Hispanic culture is easier to discover now than it was in 1492.
Centuries before Italian navigators Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci sailed west from Spain — respectively finding the West Indies and realizing it was in fact two new continents — the Tainos, in their leisure time along the rivers and coastlines of the Caribbean, created dynamic sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, weaving, dance, music and poetry.
The Tainos were the dominant people of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas. But like their continental contemporaries the Aztec, Maya and Inca, they were unprepared to face the guns, germs and steel of Europe.
The ornamented domestic ceramics of the Tainos (1200-1500 A.D.) survive as relics of their beautiful past and are at the chronological leading edge of Voces y Visiones: Highlights from El Museo Del Barrio's Permanent Collection.
Tampa Museum of Art, the present host of the traveling exhibit, offers free admission from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, for Voces y Visiones Family Day, in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month.
El Museo Del Barrio, housed at the uptown end of New York City's "Museum Mile" and at the western edge of the vibrant Puerto Rican neighborhood el barrio, preserves and presents the art of all Spanish-speaking people. And its holdings of more than 6,500 pieces, recognized nationally for its diversity, ranges from the pre-Columbian to the contemporary, representing artists from the United States, Caribbean and Latin America.
Tours conducted in English and Spanish cover the 130 pieces in the exhibit, which include textiles, masks, paintings, photos and mixed media.
The day's festivities are overwhelming in number and variety.
Painter Vanessa Fernandez leads the creation of a community mural. Maskmaker Edwin Arocho gives an artist demonstration. Barry Skeete, Robert Maldonado, "El Nino" Garcia and Fred Johnson perform Afro-Cuban rhythms with dancing by Luis Cordero, director of Ballet Dominicano, and Maria Esther Carrillo, director of Taller Inter-Cultural Hispano-Americano. Bilingual storyteller Manolita Pinto and puppet company Muñekache Marionettes each give performances. And the museum's staff assists kids in hands-on art activities inspired by Taino culture, Mexico's Dia de los Muertos celebrations and Puerto Rico's Carnival festivities.
Tampa Museum of Art is located at 600 N. Ashley Drive in downtown Tampa. For more info, visit www.tampamuseum.com or call 813-274-8130.
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2003.
