October 11, 2008 Elin Danien, PhD., "HOW TO CATCH A PAINTED METAPHOR:
Creating an exhibition out of pots, gods, and chocolate, with a little
obsession on the side"
On April 5th, 2009, Painted Metaphors: Pottery and Politics of the
Ancient Maya, will open at the Penn Museum. Maya Weekend attendees and
Museum members will preview the exhibit on April 3rd. Curator Elin
Danien took PCS members behind the scenes for an illustrated look
at
the development of this exhibition. She shared some previously
unknown
anecdotes about the unusual people whose work is the basis of the
exhibition. The exhibit was designed to spotlight the collection
of
polychrome vases, carefully excavated at the site of Chama, Guatemala,
which were sent to the Penn Museum by linguist and man in the
field
Robert Burkitt. These vases are extremely important because they
are
the only known Chama polychrome vases with full provenience. Dr. Danien
has been on the trail of Burkitt, and the story of the vases, for many
years; early in her research she made a trip to scan his diaries on a
ranch in Guatemala, and later, flew in a very small plane to the
village of Chama to retrieve local clay in order to ascertain the true
physical source of the pots. In her investigation of the career
of
Robert Burkitt, Dr. Danien encountered the work of M. Louise Baker, the
Museum artist who painted a gorgeous roll-out series of watercolors of
the pots. Among the many details of their lives revealed by Dr. Danien
was the fact that the two actually met in Guatemala, and liked each
other! The eagerly anticipated exhibition has been expanded to include
additional pottery vessels which will shed light on the role of fine
ceramics in the political and ritual life of the ancient Maya. All look
forward to attending the opening of the exhibition, fittingly scheduled
at the opening of the 2009 Maya Weekend.
Dr. Elin Danien
is a Research Associate in the American Section of the University of
Pennsylvania Museum, where she was responsible for the recent
renovation of the Mesoamerican gallery. She earned her
Ph.D. in 1998, with a dissertation on the collection of Maya polychrome
pottery in the University Museum. That collection forms the core
of the upcoming exhibition. Her recent publications include the
web publication, Paintings of Maya Pottery: The Art and Career of
M. Louise Baker, posted 9/5/06 at:
http://www.famsi.org/reports/03029/index.html,
and two edited
volumes: Maya Folktales from the Alta Verapaz, and, with John M.
Weeks, The Lost Notebooks of Robert Burkitt, Maya Linguist.
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