The Plains Indians Exhibition

                                                                        

I have many books, fiction and non-fiction, as well as movies and music CD's concerning Native American culture as I have been learning about it for many years. Sadly some of the movies are no longer available in DVD format, but some thoughtful person has posted some on You Tube. I have seen a lot of art and artifacts from the South West tribes and have some beautiful Zuni jewellery  but sadly I have not been to any locations where the Plains Indians lived.

Some of my favourite movies are "Dances With Wolves","The Last of the Mohicans","Crazy Horse", "The Broken Chain" and "Sqaunto", and some of these are biopics. 

Two of them are impossible to get on DVD.

Top picture - Daniel Day Lewis and Eric Schweig in "The Last of the Mohicans".
Middle Picture - Michael Greyeyes as "Crazy Horse".
Bottom picture - Adam Beach as "Squanto.

I have had these pictures for years.
                                                               

                                                               

                                                                      

Today, March 9th, The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky, a ground-breaking exhibition of Native American art, opens to the public at the Metropolitan Museum. Although indigenous art from North America has been presented at the Museum before, both in the permanent galleries in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing and in smaller-scale temporary exhibitions, this project represents a certain milestone in the Museum's history.

It focuses on a single region and includes more than 150 works of art that range from ancient stone sculptures made before European contact through painted buffalo hides and items of prestigious regalia to more recent works on paper, paintings, photographs, and a contemporary video installation piece. 

The scope of this exhibition is extremely ambitious, and I am delighted to have been a part of this project as the organizer for the venue here in New York.

The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky was curated by Gaylord Torrence, Fred and Virginia Merrill Senior Curator of American Indian Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. 


The exhibition first opened at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris almost one year ago and was on view at the Nelson-Atkins Museum last fall. It is not unusual for traveling exhibitions to vary to some extent at each venue. In New York, we have added eleven works of art, most of them from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, that were not seen in earlier versions of the exhibition. In doing so, our goal has been to provide a compelling narrative about the ongoing vitality of Plains art.

                                                                

Even very early works in the exhibition indicate the importance of cross-cultural dialogue in the Plains region and, as a result, the ongoing transformation and evolution of art practices. For example, the woman's side-fold dress shown (in the clip)  incorporates what must have been considered exotic new media at the time it was made.

In a similar vein, Plains artists of the last quarter of the nineteenth century used recently introduced materials to address persistent concerns, recording their personal histories through narrative art, usually images of battle exploits or visionary experiences made by men. This tradition may be traced to representational images that were carved and painted on cliffs and caves thousands of years ago. Similarly, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and perhaps earlier, biographical images were painted on shields, men's shirts, and tipi covers as a record of their owners' achievements.

                                                                

A number of such works painted on hide are included in the Plains exhibition. For example, the man's shirt seen above, made by more than one artist from the Missouri River Region, records the war honors of perhaps two individuals in the form of thirty-five warriors drawn in pictographic style, each identifiable by his headgear, clothing, tattoos, body paint, and coiffure. 


Each carries substantial weaponry—bows, arrows, powder horns, and guns—to illustrate the formidable victories of the warrior-artists who kept a tally of their victories and created a visual record of them on this shirt. Paintings like these would have been taken out on the occasion of important social and ceremonial gatherings and brought to life by the recitation of these battle histories.

                                                                        

By Judith Ostrowitz

Much more information and pictures -  with many thanks to The Met. 

                                                                    
Above: Scenes from a buffalo hunt, from the movie, 'Dances with Wolves'.

The others possibly from 'Into The West'.

Music by "Earthsong" by Karunesh (Google Play • eMusic • iTunes)                                                                        

                                                          

 Red Hawk of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on horseback, 1905
 Cited here.

Rare Colour Photos Of Native Americans From The 19th And 20th Century

10 Quotes From a Lakota Indian Chief

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The Blackpoll Warbler: Tiny Songbird Can Fly The Atlantic

                                                                         

Blackpoll warbler songbird, which weighs 4.2 ounces, can fly 1700 miles non-stop from New England to South America

A diminutive songbird weighing the equivalent of just three teaspoons of sugar can fly over the north Atlantic, scientists have said, resolving a 50-year mystery. 

Tipping the scale at a mere 4.2 ounces (12 grammes), the white-throated, black-capped blackpoll warbler (Setophaga striata) migrates each autumn from New England to South America. 

For half a century, scientists have debated whether the birds fly non-stop over the ocean or take breaks on land to carry out this marathon flight. 

                                                                      

Backpack flight recorders, attached to 40 of the birds, have now provided "irrefutable evidence" that they do it all in one go, the scientists reported in the journal Biology Letters.
The geolocators, weighing only 0.02 ounces, found that the birds completed an astonishing non-stop flight of between 1,410-1,721 miles. 

This was the distance from their summer homes in Vermont and Nova Scotia to Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Greater Antilles islands, where they made landfall before continuing to northern Venezuela and Colombia. 

The devices were able to track the birds' flight path but were not big enough to transmit the data in real time. 

Three devices with the stored information were recovered for analysis from the Vermont birds, and two from the Novia Scotia group. 

