AT THE ALLEN / SPRING 2023 / 15 FOR EDMONIA Artist yétúndé ọlágbajú visited Oberlin for a week of artistic programs honoring Edmonia “Wildfire” Lewis. After the lecture at the Allen, visitors were invited to participate in a collective activity and performance creating a string of marble beads—marble being the material in which Lewis often worked. ọlágbajú then added the object to a collaborative artwork created during their visit, which is now displayed on campus at the Edmonia Lewis Center for Women and Transgender People. INDIGENOUS OBJECTS During a visit to Oberlin this fall, an updated tribal affiliation for two pairs of moccasins was provided by Hunter Old Elk (Crow/Yakama), Assistant Curator, Plains Indian Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of theWest. Old Elk, along with HannahWirta Kinney, Curator of Academic Programs, and Amy Margaris, Associate Professor of Anthropology, examined items in the Allen’s collection. Old Elk was able to provide recommendations on appropriate storage and additional details about the objects. Continuing to learn and to provide responsible stewardship for indigenous items in our collection is a goal of our institution. DAY WITHOUT ART December 1 is observed asWorld AIDS Day and, since 1989, DayWithout Art. It is a chance to pay tribute to the immense impact that the AIDS epidemic has caused among artistic communities. This year, the Allen and students in Professor Jan Cooper’s first-year seminar on “The Rhetorics of HIV-AIDS” held an awareness campaign inWilder Hall. The Allen contributed a slideshow of images from its permanent collection that address this topic, from Emma Amos and Creighton Baxter to Keith Haring and DavidWojnarowicz. Emma Amos (American, 1937–2020), Giza, Emma & Larry, 1992. Lithograph with chine collé. Gift of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, Art Rental Collection Transfer, 2021.36. JONATHAN CLARK (OC 2025) A student reads a revised label in the exhibtion Divergent Paths. Unrecorded Apsáalooke (Crow) artisan, Pair of moccasins with buffalo horn motif, late 1800s. Leather andmulti-colored beads. Courtesy of the Oberlin College Ethnographic Collection, OCECxxx.C1.qdm.0308.A&B. Brings tears tomy eyes (of joy) to see old favorites of mine from60+ years ago… and to remember Ellen Johnsonwho’s class I audited (at 8:00 a.m.) and changedmy life! — Beth Bullard (OC 1960) Noted in the Allen’s visitor book
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