
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991                   TAG: 9102140377
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ABORIGINAL ART AT MUSEUM

An exhibit of painting and sculpture by Australian Aboriginals opens today at the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts.

"Dreamtime: Australian Aboriginal Art From the John W. Kluge Collection" will remain at the museum through April 14.

It shows totems and sacred images from the aboriginals' "eternal dreamtime," which is described in museum literature as "a Genesis-like period" during which "supernatural ancestors defined spirit centers for plants, animals and spirit children. These children are said to enter the bodies of women to be born as human beings."

The exhibit includes more than 40 bark paintings from northern Australia and dot paintings from the central and southern deserts, plus a number of sculptures and fetish objects.

Djon Mundine will discuss the art during a gallery walk-through at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 9.

Mundine is director of Bulabula Arts in Ramingining, Australia.

His appearance will be free and open to the public. Afterward, there will be a reception in the museum's first floor galleries.

by CNB