Albatrosses, sandpipers and gulls are famous for their ultra-long flights - but they have broad, long wings and can settle on water if they get tired or blown off course. 

For a forest bird no bigger than a tennis ball, which would drown if it touched the sea, to do such a feat is a wonder, the researchers said. 

"For small songbirds, we are only just now beginning to understand the migratory routes that connect temperate breeding grounds to tropical wintering areas," said Bill DeLuca at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

"We're really excited to report that this is one of the longest non-stop overwater flights ever recorded for a songbird, and finally confirms what has long been believed to be one of the most extraordinary migratory feats on the planet." 

The trackers provided confirmation that had thwarted previous investigations into the blackpolls. 

"The indirect evidence in favour of an Atlantic voyage was fairly strong," said Ryan Norris, a professor of biology at the University of Guelph, Ontario. 

"You have birds landing on ships in the Atlantic, radar studies off the tip of Nova Scotia showing the birds heading south, and very few sightings of blackpolls in the southern US in the fall." 

                                                                       

  
With many thanks to The Telegraph           

Woolly Mammoth DNA Inserted Into Elephant Cells

                                                                       

 It certainly looks like Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park wasn't totally fictitious.
 We seem to be getting a lot closer to making it a reality.

                                                               

The idea of bringing extinct animals back to life continues to reside in the realm of science fiction. But scientists have taken a small step closer to that goal, by inserting the DNA of a woolly mammoth into lab-grown elephant cells.

Harvard geneticist George Church and his colleagues used a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR to insert mammoth genes for small ears, subcutaneous fat, and hair length and color into the DNA of elephant skin cells. The work has not yet been published in a scientific journal, and has yet to be reviewed by peers in the field.

Woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius) have been extinct for millennia, with the last of the species dying out about 3,600 years ago. But scientists say it may be possible to bring these and other species back from the grave, through a process known as de-extinction. [Photos: 6 Extinct Animals That Could Be Brought Back to Life] 


But we won't be seeing woolly mammoths prancing around anytime soon, "because there is more work to do," Church told U.K.'s The Times, according to Popular Science. "But we plan to do so," Church added.

Splicing mammoth DNA into elephant cells is only the first step in a lengthy process, Church said. Next, they need to find a way to turn the hybrid cells into specialized tissues, to see if they produce the right traits. For instance, the researchers need to make sure the mammoth genes produce hair of the right color and texture.

After that, the team plans to grow the hybrid cells in an artificial womb; scientists and animal-rights advocates have deemed it unethical to grow them in a living elephant's womb.
If the researchers can get these hybrid mammoth-elephants to survive, they hope to engineer an elephant that can survive in cold climates, where it should face fewer threats from humans. Only once the team can get these hybrid creatures to survive will they incorporate more mammoth DNA into the elephant's genome, with the ultimate goal of reviving the ancient beasts.

But woolly mammoths aren't the only candidates for de-extinction. In 2003, scientists briefly revived the Pyrenean ibex, which went extinct in 2000, by cloning a frozen tissue sample of the goat. However, after being born, the clone survived for just 7 minutes.
Several years ago, a group of researchers took DNA from a 100-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen at a museum in Melbourne, Australia, and inserted it into mouse embryos, showing the genes were functional.

And Church himself has been working on trying to bring back the passenger pigeon, a bird whose flocks once filled the skies of North America but went extinct in the early 20th century. The researchers extracted about 1 billion DNA "letters" from a 100-year-old museum specimen, and are attempting to splice them into the DNA of a common rock pigeon.

But even if these efforts succeed, they pose some ethical challenges.

For example, the ability to revive once-extinct creatures in a lab could encourage support for the destruction of natural habitats, Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University, told Live Science in August 2013.

"It totally ignores the very practical realities of what conservation is about," Pimm said.
Other scientists have been cautiously accepting of the idea. Stanley Temple, an ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told Live Science in August 2013, "We can use some of these techniques to actually help endangered species improve their long-term viability."

By Tanya Lewis
With many thanks to Live Science

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

                                                                  

Related:
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Isolated Woolly Mammoths Wiped Out By Pursuit Of Drink

 

Showing IKEA Print To Art Experts

                                                                         

Another amusing Viral video.
To promote the new IKEA Art Event Street Art collection 2015, we made it to the ultimate test: Would art experts notice an IKEA painting, from NEVERCREW, compared to a million dollar peace in the museum?

Check the collection here: http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_AU/coming-s...
Thanks to http://www.museumarnhem.nl/           



                                                      

Jarrod Radnich - Strong From 'Cinderella' 2015

                                                                

                                                                      
Another great piece from Jarrod Radnich!

SHEET MUSIC HERE: http://bit.ly/1D7YlPk

From Disney’s new 2015 blockbuster release, Cinderella, comes Jarrod Radnich’s piano solo arrangement of “Strong” -- the movie’s spectacular ballad. Created with permission from Walt Disney Music Publishing.

Very Special Thanks to:

Musicnotes.com – the worlds leader in downloadable sheet music and for without their support, insight, and belief in the importance of music and arts education… this project would not have been possible.

