Grinter Gallery features ‘In the House: Domestic Arts from the Horn of Africa’

March 5, 2007

Gainesville, Fla. — As part of a campus celebration of African art, the College of Fine Arts’ Grinter Gallery presents “In the House: Domestic Arts from the Horn of Africa” at the University of Florida from March 5 to Aug. 24.

The College of Fine Arts, the Center for African Studies and the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art are major collaborators in the 14th Annual Triennial Symposium on African Art, sponsored by the international scholarly organization Arts Council of the African Studies Association. UF is host to the event from March 28 to April 1, and is creating simultaneous exhibits across campus.

The Grinter Gallery exhibition, which examines the evolution of the distinctive stylistic traditions that appear both in secular and religious arts from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, is organized by the Center for African Studies and the College of Fine Arts’ School of Art and Art History.

From pastoralist nomads to modern urban-dwellers, complex patterns of social organization subsist among the diverse ethnic groups throughout the Horn of Africa.

With reflections on the interconnected influences of Judaism, Orthodox Christianity and Islam, as well as various indigenous ideologies, this exhibit will feature objects from the realm of domesticity including an assortment of utilitarian objects, religious paraphernalia and items of personal adornment.

The Grinter Gallery is in the main lobby of Grinter Hall on the UF campus. A public reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. March 30, in conjunction with the opening reception for the MFA Thesis Exhibition I in the University Gallery and Focus Gallery.

For more information, contact Grinter Gallery curator Shi Chen by phone at 352-392-0201, ext. 230, or by e-mail at shichen@ufl.edu. The University Gallery may be reached by phone at 352-392-0201, ext. 229. Additional information may be found on the Web at www.arts.ufl.edu/galleries.