Special Summer Activities 2004

SPECIAL SUMMER ACTIVITIES AT THE ROCKWELL MUSEUM OF WESTERN ART
Special Exhibitions
The Zuni Through September 6
Navajo Rug Exhibition: Warp and Weft Through September 15

June 18, 2004

Especially for Children
Kids West Special family activities - July 24th and 25th, 11 AM - 5 PM
Art Packs Hands-on activity guides to museum collections - Daily

EXPLORE THE WEST...WITHOUT LEAVING HOME

Travel without big expense and hassle -- it's the best kind of vacation! At the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, New York, such "travel" can include maneuvering through time as well as space! Art can be both the vehicle and the tour guide for such "time-capsule" travel, transporting visitors to far-away places and long-ago times. Looking through artists' eyes, anyone can spend a day on the plains, get to know the customs and culture of a Native American tribe or discover the hardships of a cowboy's life. The Rockwell Museum of Western Art offers these special "vacations" just down the road in Corning's historic Gaffer District. This summer is the perfect time to explore its treasures.

Twelve Bright Galleries Feature Old and New Views of the West - Side by Side
At the Rockwell Museum, visitors can explore twelve galleries filled with some of the finest Western and Native American art in the world. In fact, the Rockwell Museum houses the most celebrated and extensive collection of this art on the east coast. The core collection, donated by Bob and Hertha Rockwell, for whom the Museum is named, focuses primarily on realistic nineteenth and early twentieth century paintings and sculpture by artists including Remington, Russell, Bierstadt, Sharpe, Moran, Miller and Blumenschein. Recently, the Museum has extended its collection with acquisitions of exciting contemporary and Native American art, as well as additional traditional work from earlier periods. Quick-to-See Smith, Whitehorse, Bartow, WalkingStick and Butterfield are among the artists whose work the museum has acquired more recently.

In an effort to engage visitors in exploring ideas about the art they are seeing, art in the Museum's galleries is organized by theme, placing new alongside old, rather than in historical order. Gallery themes at the Rockwell Museum include Horse, Buffalo, Wilderness, Cowboy and Indian.

The Rockwell Museum of Western Art is even more than galleries, however. At its heart are its homey Remington and Russell Lodge, a big Western living room with art by its namesakes, antique firearms, Native American pottery and dolls, and comfortable Western-style furniture. The Trading Post gift shop features a wide selection of Western and Native American themed gifts, including cooking items, jewelry, books, reproductions, toys, and more. The adjacent Cantina provides a place for visitors to continue conversation over delicious Southwestern fare.

Special Exhibitions
This summer, two special exhibitions - one focusing on contemporary Zuni people and the other on historic Navajo Rugs - augment the Western and Native American art represented in the Museum collections.

Zuni Exhibition - Open through September 6th - The Museum is also featuring a special exhibition of photographs of the Zuni by Thorney Lieberman. Best known for his architectural photography, Thorney Lieberman diverged from his traditional role to create a pictorial documentation of Native Americans at the turn of the millennium. He entitled the project "The People." His photos of Native Americans are "life sized," giving the viewer a detailed and personal perspective. Each individual image is comprised of as many as forty brightly colored contact prints of 8x10 inch film. The image on each piece of film is shot 1:1, providing a full representation of the image in each panel. These contact prints are then assembled to produce a full-size portrait.

Navajo Rug Exhibition: Warp and Weft - Open through September 15th - The weavings in this exhibition were selected from the Rockwell Museum's permanent collection. The rugs span about eight decades, from approximately 1875 through the early 1960s, and represent ten distinct Navajo styles. The oldest rugs in the exhibit are four colorful Germantown rugs, made with brightly dyed yarns shipped to Western trading posts during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Five carpets in the exhibition are the Sand Painting style, in which the designs imitate those of the Navajo ceremonial sand paintings. Teec Nos Pos and Two Gray Hills are two other Navajo styles represented in the exhibition. Like many others, these were identified with a particular community on the vast Navajo reservation. The exhibition also includes two Chief rugs - bold patterns based on the finest blankets used as gifts to Chiefs and other prestigious people, and expensive trade items.

Family Activities
The Rockwell Museum of Western Art is a great place for families to explore together, and special activities for children are available this summer and year round.

Kids West - The Rockwell Museum of Western Art brings fantasies of life in the Old West to life for kids of all ages on July 24th and 25th from 11:00 am to 5:00 p.m. The activities offered will allow children to experience several aspects of life on the frontier. Children and their parents can talk personally with cowboyologist Doug Corey as he recreates the Old West with his authentic chuck wagon. At Chalk the Town West, kids can use their imaginations to draw a western town on the gigantic chalk board. At Clay Play, they make pinch pots like the ones created by Native Americans for many years. At a Mini-Trading Post, children can dress, work, and play like their counterparts in the Old West. Other activities include designing and making a hobby horse, and face painting, using colorful symbols of the West.

Kids West is an integral part of ARTSfest, Corning's annual summer fine arts and crafts fair. Since 1992, the historic Gaffer District in Corning, New York has served as a unique backdrop for a juried two-day fine arts and crafts show, complimented by live entertainment and hands-on activities for children. Organized by a consortium of arts, business, and community organizations, ARTSfest 2004 offers a lively and diverse arts experience to local residents and visitors to Corning.

Artpacks - Developed around three different themes, all Artpacks include written guides that lead users through a selected part of the Museum's collection, a clip board of activities that encourage them to respond to what they see, and suggestions for creating their own art following the theme. The Wilderness Artpack explores how people from various different backgrounds have experienced the Western wilderness, highlighting majestic landscapes and their inhabitants. The Cowboy Artpack introduces this heroic figure in both real and mythical forms, and invites children to put themselves in the cowboy's boots and mind. The Native American Artpack explores the richness of a variety of Native cultures and traditions.

To get to the Museum, visitors can take Exit 46 off Route I-86 (NY 17) and follow the signs to 111 Cedar Street at the corner of Denison Parkway. Free parking is available behind the museum, entered from Denison Parkway, and paid parking is available in the city lot directly across Cedar Street from the museum.

During May, June, September (after Labor Day) and October, Museum hours are Monday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. From July 1 through Labor Day, hours are extended to accommodate summer visitors: Monday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Further information about the collection, directions, and admission fees is available by calling 607-937-5386.