Posted on: Sunday, September 26, 2004
American Indian Museum takes its place on Mall
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By Ellen Creager
Knight Ridder News Service
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Resting sideways in the man-made pond in front of the new museum lies a long tree, half green, half dead, sharp branches sticking out like so many bird perches.
Washington Post "Yes, it's supposed to be that way," replies Duane Blue Spruce, design liaison for the National Museum of the American Indian. Even a tree that looks dead may sprout new life, who knows?
At this newest Smithsonian museum, that resilient cycle of nature, and of a people, is paramount.
The undulating museum, whose architecture sings of sunbaked cliffs and mesas, tells the story and presents the art and treasures of America's first people.
What a broad — and even modern — story it is.
Two-and-a-half million American Indians live in the United States, identity intact.
annett News Service The new attraction has been 15 years in the making. It is on the National Mall, next to the National Air and Space Museum and across from the National Gallery. The view beyond the green pond is of the starkly white Capitol building.
That seems fitting somehow, these two jarringly different symbols, now embracing one another.
On the fourth floor, the Lelawi Theater offers a multimedia orientation on Indian culture from the Arctic to Central America. The video engulfs you in images of water and falling leaves, snow and eagles, canyons and ice. But it also includes footage of a bloody modern whale hunt, which will for sure shock those expecting a Hallmark version of Indian life.
Gannett News Service Meanwhile, the Mitsitam Cafe will serve native foods such as buffalo, salmon, fry bread and clam chowder. (Mitsitam means "let's eat" in the language of the Delaware.)
Perhaps the most important aspect of the new museum is that it allows the Smithsonian to exhibit more of its 800,000 priceless Indian objects. The cornerstone is the collection of banker George Heye (1874-1957), acquired in 1990, which had been exhibited in a small museum in New York City. For the new museum, curators have chosen 3,500 objects from the Heye collection, focusing on dolls, animal objects, figurines, beadwork, baskets, peace medals, projectile points and cups.
Visitors will also see three permanent galleries — "Our Universes" (the Indian view of the world); "Our Peoples" (history); and "Our Lives" (modern Indian life). They were created in consultation with 24 tribes and will not shy away from controversial issues like casinos and alcoholism.
LOCATION: The National Museum of the American Indian is at Independence and 4th on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The closest subway stop is Federal Center SW on the Orange or Blue lines. HOURS: 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. daily. TICKETS: Free, but timed entry passes are necessary. Same-day passes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. However, it's best to get tickets in advance for the first few months through www.americanindian.si.edu or www.tickets.com ($1.75 charge per ticket and $1.50 service fee per order), or call 800-400-6624. Call or check the Web site for group sales. At a cost of $219 million in public and private money, the museum has spared no expense, even on opening ceremonies.
The only fly in the ointment? The original Native American architect, Douglas Cardinal, says the building is a "forgery," a copy of his ideas made after he was fired five years ago. He refused to come from his Ottawa home to the opening festivities earlier this week.
The new museum has a few things that other Smithsonian facilities do not. A fire pit, for instance. A waterfall and stream. Outside, 40 big "grandfather rocks" mined in Quebec create a blessing area for ceremonies. More than 34,000 plants surround the museum. A lowland landscape reminds visitors of native plants and swamps that once dominated the land Washington was built on.
So the fallen tree is part of the plan. Placed there on purpose amid the marsh marigolds and pond lilies, it reminds visitors that the whole hoop of the world includes living and dying, the fresh and the fading and and, sometimes, the utterly brand new.
"Should that be there?" asks the public relations woman.
The National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., evokes the landscape and ambience of the American Southwest. On display there are 3,500 of the Smithsonian's 800,000 Indian objects.
"Indians are usually included in natural history museums, next to the minerals and the dinosaurs," says Frank Ettawageshik, tribal chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians in northern Michigan. "This new museum sets the tone for speaking and thinking of us as a people who are very much in the diverse present."
Tribal masks of the Cherokee nation are among the hundreds of Indian artifacts featured in the museum
Down below, the Potomac atrium has a wide domed ceiling and skylight evocative of both Indian dwellings and classic Washington buildings. Prism windows let the sun move across the floors and walls. Basketweave-motif copper dividing walls snake through the space.
Visitors learn about the Qasgiq people at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., which opened Tuesday.
Commissioned art and objects made especially for the new museum include a 20-foot Tlingit totem pole, bronzes, weavings and carvings.
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