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The Ethiopian Material Culture Collection
Photo
by Raymond Silverman
A major research project on the material culture
of Ethiopia, led by Dr. Raymond Silverman, former curator of African visual
culture and professor of art history at Michigan State University in the
early 1990s, yielded the largest documented collection of contemporary
Ethiopian art and craft in the United States. Working with Dr. Neal Sobania,
Professor, Hope College (Michigan), and a team of researchers in Ethiopia,
Silverman commissioned and collected several hundred artifacts that represent
individual artists whose work is representative of several of Ethiopia's
diverse ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. Included in the collections
are ceramics, silver jewelry, basketry containers, paintings on wood and
cloth, wood carvings, textiles, and the tools and materials used in the
creation of these items. In addition, the collection includes color and
black & white photographs and 50+ hours of videotape that document of
the processes used to produced the collected objects, and videotaped and
audiotaped interviews with artists.
Collectors/Fieldworkers/Donors:
Dr. Raymond Silverman , Dr.Neal Sobania, Dr. Jon Abbink, Dr. Marco Bassi,
Ms. Elisabeth Biasio, Mr. Girma Fisseha, Dr. Alula Pankhurst, Mr. Worku
Nida, Dr. Tsehai Berhane-Selassie.
Related Collections:
Cernyw and Morna Kline Collection of African Material
Culture
Nancy and George Axinn Collection of Africa Art
and Textiles
Exhibitions:
"Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity," Michigan State University Museum,
East Lansing, Michigan, July 24 - December 16, 1994; Dillard University
Art Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, September 8 - December 8, 1995.
"African Connections: Perspectives
on Collecting Culture," Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing,
Michigan, Jan. 31, 1999 - Sept. 5, 1999.
Raymond A. Silverman. "African
Connections Perspectives on Collecting Culture," [virtual exhibition]
http://www.museum.cl.msu.edu/
exhibitions/Virtual/afcon/ (Jan. 6, 2003).
Raymond A. Silverman. "Ethiopia:
Traditions of Creativity," [virtual exhibition] http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~etoc
(Sept. 24, 1998).
Publications:
Raymond A. Silverman. Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity [Artist Profiles].
East Lansing: Michigan State University Museum, 1994.
Raymond A. Silverman. ed. Ethiopian
Traditions of Creativity. University of Washington Press and Michigan
State University Museum, 1999.
--compiled by Raymond Silverman, 2005.
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