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  • PHOTO PROVIDED Edmond resident Herb Steves holds artifacts he acquired in Papau New Guinea in the 1970s. Steves and other University of Oklahoma graduates donated items for the "Warrior Spirits" exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

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February 10, 2012

Edmond resident donates native art for New Guinea exhibit

Hannah Cruz CNHI News Service

NORMAN — With nearly 1,000 distinct dialects spoken, hundreds of years of colonization from multiple countries as well as vast natural resources, Papua New Guinea is the epitome of diversity.

Its native art is no exception.

“Warrior Spirits: Indigenous Arts from Papau New Guinea,” the newest exhibit at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, allows visitors a chance to explore the rich dynamics of this southwest Pacific Ocean country through works of art, maps, graphics and audio and video elements.

Twenty of the 85 pieces of art, including woodwork, weaving, weaponry, garments and musical instruments, are on loan from the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

Edmond resident Herbert Steves, who traveled to the island nation while working for Conoco in May 1972, donated a total of 65 items to the university and a large number are shown in this new exhibit.

“The art of Papua New Guinea is not something that most Oklahomans are familiar with, so I think the exhibit presents an opportunity for the residents of Norman to glimpse a piece of a culture that lives on the other side of the globe,” said Mark White, chief curator for the art museum.

The native people of the country are formed into clans, and each clan has its own form of art, dance, weaponry, dress, music and architecture, according to supplemental text at the exhibit. Pieces in the exhibit — such as masks worn during fire dances practiced in the Highlands of West Papua — represent the many ways natives incorporate various forms of art into their lives.

Daniel Swan, curator of ethnology for the natural history museum, said the objects in the exhibit provide an engaging platform for the viewer to relate to another culture.

With a wealth of natural resources — such as mineral, petroleum and timber resources — as well as a concentration of cultural diversity, Swan said the country is at the forefront of global issues such as environmental health concerns and balancing innovation with long-standing traditions.

“They’re citizens of the global community yet they’ve still found ways to preserve, retain and to celebrate their cultural diversity,” he said. “So I think there’s lessons there.”

White agreed.

“Papua New Guinea artists work within a living tradition, and in a global age, it is always important to have some understanding of disparate cultures across the world,” he said.

“In addition, Oceanic art had a tremendous impact on the development of modern art, and a better understanding of the forms and cultural context of Oceanic art helps us to understand a piece of Western cultural history.”

Steves, University of Oklahoma engineering alumnus from the class of 1945, donated pieces to the natural history museum he acquired while on a feasibility exhibition conducted by Conoco in May 1972.

An Oklahoma farm boy at heart, Steves said he still feels amazed and overwhelmed he was able to trade what he considered everyday objects like tools, salt, tobacco and even shirts, for art created by natives.

Steves, a petroleum engineer, was on a 10-day exploration trip seeking oil and natural gas. He said he kept a diary of his travels there. Most of the items he traded for came from the Asmat tribe. The items ranged from a 6-foot tall shield, wooden oars to ironwood spears and wooden decorative carvings.

“I carried many of them on the plane with me and laid them in the aisle. I wouldn’t be able to do that today,” he said.

“I just hope the public will enjoy it and get some ideas of how the people in (Papua New Guinea) live in the primitive areas,” he said. “The towns and the cities are all fairly civilized but it doesn’t take long to get back in to the villages.”

OU alumni Robert E. Kuntz and Cedric H. Marks also contributed significant portions of the exhibit.

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