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Gallery Talk: Wa Kuk Wa Jimor/Canoe of One Community

Talk/Lecture
Contemporary Art Gallery
FREE
This event has passed
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will be closed Monday, May 13, to prepare for the visit of Antiques Roadshow. We will return to normal hours of operation Wednesday, May 15.

Join Master Boat-builder Liton Beasa and Melisa Laelan, President of the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese (ACOM), in the Contemporary Art Galleries for a discussion about the importance of canoes and navigation in Marshallese culture.

Liton and a team of apprentice carvers worked onsite from October to November 2021 carving a korkor, a traditional Marshallese outrigger canoe, from a tree on the museum grounds. This program is part of a larger Arts and Social Impact Accelerator Program (ASAP) partnership between the artist Kholoud Sawaf and ACOM to create awareness in Northwest Arkansas of the Marshallese story by highlighting the cultural knowledge of Marshallese elders and involving Marshallese youth in the project.

Unfinished canoe being built in wood
Images of a kōrkōr, which was built at Crystal Bridges and featured in the program Wa Kuk Wa Jimor/Canoe of One Community in 2022. All photos Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Free, no tickets required.

Per the CDC’s updated guidelines, we are now requiring all guests ages 2 and up and staff to wear a face covering indoors and while attending outdoor programs, except while eating or drinking. Masks will be available upon entry for those who do not have one.

 

ASAP events are sponsored by Matt and Mary Kathryn Brown | Anna and Carl George.