Public Programs Continue This Month At IAIS

WASHINGTON — The Institute of American Indian Studies continues its presentation of two exhibitions and will be offering some public programs this month.

On Sunday afternoons the museum is screening Native Homelands: Along the Lewis and Clark Trail. This is a film featuring the many beautiful landscapes viewed by Lewis and Clark during their historic expedition and the voices of tribal peoples whose ancestors helped the trailblazers find their way to the Pacific.

Screenings of the 30-minute film begin each Sunday at 2 pm, and are included in regular museum admission.

A prehistoric pottery workshop will be offered on Saturday, May 21, from 11 am to 3 pm, and Sunday, May 22, from noon to 4 pm.

Participants will make and fire a traditional Eastern Woodland clay vessel with Jeff Kalin, a primitive technologist.

Traditional firing will be scheduled after pottery dries, approximately one to two weeks later.

Cost is $65 and registration is required.

“North American Birds of Prey” will be presented on Sunday, May 22, from 1 to 1:45 pm. Museum visitors will see and learn about five live raptors as Julie Anne collier (Creek and Chickasaw) and her partner Jim Parks present this exciting program. Ms Collier will also demonstrate the strong connection between raptors and Native Americans using her collection of raptor-related artifacts.

Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for ages 4 to 16; registration is advised.

On view at the museum until June 30 is “With beauty all around me, I walk: The Art of Native American Body Ornamentation.”

The exhibition, whose name comes from a Navajo healing chant, offers a sampling of stunning items made with stone, bone, shell, quills, metal and glass used for necklaces, hairpins, headdresses, belts, pouches, and more in the George A.G. Darlow Exhibit Hall.

“Inuit Artists — Inuit Hunters: Artic Stories in Ivory, Bone and Stone,” on view until September 30, is a member’s exhibit of Inuit sculptures carved from walrus ivory, soapstone, whalebone and musk ox horn.

Intricate dog sleds, whimsical dancing bears, and sublime basking seals are aesthetically pleasing. Most of the sculptures also have economic and spiritual value as well.

Museum hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, noon to 5 pm.

IAIS is at 38 Curtis Road; telephone, 860-868-0518.