7 minute read
Upcoming programs
from Winter 2021-22
these Programs represent a sampling of the projects we have recently funded in communities across Iowa. Please visit our website (www.humanatiesiowa.org) for a complete and current listing. We are always forging new partnerships and writing grant proposals to be able to fund even more programming.
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Museum of Danish America Elk Horn, IA May 27 – October 22, 2022
the history oF tattooing stretches back over 5,000 years—even Egyptian mummies have been found with tattoos. Today, close to one in three Americans has at least one tattoo. Body modification is deeply entwined with both the cultural and the personal, from cultural tattoos documenting a young person reaching adulthood, to tattoos as a punishment for crimes, to tattoos paying tribute to a favorite movie or hero. For Nordic countries, the interest in tattooing is twofold: each Nordic country has its own tattooing culture that has been shaped by both historical and contemporary influences. Nordic, particularly Viking-related, imagery is very common in tattooing today for people both with and without Nordic heritage.
To explore the larger context of tattooing in Scandinavia, North America, and the world, The Museum of Danish America is borrowing a traveling exhibition called, “Tattoo: Identity Through Ink” from Vesterheim: The National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School.
This exhibition will explore the history and process of tattooing and the historical meaning of tattoos, with additional focus on Nordic cultures. Artifacts from guest curator Lars Krutak will be featured, including ethnographic tattooing tools from a variety of cultures, as well as silicone arms tattooed by contemporary Scandinavian artists in traditional styles. The primary sections of the exhibition will be as follows:
image: Japanese-style back piece, in progress. Tattoo by Brock Swenson / Brock’s Valhalla Tattoo, Decorah IA, 2019.
• Global History of Tattooing
How tattoos have evolved over time, particularly among indigenous groups • The Making of Identity
How many groups use tattooing as a way to reinforce group identity • Tattoo Aesthetics and Styles
How cultures use different motifs and styles of tattooing to represent different ideas or bring about specific outcomes • Tattooing in Europe
The history of tattoos in Europe with a more in-depth exploration of the history of tattooing in Scandinavia • Tattooing in America
North American tattoo traditions from indigenous tattoo culture to prison and gang tattoos
Smaller areas of the exhibition will cover how tattoos work, what happens when tattoo artists make mistakes, and what a tattoo studio experience entails. In every section, visitors will explore different aspects of tattooing culture.
The Museum of Danish America will host “Tattoo: Identity Through Ink” in the Kramme Gallery of the museum from Friday, May 27, 2022, through October 22, 2022.
The museum will coordinate related public programs in the Danish Villages of Elk Horn and Kimballton and will partner with peer institutions in nearby metro areas, including Council Bluffs, Omaha, Des Moines, and Kansas City. Please visit the Museum website for details: www.danishmuseum.org See you at these dynamic, Humanities Iowafunded events!
Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA Exhibit, series of programs, and a theatrical production: now through February 6, 2022
this exhibit and series of events ask, “How do we tell the truth in war?” The experience centers on an exhibition of Associated Press photographs that documented and changed history. Lectures, screenings, and book discussions will expand guests’ understanding of the role photojournalists play in shaping history. Plans include conversations with Tim O’Brien and historian Teri Van Dorston, M.A., and filmmaker Aaron Matthews.
The exihibit: “Vietnam: The Real War” explores the separation of powers; the war’s impact; politically charged violence; freedom of the press; tensions between advancing civil rights, public safety, and accountable governance; and the moral imperatives of leaders, soldiers, journalists, and artists in a democratic society.
Museum guests will explore artifacts inspired by Tim O’Brien’s acclaimed book The Things They Carried. Concurrent exhibitions add perspectives including the war photography of Dubuque journalist Bob Woodward and of Ron Testa, an official Navy photographer. DuMA has also partnered with the Grout Museum of History and Science and
image: A U.S. soldier wears a hand-lettered slogan on his helmet, June 1965. The soldier was serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade on defense duty at the Phuoc Vinh airfield. AP Photo/Horst Faas
the University of Dubuque to train student Veterans to interview Vietnam Veterans from the Veterans Freedom Center and to interpret those oral histories for Museum guests. Inspired by these experiences, the student Veterans curated an exhibition, and this program takes place in the University’s art galleries.
To engage high school students, DuMA is collaborating with the Dubuque Community Schools to create guided tours for social studies and photography classes.
Along with Dubuque American Legion Post 6 and Voices Productions, Inc., the Museum commissioned a mural from veteran artist and active reserve combat photographer Corban Lundborg that transforms one of the historic AP photos into a whole new scale seen by thousands every week.
The series of events: In collaboration with the Carnegie-Stout Public Library, DuMA will engage lifelong learners in a series of book groups (e.g. The Things They Carried), scholarly lectures (e.g., by art historian Teri Van Dorston), and author and filmmaker conversations (e.g., with Tim O’Brien and Aaron Matthews). To round out the season, local theater company “Fly by Night” will produce Shirley Lauro’s A Piece of My Heart, which tells the true stories of six women Veterans.
Come join us at this Humanities Iowafunded, community-wide series of programs that are designed to engage all generations in dialogue—online and in-person—about the war and its effects.
Democracy Films Event: Documentary film launch, February 2022
the midwest is an epicenter in the fight for racial justice and has been for centuries. It is one of American history’s most amazing, important, yet overlooked stories—until now.
This film, as part of the Digital Documentary Project, explores the history of African Americans in Iowa and across the Midwest. The project involves a PBS documentary film as well as a series of podcasts, lesson plans, and activities available to students and community members at AfricanAmericanMidwest.com.
Humanities Iowa has funded the Iowaspecific content for these podcast and video segments: • The Iowa Underground Railroad • The Great Migration, Waterloo, and
Redlining • Iowa’s “All Nations” Multiracial Baseball
Club • Edna May Griffin, the “Rosa Parks” of
Iowa, who integrated Des Moines lunch counters
University of Iowa Professor Ashley Howard, one of the nation’s leading historians of the African American Midwest, is serving as a consulting producer and on-camera expert for the project. In an interview about this documentary, she shares these thoughts about key moments in the film:
The Black Midwest and the Story of America “For me, the Black Midwest is the story of America, the story of promise, but also our ugly history of racism and oppression…. The Black Midwest is important because it is both its own unique story and can also gesture to broader trends in our national story. [By studying the Black Midwest], we can understand a more complex way of what life looks like and how people have carved out their sense of self, their sense of worth and place within these broader narratives. Just like our regional location, the Black Midwest is central to understanding the American experience.”
Iowa’s Black “Micro-Histories” “There are these great moments that you can see portraits of Black life, whether they be a Black ladies’ book club in Des Moines, or the rich student life of African-American Hawkeyes at the University of Iowa. There’s some great little micro-histories that I think that we can begin to parse out, which will really shift how we think about the black experience, not only in Iowa, but also in the region and in the nation.”
Buxton, Iowa: A Shining Light of Progressivism “Buxton, Iowa is one of the best known stories of Black Iowa. This was a coal mining town where both black workers and white workers are living together, working together—often engaging in recreational activities, educational activities together. This is really this kind of shining light of progressivism and integration in the story of Iowa.”
Please check www.wttw.com, PBS Chicago, in February for a listing.
image: Edna May Griffin. Source: Fort Des Moines Museum and Education Center
