<ul> <li>Date: 1998 <li>Medium: Stoneware with shino glaze <li>Dimensions: H.3-3/4 x Dia.7-1/8 in.

Warren MacKenzie is a noted contemporary MN potter. His work shows the influences that pottery made in the Japanese folk art tradition made on his creations. </ul>

<a href="http://www.citypages.com/databank/20/994/article8314.asp?page=3">For more information regarding Warren MacKenzie and his work, click here. </a>

<img src=http://citypages.com/imagebank/articles/20_994/20_994a8314_mackenzie.jpg>

An example of ancient Chinese pottery on display at the Mpls. Institute of Art that is thought to have influenced the Japanese style of pottery making. <hr> <a href="http://www.touchingstone.com/Japanese.htm">Additional examples of traditional and contemporary Japanese pottery can be viewed by clicking here</a>

<hr> Other forms of Japanese art may be found by clicking below: <P> <a href="http://pages.ca.inter.net/~ttoyooka/oshiro/">Japanese castles</a>

<a href="http://www.holymtn.com/tea/Japanesetea.htm">Ceremony and artifacts surrounding the Japanese Tea Ceremony</a>

<a href="http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/indexe.htm">Kyoto National Museum</a>

<ul> <li>Date: 1991 <li>Medium: Colored silicate and adhesive on wood <li>Dimensions: Dia.96 in. <P> A mandala, or circle, is a representation of the Buddhist universe. These cosmograms represent in symbolic color, line, and geometric forms, all realms of existence and are used in Tantric meditation and initiation rites. The creation of a mandala, considered a consecrated area, is believed to benefit all beings. <P> <I>text - Mpls. Institute of Art</I>

<a href="http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/sama/samaintr.html">For more examples and information concerning Tibetan art, click here.</a>

This is the Yamantaka mandala, a cosmic blueprint of the celestial palace of the deity Yamantaka, Conqueror of Death, who is represented at the center by the blue vajra, or thunderbolt. It consists of a series of concentric bands, the outermost representing eight burial grounds with a recognizable landscape and animals symbolizing our earthly plane of existence. Moving inward are a circle of flames, a circle of vajras, and a circle of lotus petals. These bands circumscribe a quadrangle with gates at the four compass points, suggesting the realm of form without desire. The innermost square is divided into triangular quadrants, and an inner circle is subdivided into nine units containing symbols representing various deities. This is the realm of absolute formlessness and perfect bliss. In the four outside corners are the attributes of the five senses (smell, sight, sound, taste, and touch), reminders of the illusory nature of our perceived reality. All mandalas represent an invitation to enter the Buddha’s awakened mind. Tibetan Buddhists believe there is a seed of enlightenment in each person’s mind; this is uncovered by visualizing and contemplating a mandala. The complex symbols and exquisite combination of primary colors are considered a pure expression of the principles of wisdom and compassion that underlie Tantric Buddhist philosophy. This mandala was created to honor the 1.2 million Tibetans who have lost their lives to political/religious persecution during this century. The museum thanks the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota for bringing the Gyuto monks to Minnesota and for their efforts to preserve Tibetan cultural traditions. <P> <I>text - Mpls. Institute of Art</I> <P> <a href="http://www.tibet.org/Resources/TSG/Groups/minnesota.taf.html">Click here to go to the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota online site.</a>

<ul> <li>Date: 1987 <li>Medium: charred white oak <li>Dimensions: overall 172 x 209-3/4 x 209-1/2 inches <P>

British artist David Nash has been making sculptures from trees since the late 1970s. Nash is an environmentalist; for his artworks Nash uses only trees that have fallen or cuts fully mature trees to open space for new forest growth. The artist uses all parts of the trees, including the twigs and scraps that he makes into charcoal for his drawings. He carefully studies the unique qualities of tree limbs and branches for possible sculptural interpretations. Nash made Standing Frame from two white oaks found near Taylors Falls, Minnesota. The trees were hauled by a horse from a wooded area along the St. Croix River. In 1994, after the wood''s natural aging had turned the sculpture a pale gray, the artist charred the surface black with a propane torch to embolden its sculptural line and provide a new seal. Visitors can look through the "frame" to view the surrounding land and cityscape.

<I>Text for David Nash, Standing Frame (1987), from the curriculum guide The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden: A Garden for All Seasons, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1998</I>

<a href="http://www.webdirectory.com/Arts/Art_and_Photography/"> Click here for more information on environmental art.</a>

...and then out of the ''city frame'' one can quicky move into a more rural landscape.

And just as quickly, those rural spaces appear to be getting swallowed up.

