In Cowgirls: Contemporary Portraits of the American West, Ronnie Farley’s images remind us that the human landscape of the American West was shaped by generations of women as well as men. Countering familiar stereotypes, Farley portrays these modern cowgirls with sympathy but without sentimentality. Cowgirls examines the women’s lives through four basic themes: Ranching, Rodeo, Livestock, and Children. Cowgirls offers a testimony to a way of life in America that is disappearing—a rural world where work rewards those who embrace it with the satisfaction of having lived life on their own terms.

Content: 30 photographs
Hosting-period: 5 weeks
Security: Limited
Shipping: Common Carrier
Rental Fee: TBD

Discovering William Freed: Still Life Abstractions from Provincetown Art Association

Painter William Freed (1902-1984) focused his aesthetic struggle on the genre of still life. Calling himself an “Abstract Realist,” Freed embraced both abstraction and realism as legitimate strategies for portraying the world around him. In 1937, Freed enrolled in the Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts, initiating a life-long friendship and association with Hoffman that profoundly influenced his own theories and work.

Using the still life as inspiration, Freed created a luminous body of work that balanced the expressionistic use of line and color with varying degrees of abstraction.

Content: 30 paintings and works on paper.
Hosting-period: 10-weeks
Security: Moderate D
Shipping: Fine Art
Rental Fee: TBD

Nosotras: Portraits of Latinas

Nosotras (‘us”) features portraits of Hispanic women and girls by eight emerging photographers — Karen Bucher, Angela Capetta, Nereida Garcia Ferraz, Mary Teresa Giancoli, Patricia Gomez, Scott Nava, Tone Stockenström and Lupita Murillo Tinnen -- whose work examines the too-often overlooked lives of Latinas. Beautiful images plus heartfelt written commentary by the photographers and their subjects add up to a moving exploration of identities forged between here and the homeland.

Content: 50 photographs
Hosting-period: 5weeks
Security: Moderate B
Shipping: Van Line
Rental Fee: TBD

Imaging Blackness: Film Posters from the Indiana University Black Film Center/Archive

Dating from the early days of cinema to the present, the posters in Imaging Blackness showcase seven genres of films—Western, Musical, Documentary, Action/Crime, Drama, Mystery/Thriller, and Comedy—illustrating the historic, artistic, and humanistic struggle of people of African descent for control of their media image. Imaging Blackness takes audiences on a thematic journey through a century of visual representations of people of African descent, and explores how notions of race are constructed and challenged in American culture.

Content: 56 posters
Hosting-period: 7 weeks
Security: Moderate B
Shipping: Fine Art/Van Line
Rental Fee: TBD

Still Dancing: The Pursuit of Tradition in the 21st Century

Still Dancing examines the challenges and joys of “walking in two worlds” with the family of Dee Ketchum, former chief of Bartesville, Oklahoma, tribe of Delaware Indians. The images capture the family’s intense but also humorous efforts to transmit their heritage to the younger generation through the teaching of traditional crafts, songs and dances at events like the annual Delaware powwow near Copan, Oklahoma. The Lenape, or Delaware Indians, were among the first tribes to make contact with white settlers and were the first Native American tribe to enter into a treaty with the future United States government during the Revolutionary War.

Content: 50 photographs, 5-10 contemporary objects
Hosting-period: 5weeks
Security: Moderate A
Shipping: Van Line
Rental Fee: TBD

Mapping a Mystery: Historic Maps From the Quivira Collection

The early explores who first probed the New World returned to Europe with cartographic reports that were amazingly accurate for their time. Nonetheless, the vast territory and the lack of detailed knowledge about the mysterious “new” continent resulted in maps based as much in fantasy as in fact. Mapping a Mystery: Historic Maps From the Quivira Collection provides audiences with the rare opportunity to discover these early visions through a selection of 44 maps, books, and engravings devoted to the evolution of geographic knowledge about America’s western shores.

Content: 31 framed maps, 4 books, 6 framed illustrations, 4 prints on fabric
Hosting-period: 10-weeks
Security: High
Shipping: Fine Art
Rental Fee: TBD

Into the Heart of Race: Selections from the Hicks Collection of Black Americana

Exploring the artifacts of Into the Heart of Race is a journey into a profoundly painful chapter in American history, one packaged in the bright colors of advertising labels and lithographed tins. The James Hicks Collection tells the story of the indoctrination of racism into American culture at its most fundamental level—through objects and images designed for daily use. This exhibition seeks to encourage a thoughtful and constructive dialog about race in America by setting these items within their historical and cultural context, and examining how such images were created and perpetuated.

Content: 50-70 items including advertising cards, toys, tins, and games
Hosting-period: 7 weeks
Security: Moderate D
Shipping: Van Line
Rental Fee: TBD