on Southwestern American art, it can carry a special message for them too. "It illustrates the incredible continuity and security of the Indian tradition that has persevered through so much European domination," Brody said. "The pottery expresses a lot of hope that maybe all of us can use." "The core of their ethnic personality is still there and if anything it's stronger now than its been in 200 years," he added. "They are revitalizing the modern-day with reverance to the art of the past." The highlight of the exhibit is a live exhibition by Pueblan potter Mary Lewis Garcia showing the techniques used in Pueblan pottery-making. At the press exhibit yesterday, she demonstrated how she slowly and carefully shapes, polishes, and eventually paints the piece using tools and paints that she has made from nature. "All of my materials are from the earth," said Garcia, "and I want it to stay that way." And despite the long, tedious process of creating piece of pottery, Garcia insisted that she never loses interest. "I never get bored," said Garcia. "I don't think about how long it takes me to complete just one piece of art. I often am working on fifteen different pieces at one time. Instead of watching TV at night, I create art." The Museum's collection of Southwestern pottery was acquired primarily towards the end of the 19th century through the purchase of various private collections. The first such purchase, for several hundreds of pieces, was for a mere $14,500 and sponsored by Phoebe Hearst, mother of newspaper giant William Randolph Hearst.

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