Permanent Collection
7/19/2018 - 1/13/2019
Organizing institution: The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia
Elaborate feasting celebrations were coordinated events that took place during special occasions such as religious holidays, births, deaths, and marriages. Highly decorated and symbolic ceramics were used in feasts and often recorded the physical elements of the event, such as performers and foods that were eaten, as well as the belief systems that lay behind the practice of feasting.
Specific foods – maize, atole, sauces, tamales, and cacao – were featured prominently in feasting events and are referenced on many of the objects in this exhibition. These ceramics reveal the frameworks of thought that Mesoamerican people created to interpret the complexities of life around them and to reflect values and goals that still live on today.
Curated by Tykira Beasley, Jade Flint, Janeth Ruiz Garcia, Dalia Kijakazi, Amanda Lane, and Vashti Jenkins Taylor
This exhibition has been made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia.
The Fralin Museum of Art’s programming is underwritten in part by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. We also thank our in-kind donors: WTJU 91.1 FM and Ivy Publications LLC’s Charlottesville Welcome Book.
7/19/2018 - 1/13/2019
Organizing institution: The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia
Elaborate feasting celebrations were coordinated events that took place during special occasions such as religious holidays, births, deaths, and marriages. Highly decorated and symbolic ceramics were used in feasts and often recorded the physical elements of the event, such as performers and foods that were eaten, as well as the belief systems that lay behind the practice of feasting.
Specific foods – maize, atole, sauces, tamales, and cacao – were featured prominently in feasting events and are referenced on many of the objects in this exhibition. These ceramics reveal the frameworks of thought that Mesoamerican people created to interpret the complexities of life around them and to reflect values and goals that still live on today.
Curated by Tykira Beasley, Jade Flint, Janeth Ruiz Garcia, Dalia Kijakazi, Amanda Lane, and Vashti Jenkins Taylor
This exhibition has been made possible through generous funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia.
The Fralin Museum of Art’s programming is underwritten in part by The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation. We also thank our in-kind donors: WTJU 91.1 FM and Ivy Publications LLC’s Charlottesville Welcome Book.
Exhibition Objects (27)
Exhibition Images (10)
Artists (7)
- Colima Artist
- Maya Artist
- Mexican Artist
- Mixtec Artist
- Nayarit Artist
- Pre-Columbian Artist (active 14th century BCE - 15th century)
- Tarascan Artist