<img src=http://www.walkerart.org/walker_images/e_images/03/wac_2763e.jpg>

Chris Faust <BR> <B>The Edge, Eden Prairie, MN</B/>

<ul> <li>Date: c. 1836-42 <li>Medium: Oil on canvas <li>Dimensions: 27 x 34 in. (68.58 x 86.36 cm) (canvas)

<h5> Looking back at artwork from Minnesota''s past also helps to give us an awareness of the cultural diversity that is a part of our state''s tradition.</h5> This view of Fort Snelling, looking from the hill at the back of the Sibley House in Mendota, Minnesota, is one of four versions of the scene that Edward K. Thomas probably painted between 1836 and 1842. In the immediate foreground on the right is the Sibley House, owned by General Henry H. Sibley (1811-1891), regional manager of the American Fur Company and, later, the first governor of Minnesota, from 1858 to 1860. At the right of the Sibley House is Henry Sibley''s office. To the left is Faribault House, built for Jean Baptiste Faribault (1774-1860), who began operating a trading post in Mendota in 1819. To the left is the house of the ferryman, who transported passengers across the Minnesota River. On the western banks of the river is Fort Snelling, and on the hill to the left of the fort is Franklin Steele''s house. An early pioneer to the area, Steele developed waterpower at the falls and established the first logging and lumber companies. The two smaller houses on the left were either for officers from the fort or men affiliated with the fur-trading company. <P> <I>text from the Mpls. Institute of Art</I>

<ul> <li>Date: 1974 <li>Medium: Wood <li>Dimensions: H.60-1/8 x W.168-1/2 in. <P>

The Minnesota Anishinabe (Ojibwe) artist George Morrison, who for many years belonged to a circle of Abstract Expressionist painters in New York, has also explored the medium of sculpture. For this driftwood collage, he drew both the material and the imagery, with its subtle horizon line, from the shore of Lake Superior.

<I> text from the Mpls. Institute of Art</I>

<a href="http://www.artsmia.org/surrounded-by-beauty/northeast/morrison_listen.html">To listen to George Morrison speak about his work, click here.</a>

  Artist:   Anishinabe (Ojibwe)   Title:   Beaded Knife Sheath   Date:   19th century   Medium:   Cotton, leather, glass beads   Dimensions:   L.12-1/2 x W.3 in., excluding beaded attachments

We honor the earth, for it is our Grandmother, and its gifts are of our Grandmother. We know our Grandmother changes her spirits from cold to warm, from warm to hot, from hot to warm, from warm to cold. This is her cycle, but with each change she gives us the gifts that are appropriate and necessary. - Ignatia Broker, Ojibwe

<I>text from the Mpls. Institute of Art</I>

<a href="http://www.millelacsojibwe.org/">More information on Ojibwe culture</a>

<a href="http://countryside.edina.k12.mn.us/CurrWeb/staff/gr3/native_am/ojibwe-resources.htm">Additional information Ojibwe culture can be found here</a>  

Local photogapher, Wing Young Huie, brings some of the tradition from Hmong cultural backgrounds to St. Paul''s Frogtown neighborhood.

<img src=http://www.artsmia.org/mia/e_images/20//mia_20178e.jpg>

Wing Young Huie<br> <h5>Man Playing the Kheng, Frogtown</h5>

Nigeria <br> 12th-14th century<br> <br> Between the 12th and 14th centuries, the royal city of Ife, in present-day Nigeria, was a center of economic, religious and political power, and its importance was reflected in a highly developed and distinctive sculptural style. Portrait heads modeled in terracotta or bronze stood on royal shrines in the palace compound. This head probably represents a woman of the royal court. The delicate lines on her face show a pattern of scarification, the cutting of designs into the skin to mark identity, status and beauty. The sensitive realism of this portrait is unusual among African art styles which typically present abstracted and generalized representations of the human image. Works of art from Ife are very rare. This superb creation is one of only three in American museum collections.<br> <br> <I>text from the Mpls. Institute of Art</I><br><br> Among the local resources for learning about African American culture is the Penumbra Theater. They can be accessed online <a href="http://www.penumbratheatre.org/">by clicking here.</a>

An additional online resource for further resources and research information may be found online at <a href="http://www.toptags.com/aama/">Afro-American Almanac.</a>

Local artist , Ta-Coumba Aiken, may be listened to and watched as he explores the creative process through creating visual art, by clicking on "The Artists'' Toolkit" on the Art Gallery page. You can also get there more directly by <a href="http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/inaction.html">clicking here.</a>

Artists representing a variety of diverse cultural groups are also a major component in the contemporary art scene.

From Mexico...

<h5>Isla en la Isla (Island within an Island)</h5>

<img src=http://www.walkerart.org/walker_images/e_images/02/wac_1216e.jpg>

...The Pacific Islands...

Udomsak Krisanamis   <h5>How Deep is the Ocean?   </h5> <img src=http://www.walkerart.org/walker_images/e_images/03/wac_2340e.jpg>

...From Japan...

Kazuo Shiraga <h5>Untitled </h5> <img src=http://www.walkerart.org/walker_images/images/02/wac_1728g.jpg>