QUICK TAKES - Aug. 1, 2009

Six months into a yearlong exhibition of Oceanic art, the San Diego Museum of Art has announced a major acquisition of artworks from one of the lenders, the Sana Art Foundation.

Under terms of a new alliance between the two organizations, about 900 works from Oceania, Africa and the Americas will be transferred from the foundation to the museum, vastly expanding the Balboa Park institution’s holdings of non-Western art.

The Sana Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization in Escondido created by San Diego collectors Edward and Mini Smith. Established “to increase public appreciation and awareness of the importance of cultural diversity,” it presents exhibitions and educational programs related to the collection.

Among foundation loans currently on view in “Oceanic Art: A Celebration of Form,” at the San Diego museum, are an ornament made of shells and plant fibers from the Solomon Islands and a necklace from Hawaii fashioned of whale bone and human hair.

-- Suzanne Muchnic