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Exhibits and Programs for 2008-2009 Academic Year
Current Exhibits and Programs | Ongoing Exhibits | Archive of Past Programs and Exhibits
Please Note: All Schingoethe Gallery events are noted below with A Schingoethe Gallery Event
Each year, the Schingoethe Center hosts a variety of events and programs
designed to help inform about many aspects of Native American cultures,
both in historical and contemporary contexts.
Unless otherwise noted,
these events and programs are free and open to the public (donations
are welcome and provide a necessary element of support for our operations).
Museum and Exhibit Hours vary according to the time of year, please refer to our schedule for details.
If you wish to bring a group, we ask that you contact us in advance so
that we may be sure of adequate seating (630-844-7843, or museum@aurora.edu).
Click here for driving directions to the Schingoethe Center
for Native American Cultures at Aurora University.
Current Events, Exhibits, Programs 2008-2009
September 9-November 6, 2008
A Schingoethe Gallery Event
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“not for the season”
Featuring Tyler Henning
 Tyler Henning’s work is about the act of looking, the process of painting, and the foundations of art. Hennings seeks to create a dialogue between representation and abstraction through carefully observed reality. He chooses somewhat banal subjects that have a subtle sense of amiable humor and warmth and paints them on a large scale to give them a sense of grandeur.
“not for the season” is a show that indulges us in the pure joy of painting. We are immersed, aided by the chosen sizes of the canvases, in color and the movement of brush strokes. Hennings invokes a strong sense of memory, both personal and shared. Curator, Meg Bero.
Hennings received his MFA from Northern Illinois University. He is currently Assistant Professor of Art at Monmouth College, Monmouth, IL. |
Native American Heritage Month Celebration - November 2008
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November 11, 2008-January 2, 2009
A Schingoethe Gallery Event
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"Root and Shadow"
Featuring Christian Arrecis, Myongbeom Kim and Kim Strom
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 11, 2008;
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Root & Shadow features the work of three artists who use photography to document their manipulation of the natural world, all in an effort to preserve, enhance, provoke and reveal. Curator, Meg Bero.
Christian Arrecis
In this series of photographs, Arrecis seeks to navigate and understand the natural world in an attempt to understand some of life's universal and enduring questions. Light and shadow function on a symbolic level—the revelation of truth. Books and their time-worn pages, bits of text and images, and found-objects all serve as a vehicle to suggest a figurative voyage, that the mysteries of the world can be unlocked and revealed.
Arrecis is a recent M.F.A. graduate in Photography from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.
 Myongbeom Kim
“Until I call his name he had been no more than a mere gesture. When I called his name he came to me and became a flower.” Kim’s works are based on the idea that all things have their own soul and reason for being, whether animate or inanimate. Kim transforms and recreates the objects around him through a poetic and fantastic view of the relationship between society and nature.
Kim received his Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago.
Kim Strom
In her two series of photographs, "Trees" and "Housework," Strom seeks to preserve a distant Midwestern ecology before the processes of farming, paving and developing, sprawled disproportionately towards irreversibility.
Strom is presently working on her Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography at Northern Illinois University. |
| November 16, 2008 |
Community Symposium: About Sherman Alexie
for AU students, alumni, faculty/staff and community
Date/Time: Sunday, November 16, 2008; 1:30 p.m.
Location: Schingoethe Center, Dunham Hall
More Information/R.S.V.P.: Call 630-844-7843 or e-mail artsandideas@aurora.edu.
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| November 19, 2008 |
 Lecture: “The Business of Fancydancing: Poems, Stories, Punch Lines and Highly Biased Anecdotes," Featuring Sherman Alexie
Native author, Sherman Alexie (Spokane/Coeur d’Alene), will present a lecture titled “The Business of Fancydancing: Poems, Stories, Punch Lines and Highly Biased Anecdotes.” "The New Yorker" called Alexie one of the top writers for the 21st century. The New York Times Book Review described him as “one of the major Lyric voices of our time.” His appearances have been described as hilarious, outrageous and thought-provoking, “the world’s first fast-talking, wisecracking, mediagenic American Indian superstar.”