Mason & Hamlin – builders of the world's finest pianos (and a really great group of people who we are proud to call our friends).

Walt Disney Music Company – for their support and approval of this project (and their creation of the amazing Cinderella movie with director Kenneth Branagh).

The owners and staff at Castello di Amorosa -- a truly awesome place to visit … and also to enjoy spectacular wine. :-)

Produced by Mastermind Studios in Joshua Tree, California
Musical Arrangement & Piano Performance: Jarrod Radnich
Directors: Jarrod Radnich & Thor Wixom
Cinematographer: Thor Wixom
Gaffer: Laurence Malloy
Jib Operator: Victor Pancerev
Aerial Team: 2nd Unit Aerial - Terry T. Miller and Lance Rand
Editors: Jarrod Radnich and Anne LaFaye
Wardrobe Designer and Key Seamstress: Gina Mandelli
Digital Imaging Technician: Shiblon Wixom
Camera Assistant: Joel Swanner
Key Grip: Joseph Webb
Grip: Gaven Davenport
Piano: Mason & Hamlin
Location: Castello di Amorosa
Sound Engineering: Mastermind Studios
Special Effects: Mastermind Studios
Location Coordinator: James Sullivan
Piano Consultant: Cecil Ramirez
PAs: Karen Ramirez and Jimmie Collins-Ware
Piano Movers: Mike Kolosov, Bogdan Kolosov
Supplemental tailoring: Barbara Bartley (Custom Craft Tailoring)

Music © 2015 Walt Disney Music Company, Patrick Doyle Music and Tommy Danvers
All Rights for Patrick Doyle Music and Tommy Danvers Administered by Air-Edel Associates Ltd.
All Rights Reserved Used by Permission




                                                                         

Related:
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Pirates of the Caribbean - Incredible Piano Solo of Jarrod Radnich and the Technology He Uses

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Jarrod Radnich - Virtuosic Piano Solo - Bohemian Rhapsody

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Jarrod Radnich: Star Wars - Fantasy Suite for Piano, Movement #2



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The World’s Largest Asteroid Impact Zone Has Been Found, Scientists Say

                                                                   

Every now and then, the universe rises to make clear the enormity of its size — and our relative place in it. One such moment was in February 2013, when an asteroid exploded over the Russian city of Urals, inflicting panic, broken windows and injuries upon more than 1,000 people. People were stunned by what happened, but one asteroid expert named Andrew Glikson was watching from Australia, thinking it could have been much worse.

If only people realized what asteroids once did to this planet.

The evidence of those days, he said, is embedded beneath Australia’s crust near the East Warburton Basin, below, in the center of the country. In those same weeks, he had found an asteroid crater at least 125 miles in diameter. 

He was amazed by its size and what it could mean. “This is a new discovery,” Glikson, of the Australian National University, told Agence France-Presse at the time. “And what really was amazing was the size of the terrain that has been shocked. It’s now a minimum of 200 kilometers, this makes it about the third biggest anywhere in the world.”

Glikson and others believe the impact was felt across the world, changing life’s course and spewing a blanket of ash into the atmosphere that blanketed out the sun. “It’s likely to be part of a particular cluster that was linked with a mass extinction at that time,” he told the Conversation.

But even then, questions lingered. Did the asteroid split before it hit the Earth? Was its impact actually wider than those 200 kilometers? Could it really have been much bigger?
Now nearly two years later, he thinks he has his answer, which he has published in a fresh issue of the geology journal Tectonophysics.

“They appear to be two large structures, with each of them approximately 200 kilometers” in diameter, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “So together, jointly they would form a 400 kilometer structure which is the biggest we know of anywhere in the world.

 The consequences are that it could have caused a large mass extinction event at that time, but we still don’t know the age of this asteroid impact and we are still working on it.”
The asteroid broke apart right before impact, Glikson contended, splitting into two halves, each of which was at least six miles across. “It would have been curtains for many life species on the planet at the time,” he said in a statement.

It remains unclear when, exactly, this happened. Given its size, its impact must have corresponded with a mass extinction. “Large impacts like these may have had a far more significant role in the Earth’s evolution than previously thought,” Glikson said.

Now nearly two years later, he thinks he has his answer, which he has published in a fresh issue of the geology journal Tectonophysics.

“They appear to be two large structures, with each of them approximately 200 kilometers” in diameter, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 

“So together, jointly they would form a 400 kilometer structure which is the biggest we know of anywhere in the world. The consequences are that it could have caused a large mass extinction event at that time, but we still don’t know the age of this asteroid impact and we are still working on it.”
The asteroid broke apart right before impact, Glikson contended, splitting into two halves, each of which was at least six miles across. “It would have been curtains for many life species on the planet at the time,” he said in a statement.

It remains unclear when, exactly, this happened. Given its size, its impact must have corresponded with a mass extinction. “Large impacts like these may have had a far more significant role in the Earth’s evolution than previously thought,” Glikson said.

                                                             

By Terrence McCoy


Picture of the Basin and more info with many thanks to Red Orbit

With may thanks to The Washington Post