Noon Talks offer art museum insight

Two opportunities remain for students, faculty and community members to get an inside look at the IU Art Museum. This Wednesday and Dec. 7, the IU Art Museum will host its final Noon Talks of the semester. The ongoing Noon Talk series features museum curators and other art experts offering insights about the collections and exhibits. \nFrom 12:15 to 1 p.m. Wednesday in the museum's Gallery of the Art of Asia and the Ancient Western World on the second floor, Adriana Calinescu, the Thomas T. Solley Curator of Ancient Art, will present her Noon Talk "The High Life." Calinescu will talk about the museum's recent acquisition of an important Greek vase, which was made for special use at a banquet or ceremony that took place in Greece in the fifth century B.C., according to a press release for the event. Her talk will focus on how the piece came into the museum's possession and offer the public one of the first chances to see the piece on display, said Emily Powell, manager of external affairs at the IU Art Museum. \nThe Noon Talk "Dancing off the Wall: Dan Masks in Performance" will take place from 12:15 to 1 p.m. Dec. 7 in the Wielgus Gallery of the Arts of Africa, the South Pacific and the Americas on the second floor of the IU Art Museum. Daniel B. Reed, a professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and director of the IU Archives of Traditional Music, will offer insight into the Dan mask collection at the museum, according to the event's press release. Through a discussion of his work with Dan musicians and masqueraders in Cote d'Ivoire, Reed will offer a deeper appreciation of the mask collection, according to the press release.\nIn a 2001 article for "Africa Today," Reed wrote that "many Dan people in western Cote d'Ivoiure hold that masks, called 'Ge,' are spirits who perform among humans as dancing and musical embodiments of Dan social ideals and religious beliefs."\nBoth events are free and open to the public and do not require preregistration.