Mitchell Museum Day-Trip to Indianapolis Native Market June 27, 2009

The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston is hosting a one-day bus trip to Indianapolis on Saturday, June 27, 2009, for a visit to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art and its 17th annual Indian Market and Festival.

The Eiteljorg’s market is the largest of its type in the Midwest, with nearly 130 Native American artists representing approximately 60 tribes coast to coast. Artists will be selling paintings, drawings, jewelry, sculpture, carvings, pottery, dolls, drums, baskets, beaded items, and other hand-made creations. Exhibits are displayed in large tents on the grassy grounds of White River State Park directly behind the museum, alongside a scenic canal.

Visitors will have the opportunity to hear Tlingit storyteller Gene Tagaban and award-winning contemporary Native musicians The Blue Stone Project and singer-songwriter Michael Jacobs. They can watch the Boxley Family Dancers (Tsimshian) demonstrate traditional Northwest Coast dancing. Navajo drummer Tony Showa will demonstrate how to make a Native hand drum, and a group of Pokagon Band Potawatomi performers will teach visitors how to sing a traditional Native song.

Market visitors also gain admission to the Eiteljorg Museum itself, with its permanent galleries of Native American objects from throughout North America, as well as Western American art, including works by Georgia O’Keeffe and Frederic Remington. Current temporary exhibits include “Facing West: Celebrating 20 Years of the Eiteljorg Museum” and “A Gesture of Kinship: Photographs by Bruce Hucko,” which includes documentary photos and interviews with young Navajos and follow-up photos and interviews with the same individuals 20 years later.

Native American food, including Indian tacos, will be sold by vendors at the outdoor market. Southwestern and Native-inspired food is also available at the Eiteljorg Museum’s indoor restaurant.

An air-conditioned motor coach will depart from the Mitchell Museum, 3001 Central Street (at Central Park Avenue) in Evanston at 8 a.m. and will arrive in Indianapolis at about 12:30 p.m. local time. Visitors will arrive back at the Mitchell Museum at approximately 8 p.m. Travel time is about 3-1/2 hours each way.

The transportation cost is $70 per person round-trip, $65 for Mitchell Museum members, and advance registration is required. The price covers transportation only and does not include admission to the event.

Participants will need to buy separate admission tickets to the event upon arrival at the Eiteljorg Museum. Adult admission is $10 at the gate. Visitors 17 and younger are admitted free. Information is available at www.eiteljorg.org.

For trip information, phone the Mitchell Museum at (847) 475-1030. On the Net: www.mitchellmuseum.org.

Official Website: http://www.mitchellmuseum.org