ASU Museum to host three-day celebration of 'Our Awesome Ancestors' July 16, 17, and 18

June 16, 2009 -- The Arkansas State University Museum will present “Our Awesome Ancestors: Celebrate Human Ingenuity” on Thursday-Saturday, July 16-18. The three-day extravaganza includes the grand opening of the museum’s new Native American gallery with the exhibition “Portals of the Soul;” a sneak preview of an upcoming exhibition, “Exploring the Frontier;” and Rhys Thomas’s one-man show “Science Circus.” Each of these examines and celebrates human ingenuity. Join the staff and friends of the ASU Museum for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, refreshments, gallery tours, and a Science Circus performance at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16. The ASU Museum is located at 110 South Cooley Drive, Jonesboro, adjacent to the Dean B. Ellis Library.



Throughout history, humans have mastered their available resources, refined their modes of thinking, and begun creating both artifacts and intellectual constructs. Artifacts aided survival and provided comfort. Pottery was a both a functional tool for cooking and storage, but also an enduring medium of individual and cultural expression. A canoe allowed travel on the vast waterways of this continent, which served as inroads to the discovery of the interior for Native Americans and Europeans alike. The study of matter and motion began two millennia ago, and today’s modern discipline of physics emerged in the Scientific Revolution of the 1500s.

“Portals of the Soul” brings together more than one hundred and fifty authentic Native American artifacts. The artifacts offer insight into the complex societies dwelling in northeast Arkansas centuries ago. Before European contact, Arkansas was home to one of the largest Native American populations in the United States, and this exhibition presents a glimpse into the daily and spiritual lives of these ancestors. “Portals of the Soul” was researched and designed by Arkansas State University Heritage Studies PhD students Leslie Hester and Marlon Mowdy during museum studies coursework taught by ASU Museum director, Dr. Marti Allen.

A replica of the Griggs Canoe, a centuries-old Native American canoe, and a fur trapper’s camp will spark the imagination of children and adults in this preview of the “Exploring the Frontier” exhibition coming to the ASU Museum this October. The Mississippi River’s Delta region was explored by the Spanish in the 1500s. The French traveled from Canada to Arkansas in the late 1600s. Arkansas Post, founded in 1686 by Henri de Tonti, was the first European settlement west of the Mississippi River, predating the founding of St. Louis and New Orleans. On the frontier, wits and wiles meant the difference between death and survival. “Exploring the Frontier” is one of seven Arkansas Museum Road Trips sponsored by the Arkansas Discovery Network, funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. For more information about these Arkansas Museum Road Trips, scheduled to travel throughout Arkansas, visit http://www.arkansasdiscoverynetwork.org/RoadTrip/index.html.

Science Circus impresario Rhys Thomas teaches Newtonian physics using a combination of science and circus arts, particularly juggling. Thomas will perform at
3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 16, and at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Friday-Saturday, July 17-18. All Science Circus performances are free and open to the public, thanks to the Arkansas Discovery Network, which is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Visit Thomas’s website and read about his worldwide performances: http://www.jugglemania.com/sciencecircus.html.

The ASU Museum is a premier regional destination for informal learning. In order to better accommodate busy family schedules, starting Thursday, July 16, the museum is extending its hours, staying open later during the week, adding one evening to the schedule, and opening on Saturday morning.  Beginning Thursday, July 16, the ASU Museum’s new hours are Tuesday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.; Wednesday–Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; and Sunday, 1-5 p.m. The ASU Museum is closed on Mondays and university holidays. For more information, visit the ASU Museum online at http://museum.astate.edu, e-mail Lenore Shoults, assistant director for the museum, at lshoults@astate.edu, or call the ASU Museum at (870) 972-2074.

 

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Photos from top: Heritage Studies PhD students Leslie Hester, left, and Marlon Mowdy display rarely seen examples of Native American pottery from the exhibition, "Portals of the Soul," opening at the ASU Museum on Thursday, July 16, as part of the three-day celebration, "Our Awesome Ancestors: Celebrate Human Ingenuity," and science impresario Rhys Thomas teaches Newtonian physics by juggling and other feats of balance and coordination.