Opens Sunday, Oct. 27
Tricks are for kids, but games are for the teaching of valuable life lessons and solidifying identity within the tribe. Philbrook Museum of Art, 2727 S. Rockford Road, Tulsa, pulls out some of its coolest works by such Native American artists as W. Richard “Dick” West and C. Terry Saul to illustrate how play and competitive sport were used among many indigenous tribes to prepare its youth for the responsibilities of adulthood, including hunting and warfare. Games such as stickball honed skills with weapons and improved hand-eye coordination, but they also required teamwork useful to the tribe. Philbrook opens “Games People Play: Sports and Competition in Native American Art” on Sunday, Oct. 27. “Games People Play” will remain up until Jan. 12. Museum admission is $7-$9. For more information and museum hours go online to www.philbrook.org.