‘Native Americans’ at Autry Museum

An exhibition juxtaposing paintings, drawings and photographs by non-native artists with American Indian artifacts depicted in the visual images opens Thursday at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum.

“Native Americans, Five Centuries of Changing Views” covers eight major Indian groups in North America, and includes works by artists such as George Catlin, Albert Bierstadt, Winslow Homer, Charles Russell, Frederic Remington and Eastman Johnson. Also included are artifacts such as Indian clothing, jewelry, pottery and weapons.

The exhibition is based on and organized along the same lines as a book of the same title by guest curators Patricia Trenton, former curator of American Art at the Denver Art Museum, and Patrick T. Houlihan, former director of the Southwest Museum.

“In documenting the American Indian, painters, photographers and engravers have created a universally recognized series of images about America,” the authors write. “These images have evolved over time into an evocative iconography--an iconography of shifting emotional content that has given this country a means for expressing some of its most cherished values. As a result, each image has a story that sometimes begins with the artist and his motivation to paint Native Americans. At other times, it begins with an action in the history of Indian-white relations. Whatever its origin, our intention has been to document the time and place, the way in which the image came about, and the audience for whom it was intended.”

The exhibition runs through March 1.

PROVINCETOWN EXCHANGE: “Contrasts: Contemporary Provincetown,” an art exhibition comprising the first leg of a long-term cultural exchange between West Hollywood and Provincetown, R.I., is on view through Dec. 13 at the Pacific Design Center. The exhibition, which includes 45 paintings, sculptures, photographs and conceptual pieces by Provincetown’s living talent, as well as late modern masters, includes works by Larry Rivers, Claes Oldenburg, Milton Avery, Robert Rauschenberg, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and others.

BENEFITS: “Celebrating Cleo,” a silent auction and sale highlighting Cleo Dorman’s 50 years as an artists’ model, will be held Friday and Saturday at Otis/Parsons Art Institute’s North Gallery, 2401 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Proceeds will go toward scholarships for minority students attending Otis/Parsons. The auction will go from 6-9 p.m. on Friday and continue from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday. . . . Santa Monica High School’s Roberts Art Gallery, 601 W. Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, is holding a silent auction and sale to benefit the gallery on Friday from 5-7:30 p.m. Featured artists include DeWain Valentine, La Monte Westmoreland and Laddie John Dill. . . . A student-organized auction of animation art to benefit hospitalized children and needy families will be held Friday at 7 p.m. at the California Institute of the Arts, 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia.

NOTES: The Santa Barbara County Arts Commission has opened Santa Barbara’s first County-sponsored exhibition space for contemporary visual arts. The space, named for the late artist Channing Peake, is on the ground floor of the County Administration Building, 105 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. The first exhibition, a show of Peake’s paintings, is on view through February, 1990. . . . Cypress College is accepting photographic holiday cards and photo tree decorations for an exhibition beginning Friday in the college’s photo gallery. Submissions will be hung as soon as they arrive, and the show will continue through Dec. 20. For information, call (714) 826-2220, Ext. 244. . . . The Ukrainian Art Center, 4315 Melrose Ave., next Sunday will hold its 10th annual Christmas open house, featuring Ukrainian folk and fine art. Highlighting the open house, which runs from noon-5 p.m., will be an exhibition by two Ukrainian-American artists: painted eggs by Debra Korluka and stained glass by George Marcynuk. Admission is free.