Highlighting other ‘Early Americans’

College should be a place that encourages curiosity. So it’s somehow fitting that a group of five grass huts is tucked among the utilitarian buildings of the El Camino College campus in Torrance. It’s an unusual welcome to an equally unusual exhibition.

“The Other Early Americans” presents photographs, etchings, dolls and more by eight artists in an attempt to give voice to groups that the history books have traditionally ignored.

“I wanted to present a view of early Americans other than the one made up solely of white Europeans, and explore a design aesthetic that goes beyond cliched and puritanical imagery,” curator Susanna Meiers says.

In addition, she hopes the show educates. “Many students begin school thinking that art has to be a painting, drawing or sculpture, so part of my goal is to broaden their horizons.”

That’s certainly the case for the work of perhaps the highest-profile artist here: David Laughing Horse Robinson, chairman of Southern California’s Kawaiisu Indian tribe, who ran in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election. He used rabbit brush and white willows to build a small symbolic village of tomo-kahni, or winter houses.

Step inside the gallery and you’ll see Angela Briggs’ take on traditional African wrap dolls, made from gourds, and Laura Stickney’s etchings, pairing portraits of female poets with leaves.

Betty Lee’s black-and-white photos refer to the isolation she felt while growing up in the only Asian family of a Midwestern town, while Ken Gonzales-Day’s digitally altered etchings document Latinos hanged by mobs in California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kat Skraba was among three artists who integrated performance. During the show’s opening, she waltzed among versions of 19th century working women’s dresses she’d made and mounted on cruciform structures. That night, Michael Lewis Miller, who has a video installation here, invited visitors to wear a hat crowned with a sailing ship and ringed by lighted candles, meant to guide wearers on life journeys.

The final piece, Edith Abeyta’s “Apple Pie Saturdays,” also relates to a journey. For a year she visited friends and strangers, baking pies. Abeyta created a ceramic plate for each and asked for a plate from the host’s pantry -- 42 of which are on display.

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‘The Other Early Americans’

Where: El Camino College Art Gallery, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays

Ends: March 11

Price: Free; $2 for parking

Info: (310) 660-3010