Neal Sobania, director of international education and professor of history at Hope College, is one of several collectors whose efforts are highlighted in two Web-based exhibitions of African art at Michigan State University.
The first, "Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity,"
is a Web version of an exhibition of Ethiopian art, for
which Sobania co-directed research, held at the university
in 1994. The second, "African Connections: Perspectives on
Collecting Culture," features objects from the Michigan
State University Museum's collection.
"Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity" features the
lives and work of 11 Ethiopian artists and artisans. Each
artist is highlighted through a profile that includes an
autobiography; an essay on cultural context; a gallery of
examples of the artist's work; a map that locates the
artist's home in Ethiopia; and a list of suggested readings.
The original exhibition ran at the university's
museum from July 24 through December 16 in 1994. Sobania
was co-leader of a research team that spent April of 1993
chronicling varied traditions of Ethiopian art, and
collecting examples of each, for the exhibition and the MSU
museum, and documenting those who make the objects.
"Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity" is located
on the World Wide Web at: www.h-net.msu.edu/~etoc
"African Connections: Perspectives on Collecting
Culture" celebrates the growth in the university museum's
collection of African material culture over the last 10
years. The growth has followed both gifts of artifacts from
donors and research-oriented field collecting.
Information presented about each of the objects in
the exhibition includes the name of the maker, ethnic
affiliation, date of production, locale and country, media
and the name of the collector/donor. The site also includes
background on the individuals who brought the objects to the
museum, including Sobania for his role in the 1994 Ethiopian
exhibition.
"African Connections: Perspectives on Collecting
Culture" is located on the World Wide Web at:
www.museum.msu.edu/museum/exhibitions/afcon/
Sobania's interest in Ethiopian art began with his
first visit to the country in the late 1960s as a Peace
Corps volunteer, and has continued ever since. His own
collection of Ethiopian art was featured in an exhibition at
Hope in the fall of 1992.