After one year, the American Museum of Asmat Art isn’t drawing enough students, but the people who run it aren’t going to give up.
The American Museum of Asmat Art’s new exhibit, “Wowipitsj: Man, Myth, Legend,” opened Feb. 4 and will run until Aug. 4 at the Anderson Student Center. Even though the museum has collaborated with several art history classes and gained popularity with other departments, its existence is news to some students.
“I didn’t even know it existed,” senior Mark Stewart said.
Freshman Molly Odzer said she wouldn’t have known about the museum either, had it not been for her class.
“I have been in there a couple of times with my art history class, which was pretty interesting since it’s on campus,” Odzer said. “I would go again if it were with a group of people.”
Julia Risser, director of the American Museum of Asmat Art, said every department on campus can benefit from the displays of artwork at the exhibit.
“We’ve had senior chemistry majors come here to work on final projects, along with students in the GIS (geographic information systems) lab,” Risser said.
Junior Samantha Wisneski agreed that the art exhibit can be a useful source to various departments, and also said it has been beneficial to her personally.
“I am an art history major, so it’s really cool to have the opportunity to work in a gallery,” Wisneski said. “I think a lot of students in art history programs don’t have that opportunity at their schools.”
Wisneski also said the American Museum of Asmat Art has created a cross-cultural experience for students and hopes this will continue with the “Wowipitsj: Man, Myth, Legend,” exhibit.
“It’s nice to see students’ interests,” Wisneski said. “I had no idea where this region was before having worked here, so I think it has opened people’s eyes to places that are very different than our own, which is very important.”
Though the exhibit is open now, Risser plans to introduce faculty and students to Indonesian works of art from the region of Papua at a March banquet.
Art history graduate student Rachel Simmons selected pieces for this art exhibition. Risser said Simmons was fascinated by the storytelling of the Asmat carvers and wanted this exhibit to explore and celebrate that.
The “Wowipitsj: Man, Myth, Legend” exhibit is not just a display of works of art, it showcases pieces that each tell stories. Myths and legends are descriptively printed under each piece at the museum.
“When you have expert carvers, they are really critical people in their communities. Some of them are also expert storytellers,” Risser said. “Carving and storytelling really go hand-in-hand.”
Eden Checkol can be reached at chec7168@stthomas.edu.