Island Years by Mark Odegard

Author:Mark Odegard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: peace corps;gunflint;fiji;minneapolis;creative;art;design
Publisher: Mark T Odegard
Published: 2020-03-26T04:11:26+00:00

The sunny new space became the site of our temporary exhibits, which included both traveling displays and shows we designed ourselves. An exhibit on American jazz, lent to us by the U.S. embassy, became a big hit. Every new exhibit seemed to bring in more people. In one exhibit, I highlighted items from the museum’s excellent tapa collection, which I don’t believe had ever been displayed before. Tapa, or masi as Fijians call it, is a beautiful fabric made from the inner bark of a mulberry tree, that was traditionally used for special clothing, among other things. I hung some gorgeous tapa pieces from the ceiling, clipped to lengths of bamboo. Thanks to the card catalogue, I knew where and when in Fiji those treasures had been made. I sent photos of the tapa cloth to the respective villages so the women could see what their great-grandmothers had accomplished using their traditional designs.

Our openings became bimonthly Friday-night events. Soon hundreds of people were coming to see the new exhibitions, drink wine, and experience Fiji’s culture and history. Though I was putting on these shows, designing the invitations and delivering them to the foreign embassies and local business owners, my role was largely unsung. That was the Peace Corps way. I loved what I did and knew my job was the best thing that ever happened to me. At one opening, the Israeli ambassador told me how much he liked the exhibit and asked me where I’d worked before I became the museum’s designer. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I’d been a caretaker in northern Minnesota up the Gunflint Trail. He was surprised enough when I said I was a Peace Corps volunteer.

I asked local artists to paint scenes from Fijian myths and legends on the museum’s exterior walls. School groups would sit in the grass and listen to storytellers spin the tales illustrated on the nearby panels.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.