Crimi Auditorium; 7:00 p.m. Free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Call 630-844-4924 or e-mail artsandideas@aurora.edu. |
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January 8-February 25, 2009
A Schingoethe Gallery Event |
"Confrontation/Contemplation"
Featuring Mike Knierim and Carolyn Bernstein
Opening Reception: Thursday, January 15, 2009; 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Bernstein and Knierim face the world head-on in this show about issues of war, loss and humanity. Life is messy. In "Confrontation/Contemplation," the goal is not to prescribe answers but, in their belief that art can evoke empathy and thus change, to simply present in the power of the visual the opportunity to reflect. Curator, Meg Bero
 Mike Knierim
Mike Knierim states, “Where you place your attention determines all.” Knierim tends to place his attention at the boundaries where things converge. Such boundaries include encounters between natural and man-made, past and present, present and future, light and dark, right and wrong, have and have-not, levity and seriousness. The list goes on…
For Knierim these things are all metaphors for the border between the conscious and subconscious aspects of ourselves. Knierim seeks to create images and experiences which mediate between these levels of consciousness and reflect the dual nature of our being. “My ultimate goal is to express myself in a manner that has the capacity to improve our lives by creating greater awareness and understanding of ourselves, our neighbors and the world at large.”
Mike Knierim is pursuing his Master of Fine Arts degree at Northern Illinois University.
 Carolyn Bernstein
The guiding features of Bernstein’s work are questions about what sparks and sustains curiosity and empathy. Her work explores ideas of transience, loss, and transformation. “I find meaning and poignancy through an artistic practice that demands the careful and sustained examination of things that our culture discards, overlooks, or chooses not to talk about.”
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| February 2-April 25, 2009 |
With a Little Help From Our Friends: Gifts and Loans from Local Collectors
Since opening its doors in 1990, the Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures has been the recipient of the generosity of collectors in the area. Families seeking a “good home” for their treasures have donated them to the museum. Others have loaned their collections to help the museum present a particular exhibit made possible only by the loan of materials not in the museum’s collection. We would like to share these artifacts and the wonderful stories of those who collected them. This is our way of saying a very large “Thank You”!
- Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 10, 2009; Schingoethe Education Gallery
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March 3-March 31, 2009
A Schingoethe Gallery Event
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Annual High School Art Show - St. Charles East High School
- Opening Reception: Tuesday, March 3, 2009; 6:30-8:30 p.m.
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April 7-September 7, 2009
A Schingoethe Gallery Event |
Ninth Annual Aurora University Student Show
- Opening Reception: Tuesday, April 7, 2009; 4:30-6:30 p.m.
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Ongoing Exhibits
"Native Peoples of Illinois: There's No Place Like Home"
Open September 16, 2004 - Present
Visitors to the Schingoethe Center often ask, "who lived right here" before European contact? The Center's award-winning display, "Native Peoples of Illinois" provides detailed historical information on the early inhabitants of Illinois.
Now, this exhibit has been expanded to include displays devoted to understanding of the "lifeways" of the Woodland tribes in Illinois. A full-scale wigwam and campsite help bring alive daily life in earlier times. Try your hand at assembling the frame and covering of a wigwam--you'll gain a new appreciation for the skill and foresight of native peoples. |
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"South of the Border: A Shared Heritage"
Curators: Meg Bero and Dr. Denise Hatcher
Open February 2004 - Present
The area that is now Mexico was home to some of the largest and most complex pre-Columbian native cultures, including the Maya and the Aztecs. Yet many today do not think of this heritage as "Native American," nor see its connection to the native peoples of the area that is now the United States.
