The exhibition was funded in part by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program.
Objects of daily use, ritual and ceremony from the many cultures of India – textiles, terra cottas, bronzes, adornment, life-sized papier maché figures created by the people of Mithila in the State of Bihar, temple cloths, miniature paintings, toys and kites.
Playing continuously in the exhibition were three films: one showing the making in India of a monumental, nine-foot terra-cotta Aiyanar horse in India, and two Mingei International Museum exhibition documentaries: “Forms of Mother Earth,” about Indian terra cottas and “Ikat Weaves of India.”
A Mingei International documentary videotape of the exhibition was made possible by an anonymous foundation.
Following the Members’ Reception for the exhibition, Laboni Patnak gave a performance of Odissi Classical dance from Eastern India.
San Diego Museum of Art and Mingei International Museum collaborated in presenting two concerts of classical Indian music and dance in SDMA’s Copley Auditorium: on March 4 Kartik Seshadri, Sitar, accompanied by Arup Chatterjee, Tabla; and on April 22 Viji and Mikli Prakash and The Shakti Dance Company.
Haku Shah, from Ahmedabad, India, one of the foremost authorities on tribal arts of India, traveled with his wife, Virbala, to Mingei International Museum for an April 5-11 presentation of a series of lectures, demonstrations, films and a story-telling and painting workshop for children.
Mallika Sarabhai, renowned dancer and Co-Director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts in Ahmedabad, on March 9 performed an evening of classical dance of India with her ensemble of four musicians and singers.