Cahokia Mounds and the Contemporary Indian Art Show

Cahokia Mounds and the Contemporary Indian Art Show

     The Contemporary Indian Art Show at Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site was a wonderful taste of Modern Native Art, from around the United States.

     The event was held within the visitor center at the Cahokia Mounds Park near Collinsville, Illinois. The Cahokia Mounds website states that Cahokia was “bigger than London in 1250 AD.”

     It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What is a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Well, the website states that “The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning protection of the world cultural and natural heritage adopted by UNESCO in 1972.”

     This World Heritage Site is one of several located within less than a day’s drive from Southern Illinois. These include Cahokia Mounds, Mammoth Cave Park, The Great Smoky Mountains Park, and a few of the Frank Lloyd Wright Architectural locations. Frank Lloyd Wright has architecture, in St. Louis, Decatur, Springfield and Chicago, among many other places. These are important natural and cultural sites recognized by the world. It would be compared to the Seven Wonders of the World. We are blessed to live in such a place that has these sites nearby.

 

     Cahokia Mounds is a great setting for the Contemporary Indian Art show, where around a dozen Native American artists displayed their work. The types of art presented, ranged from paintings, to pottery, to jewelry, and sculpture. Native flute and drum music played as patrons loved the art and the artists. Not only was there visual art, but there were CD’s of music, drums, and prayers; along with incense and books written by many of the artists.

 

     The jewelry was silver and shined to perfection, with bead work of all kinds. There were earthen vessels, with sculptures and masks, surrounded by beautiful feathers. They were all celebrating native culture and history. The natural world, native spirituality, and the destruction of the tribes were remembered throughout. A testimony to a blood line going back through the mists of time, to when the Creator molded humanity into existence.  And He loves us all.
 
     There is an art show at Cahokia several times a year. The painting displayed in the article is by native artist and writer, Mitch Battese. Who lives in Lawrence, Kansas.