This exhibit puts the art in artifacts.
“Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains,” on display now through May 15 at the Brooklyn Museum, celebrates Native American culture and tradition through century-old clothing, weaponry, artwork, and, of course, the housing that were once called “teepees.”
With the tipi as your guide, the museum gives you the full Plains experience. There are sections on tipi life, tipi construction and history, pre-reservation life, women and the tipi, and, the piece de resistance, a 27-foot-tall canvas tipi commissioned by the museum and constructed and painted by members of the Blackfeet tribe that visitors can enter.
The rest of the exhibition offers plenty of gems, including intricately beaded dresses, moccasins, and dolls, feathered headdresses and intact tomahawks from the late 1880s, as well as contemporary art from Native American artists that will bring you and your family to the Great Plains, without ever leaving Brooklyn.
“Tipi: Heritage of the Great Plains” at the Brooklyn Museum [200 Eastern Pkwy. at Washington Avenue in Prospect Heights, (718) 638-5000], now through May 15. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. For info, visit www.brooklynmuseum.org.
