Renovations are completed at the Osage Nation Museum and new exhibits are being displayed.
The museum held a Grand Re-opening on May 20 to exhibit the renovations. People from across Oklahoma came for the event.
“We had a really nice crowd, people seemed to enjoy themselves,” said Hallie Winter, museum curator.
The featured showcase “Highlights of the collection: Treasures of the Osage Nation Museum” will be on display from May 20 to September 17.
The Highlights exhibit showcases a range of contemporary paintings and sculptures, along with fine art, historical artifacts and cultural representations of the Osage Nation.
“The collection was gathered from the inventory on hand at the museum. Some items have not been viewed in quite some time,” Winter said. “We thought it would be a great idea to highlight some of this art.”
The newly renovated gallery also includes a recent acquisitions area where artists can donate their art to the museum. They have the Imagination Station where kids can color and hang up one of the designs by Osage artist Louis Burns. They will have a choice of four of his designs; the original prints are hanging beside the coloring station. They can color a cradleboard design, Parfleche design, Ribbonwork design or the spider design.
Throughout the museum there are artist benches to give artists a quiet place to work on artwork.
The main entrance of the museum showcases the permanent collections of the museum.
They added a new permanent exhibit named “Wahzhazhi Spirit: a Celebration of Osage History and Culture.” The exhibit tells the story of Osage people though time. They begin with an origin story in one display and as the display wraps around the walls it shows the different stages in life the Osages have lived.
The main gallery also hosts the Artist Spotlight exhibit where the year round Open Call for Osage Artists are welcomed to submit their art to be featured in the Spotlight exhibit.
“The museum is well laid out, I have learned a little bit of the history of the Osages and the language in WWI that is one of the things I wanted to see,” said a museum visitor from Bossier City, La. “We are on a three-day Native museum trip.”
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. and located at 819 Grandview Ave in Pawhuska. For more information visit the website https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/museum or visit their Facebook page for upcoming events and exhibits. https://www.facebook.com/OsageNationMuseum/timeline
By
Tara Madden
Original Publish Date: 2016-07-18 00:00:00
