How do artists celebrate their heritage and represent their cultural identity through art? This course will explore the significance of connections to past traditions, as well as the role these connections play in contemporary identities for many artists and cultures around the world. Topics will include: the ceramic work of Rose B. Simpson, whose identity as a Native woman of the Kha’po Owingeh (Santa Clara Pueblo) has greatly impacted her work; how tradition has empowered contemporary Korean fashion designers to invent a new artistic language in the special exhibition Korean Couture: Generations of Revolution; the creativity of Jewish communities and artists from different backgrounds in which they adapted traditional forms of Judaica to changing fashions, styles, and needs, often drawing on broader cultures seen in Jewish Ceremonial Art from the Jewish Museum, New York; and the photography exhibition, Picturing the Border, which highlights images by Latinx, Chicano/a, and Mexican photographers, who have rethought what defines citizenship, nationality, family, migration, and the border beyond traditional frameworks for decades.
This on-site course involves walking through the museum galleries. Assisted listening devices are available for use in the museum.