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Monday, 03 April 2006 17:03 |
 Manchester, NH - The Currier Museum of Art celebrates of Latin American and Caribbean art and culture with Voces y Visiones: Highlights from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection through June 26, 2006. Founded in 1969 in Manhattan’s Upper East-side neighborhood or el barrio, El Museo del Barrio is the nation’s premier museum dedicated to historic and contemporary Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Latin American, and Latino art. This vibrant and engaging exhibition marks the first tour of El Museo’s finest holdings ranging from pre-Columbian artifacts from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries through to recent Latino art. Featuring over one hundred objects encompassing a broad range of media, styles, and cultures by artists from over fifteen countries, this exhibition reflects the complex and diverse reality of contemporary Latino perspectives on identity and culture. Organized thematically, the exhibition begins with Taíno pre-Columbian objects, such as ceramic vessels and stone tools, from this indigenous culture that flourished in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. The popular traditions of Latin American and the Caribbean, particularly devotional arts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, also comprise a major component of the exhibition. Ranging from the rich religious and artistic meanings embodied in santos (carved and painted wooden figurines of saints used for worship in the home) to the convergence of symbols from Christian and African-Caribbean religions in art devoted to orishas (deities) and the important mask-making traditions, El Museo’s collection reflects the prominence of the folk arts in Latin American culture. The exhibition also highlights the strong graphic traditions that have helped shape community identities through depictions of the political and civil struggles in the twentieth century. Drawing on a wide range of sources, many of the contemporary Latino artists included in the exhibition continue to explore the intersection of the past and present and of different cultures through their work.
 With a lack of major museums dedicated to showing Latin American art in the New England region, Voces y Visiones is an invaluable opportunity for Currier visitors to see and experience the significant contributions made by Latin American and Latino artists to the history of art and culture.  Voces y Visiones: Highlights from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection is a nationally-traveling exhibition organized by El Museo del Barrio and sponsored by the MetLife Foundation. Additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. Visit The Currier Museum of Art : The Currier Museum of Art |
