Opens Saturday, Sept. 14
When describing the work of Christine McHorse, you could tell how the Navajo artist creates works avidly collected by those with a taste for contemporary abstract sculpture as much as for American Indian art. You might talk about her background growing up in Morenci, Arizona; learning to sculpt from her Pueblo in-laws; applying her skills to Navajo traditional pottery; and earning kudos for her distinctive, lustrous designs out of mica-rich clay from New Mexico’s riverbeds. You could also attend the aptly named exhibit “Dark Light: The Micaceous Ceramics of Christine Nofchissey McHorse,” which opens Saturday, Sept. 14, at the University of Oklahoma’s Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., in Norman. One of the most innovative forces in Native American pottery today, McHorse is the Jerome M. & Wanda Otey Westheimer Distinguished Visiting Artist Chair. The artist will visit Norman and spend some time in the classroom with OU art students. McHorse will also speak about her career and the inspiration for this traveling exhibit at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13, at the museum’s auditorium. “Dark Light” runs through Jan. 12, and admission is free. The public is invited to both events. For more about this event and about the closing of “Hopituy: Kachinas from the Permanent Collections” on Sunday, Sept. 15, visit www.ou.edu/fjjma.
