National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center

A Song for the Horse Nation

November 14, 2009 - July 7, 2011
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
This exhibition presents the epic story of the horse's influence on American Indian tribes from the 1600s to the present. It features approximately 100 works from the museum's collection to reveal how horses shaped the social, economic, cultural, and spiritual foundations of American Indian life, particularly on the Great Plains. Highlights include historical ledger drawings, beaded bags, hide robes, and paintings, including new works by contemporary Native artists. Also on view is a Hunkpapa Lakota winter count by Long Soldier (c. 1902) that depicts the horse's first appearance in the community.

Annie Pootoogook

June 13, 2009 - January 10, 2010
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
This exhibition features 39 works that chronicle the social, economic, and cultural realities of Inuit life in the Canadian North by Annie Pootoogook (Inuit, b. 1969). Her detailed drawings -- outlined shapes in black filled with blocks of solid color -- recall traditional Inuit drawings, while her subject matter reflects the unvarnished viewpoint of her generation that includes the integration of modern technology and domestic strife and tragedy.

Andrea Carlson

June 13, 2009 - January 10, 2010
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
On view are more than 20 works on paper, including new and large-scale pieces, by Minnesota-based artist Andrea Carlson (Anishinaabe/European, b. 1979). Her works reflect cultural narratives and stories while offering a sharp commentary on museums, collections, and contemporary storytelling. Each has a metaphoric and literal biting edge, with sharp lines and layered meanings.

Beauty Surrounds Us

September 23, 2006 - March 31, 2010
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
In this new space designed to showcase the integration of art and daily life in Native cultures throughout the hemisphere, the exhibition features 77 extraordinary objects from the museum's permanent collection. Highlights include an elaborate Quechua girl's dance outfit, a Northwest Coast chief's staff with carved animal figures and crest designs, Seminole turtle shell dance leggins, a conch shell trumpet from pre-Columbian Mexico, a Navajo saddle blanket, and an Inupiak (Eskimo) ivory cribbage board.

Orientation Exhibition

- Indefinitely
George Gustav Heye Center, Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
Informational panels provide a brief history of the Delaware or Lenni Lenape tribe, one of the first inhabitants of Manhattan; the museum's mission; and the architecture of the Custom House.