Bird Mothers and Feathered Serpents

Currently showing at the Saumel P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Florida, Bird Mothers and Feathered Serpents focuses on mythological beings in art from Oceania and Ancient America using objects from the Harn Museum’s collection. Each object represents a fascinating character – a culture hero, a divinity, or a spirit being. Their attributes and deeds reflect human understanding of the cosmos and played a role in shaping social and cultural ideas for a particular group of people. Oceanic works are from Melanesia, including the Sepik River region, Papuan Gulf, New Britain and New Ireland of Papua New Guinea. Ancient American works are from Mesoamerica, Central America and the Andean region.

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Seated figural urn  -  Zapotec, Mexico  -  Circa 300-500 AD

Information and image courtesy of the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art

Aztec to Zapotec: Pre-Columbian Art at the OMA

Currently on view at the Orlando Museum of Art, Aztec to Zapotec: Selections from the Ancient Americas Collection features more than 180 works made prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Europeans during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Representing a span of more than 3,000 years, the exhibition is drawn from the OMA’s comprehensive Art of the Ancient Americas Collection and gives a rare glimpse into the life and culture of numerous civilizations from the North, Central and South American regions. Significant ancient works of gold, silver, jade, ceramic, shell and wood are included from the cultures of the Aztec, Maya, Moche, Nasca, Inca and Zapotec.

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Male effigy jar  -  Recuay, Peru  -  100–300 CE

Nose pendant  -  Yotoco (Calima), Colombia  -  1–800 CE

Figural urn  -  Zapotec, Mexico  -  300–600 CE

Information and images courtesy of the Orlando Museum of Art