Date/Time
Date(s) - June 28, 2011 - December 16, 2011
10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Location
Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, University Center for the Arts

June 28 – December 16, 2011

African metalworking has a long and extensive history and has been dated by archeologists to the second century BCE for copper and to the first century BCE for iron. Sub-Saharan kingdoms were made possible with the knowledge and implementation of iron production.Blacksmiths held magical powers capable of forming weapons, sculpting tradable currency and ornaments that validated societal status and gender. In recent years new metals, like aluminum, razor and telephone wire, have been employed to express contemporary political conditions and demonstrate creative recycling. This exhibition offers viewers a wide sampling of African metal arts from the University Art Museum collections and from private collectors. Included in the exhibition for example, are Kenyan men’s aluminum lip labret/plugs, Kenyan finger knives, a Portuguese influenced Congo sword, and wrapped metals in a figural sculpture that viewers can gain access to through x-rays.