This exhibit provides a dazzling insight into the rich native cultures that span the U.S.-Mexico border and helps explain many of the common cultural threads between these cultures, and in contemporary Mexican and U.S. society. "South of the Border" is a joint research and construction project involving students and faculty of both Aurora University and East Aurora High School, working with the staff of the Schingoethe Center. |
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"Children in Native America" Curator: Meg Bero
Open from September 23, 2003 - Present
How did they grow up? How did they learn? What did they wear? What did they do, and what did they play with?
Artifacts and photographs tell the story, from prehistoric to modern times. Includes material on the Native American Boarding Schools, toys, clothing, historic photographs, and other artifacts. |
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"Skystone and Silver-- Jewelry of the Southwest"Curator: Dr. Michael Sawdey
Open September 23, 2003 - Present
Selections from the Center's extensive collection of Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo jewelry, together with the history of jewelry in the cultures of the Southwest tribes. Southwest jewelry has ancient roots, leading to an explosion of creative activity in the mid-nineteenth century that resulted in jewelry of breath-taking beauty and power.
This exhibit is located directly outside the Nizhoni Gallery and further showcases the Schingoethe collection of art and artifacts from the Southwest culture area. |
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Nizhnoni Gallery and "The World of Kachina"
Curator: Meg Bero
The Nizhoni ("beauty" in Navajo) Southwest Gallery, located in the corner of the Main Gallery, offers an enchanting glimpse into the Native American Southwest. Timbered and plastered in a design reminiscent of the pueblo architecture of the Southwest, this new gallery showcases the Schingoethe's extensive collection of materials from the Southwest culture area.
The current exhibit in the Nizhoni Gallery features a large selection of Kachina dolls, both contemporary and historic, along with displays telling the history of Kachina dolls, explaining the Hopi ceremonial cycle, and showing how we know the appearance of the many Kachinas in the Hopi tradition.
Take a closer look at some of the dolls on display, and see how these Kachinas were represented by Hopi artists over a century ago. For classroom use or further study an Exhibit Companion is available for purchase at the Museum Store. |
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Additional On-going Exhibits on Display
- "It was only a New World to Columbus" -
Stone Tools and the timeline of human history in the Americas.
- Navajo Weaving Traditions
- Plains Indian Life--including lifeways that revolved around the buffalo and the horse.
- Southwest Pottery
- "The Tarahumara of Copper Canyon" - Artifacts from a unique community in an isolated area of Northern Mexico
Archive of Past Programs and Exhibits
| March 27 - April 27, 2007 |
"In Citizen's Garb: Southern Plains Indians, 1889-1891," a vintage photography display |
| March 14 |
Alisse Portnoy: White Women Demanding Their Right To Speak: Native American Scholar To Speak at Aurora University March 14 (click to read press release) |
| September 14 - October 27, 2006 |
First Light II: New Artists, New Work
Work by Deann Alleman, R. Hope Le Van, Maureen McKee, Gerardo Rios,
Juan Sepulveda, Jon Stanicek. Opening reception, Downstairs Dunham
Gallery, adjacent to the Schingoethe Center. |
| October 3, 2006 |
Gwich’in Elder, Florence Thomas
Gwich’in elder Florence Thomas is from the Old Crow reservation
in Canada. Through an informal talk with artifacts from her reservation,
she will share her culture. Florence will be speaking specifically
about the drilling for oil in the ANWAR (Alaska National Wildlife
Refuge) and its impact on her people and their traditional way of
life. |
| October 5, 2006 |
Ingrid Wendt and Ralph Salisbury
Born and raised in Aurora, Illinois, Ingrid Wendt has been
a three-time Fulbright professor in Germany, and guest lecturer
at several international universities. She is the author of five
books of poems, two anthologies, a book-length teaching guide, and
numerous articles and reviews. Winner of the D.H. Lawrence Award,
the Oregon Book Award, the Yellowglen Prize, the Editions Prize,
and the Carolyn Kizer Award, Ingrid will be reading and discussing
the origins of poems from her last two prizewinning books, The Angle
of Sharpest Ascending, and Surgeonfish: wanderings through the world,
through history, and through the heart. She and her husband, Ralph
Salisbury, live in Eugene, Oregon. Ralph Salisbury, Professor Emeritus at the University of Oregon,
is the author of two books of short fiction and eight books of poetry,
War in the Genes, (Cherry Grove Collections, 2006), the most recent.
