On the evening of December 1, 2021 we hosted a group of OSU Arts Scholars and engaged in both a tour of the collection and several hands-on activities. Thanks to Roman Suer for working with us to set up this experience for the Arts Scholars!
Arts Scholars and kawsay waqaychaqkuna
Emily Brokamp engages Arts Scholars in a conversation about the community project she led during our Open House
Visitors and kawsay waqaychaqkuna participated in creating small retablo-like sculptures, inspired by two of our retablos in the collection.
Students were also inspired by the Canelos Quichua Ceramics collection and used their own hair to create paintbrushes. They worked to understand the delicate and precise lines that artists such as Marta Vargas paints on ceramic surfaces.
“Large Canelos Quichua mucawa (drinking bowl) fully decorated from top to bottom inside. Made by Marta Vargas, Puyo, during a time in the early 1990s when she was obsessed by anaconda symbolism. The anaconda (amarun) motif of diamonds begins in the very bottom of the drinking bowl and ramifyies up and down, and is flanked by highly asymmetric anaconda designs.” -Dr. Norman Whitten.
At the culmination of the evening, Arts Scholars engaged with our interactive gourd feedback station and left messages for the collection. The format for our feedback station is inspired by many of the story gourds in the collection.
Fine etchings on the tiniest gourds compel attention to detail. In addition to the circular narrative structure of the calabacitas talladas, this aesthetic introduces the phenomenon of miniaturized representations found throughout the Andean region.
