American Indian art comes out of storage at the Aurora History Museum

When the Aurora History Museum moved to its current location in 1991, the debut exhibition was dedicated to Native American art collected by Bill and Sue Hensler. Now, almost twenty years later, a group of pieces donated to the museum by those same Henslers goes on display on August 17...

By Michael Paglia

August 16, 2010

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When the Aurora History Museum moved to its current location in 1991, the debut exhibition was dedicated to Native American art collected by Bill and Sue Hensler. Now, almost twenty years later, a group of pieces donated to the museum by those same Henslers goes on display on August 17 after being in storage for the last ten years. The exhibit is titled Moving Portraits: Illustrating Native America. .

The works in the show are by the likes of Woody Crumbo, Harrison Begay and J.D, Roybal, and the pieces specifically depict American Indian dancers. Strangely enough, many of the works have been done in a vaguely art deco style -- or as I like to call it, New Mexi-deco -- as in Crumbo's "Eagle Dancer" (pictured). A number of the artists in the show trained at the Santa Fe Indian School, where they were students of Dorothy Dunn Kramer, and that explains the stylistic affinities among the various pieces regardless of who created them.

The exhibit opens up tomorrow at the museum, which is located in the Aurora Municipal Center Complex, 15051 East. Alameda Parkway and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Admission is free. For additional information, call 303-739-6666 or go to www.auroramuseum.org. The show closes on October 31.

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Michael Paglia is an art historian and writer whose columns have appeared in Westword since 1995; his essays on the visual arts have also been published in national periodicals including Art News, Architecture, Art Ltd., Modernism, Art & Auction and Sculpture Magazine. He taught art history at the University of Colorado Denver.

Contact: Michael Paglia