He has received many awards, among them a Rockefeller, a Chapelbrook,
a Northwest Poetry Award; two Fulbright professorships, to Germany
and Norway; and an Amparts (USIS) lectureship in India. He will
read selections from his published work and present a talk based
on his experience as a Native American poet, fiction writer and
story teller and on his co-translating Sami (Lapp) poetry.
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| 2006 NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE WEEK OF CELEBRATION |
| November 6, 2006 |
Exhibit—A Moment in Time , Curator: Meg Bero
Opening reception 4:00 – 6:00 p.m
Roughly from the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803) to the official
closing of the western frontier (1890), there is a brief period
in which the contact of white explorers and settlers coincides with
a rising consciousness of cultural differences and the importance
of recording the cultural experience of native peoples. This exhibit
displays some of the important work of artists and ethnographers
in this period, drawing on the collections of the Schingoethe Center. |
| November 6 -10, 2006 |
Native American Film Series
(Titles TBA - call 630-844-5402 after October 15th for details) |
| November 7, 2006 |
John Wesley Powell (1834-1902)—Bill Steinbacher-Kemp
(this talk corresponds with our exhibit A Moment In Time)
In 1869, John Wesley Powell, a one-armed Civil War Veteran
from Illinois, led an epic three-month expedition through the last
unmapped section of the continental United States – the canyons
of the Green and Colorado Rivers. After attaining national fame
as the “Conqueror of the Grand Canyon,” Powell became
the architect for the federal science bureaucracy, organizing and
leading the U.S. Geological Survey and the Smithsonian Institution’s
Bureau of Ethnology. This lecture is illustrated and is based on
primary source research. Bill Steinbacher-Kemp holds two MS degrees, the first in History
from ISU, and the second in Public Affairs Reporting from the Uof
I at Springfield. He has given numerous public lectures and tours
concerning Illinois history, in addition to being a fulltime archivist
and librarian at the McLean County Museum of History. His talk is
presented through the “Road Scholars” program of the
Illinois Humanities Council.
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| November 8, 2006 |
Native American Dance Workshop—Lance Tallmadge
(University Banquet Hall) Are you ready to dance?! Join Lance Tallmadge
(Ho Chunk) and his company as he teaches us to dance Native American
style. Lance and his colleagues will share why dance is so important
to their traditions, the symbolic meaning in their dances and regalia
and the place of the drum in all Native cultures. Then everyone
will join the dance circle! There is an admission charge for members
of the public, and advance reservations are required because of
limited space (630-844-7841).
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| November 8, 2006 |
Native American Club Supper Meeting—Learning about
Powwow Traditions—Rita Reynolds
(University Banquet Hall) Following the Dance Workshop:
Supper meeting of Dreamcatchers, the Aurora University Native American
Club. Open to the public by advance reservation; there is a charge
for dinner (call 630-844-7841). Supper includes Native American
foods and is accompanied by a teaching on the history, traditions,
and techniques of dancing in the context of the powwow, by elder
Rita Reynolds (Dakota). |
| November 10, 2006 |
Woodland and Ojibwa Spirituality—Nick Hockings
Nick Hockings (Ojibwa) offers a world view of the Ojibwa
and Woodlands people by focusing on the Madoodooswan (Sweat Lodge).
The Sweat is a ceremony done by all tribes for cleansing and healing.
Nick will delineate all aspects of the ceremony and relate them
to the spiritual views of his people. Hockings is a Cultural Consultant and the creator of Was-Wagoning,
a recreated Ojibwa village in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. Nick is
also famous for building the wigwam in the Schingoethe Center! |
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