Eiteljorg Museum — Attraction in Indianapolis

Jingle Rails was fantastic as always. First time here since changing the Native American floor. Had a couple issues with this. I understand that the museum wants to step away from an anthropological view of Native American art and go with more contemporary post 1900 artworks that show the dynamic community and innovations and trends. However, it seems to me problematic to get on the cultural marxist train and post frankfurt school ideology to purge the collection of anything pre-1900. I understand that there is the fear of “settler-colonizers romanticizing the history of Native Americans” but tearing down history in total and stripping objects of any meaningful context really isn’t the way. Its strange to throw out your own history just because how someone might take it. And especially afyer already filling in the viewer that this is not appropriate. A number of the signs took aim about how settler-colonizers think which seems awfully apt to making assumptions about what people think in general. If I was redesigning this building I would have kept the artworks by tribe and location gradually moving into this new way of thinking just so that people have some historical background with input from Native Americans about what we should see historically and then moving toward the contemporary where it culminates in something like the present day exhibit. As it is most of the artwork is lacking so much context it is not quite clear what I am looking at or what the artist wants me to know about the piece. I really would have preferred well written cards next to each piece with as much info as possible. Having to find the artworks when they are a bit randomly put together on a computer screen and still lacking much context is a shame. If you have a computer program you should be able to really stuff some real knowledge in there. Also it seems strange to have this exhibit which is primarily 1900 to today and then have contemporary art the gallery over and then on floor one have these very romanticized paintings, the thing the upstairs complained of, and western motifs which has a very settler colonizer lens in mind. So you come out walking away a bit confused as to what you are to make of this messaging. Aside from that both the artwork on the second and first floor is gorgeous even if the curation doesn’t make great sense since it centered on such such vague ideas as innovation, relation, and continuation. Which sound good in theory but hard to actually organize a visual motif on. That being said still worth seeing. My kid enjoyed the stagecoach in basement. Didn’t go to the cafe but its always pretty good...

Update: Eiteljorg staff responded to my concern. Their response was one of the best customer service responses I have ever received! They heard and understood my issue. They truly seemed saddened that I had a negative experience and wanted to ensure that other museum visitors did not. I appreciate their willingness to consider my perspective.

I want to preface this review with my rationale for providing such a low rating. I actually enjoyed the Eiteljorg Museum exhibits very much. I would give the majority of the museum 5 stars! I am rating this review so low because I fear that it might not be taken seriously otherwise. My actual negative experience happened when my 4-year-old nephew and I visited the gift shop. I am an African American woman who took the day off to take my little nephew to the museum to see the train exhibit along with the rest of the museum. He wanted to go in the gift shop, so we did. Upon entering, I notice the sales associate at the counter several feet away. She was an older Caucasian woman. Other than my nephew and me, there were 5-7 other Caucasian patrons in the store almost all of whom were clustered near the sales counter. My nephew and I did not immediately go in the direction of the counter because he was of course drawn to a display of lollipops to the right side of the door. The sales associate leaves the small group she was near, makes a direct line to my nephew and I, stands right next to us, pretends to straighten something on the shelf, interjects herself in our conversation, and tries to make small talk with us (i.e. not simply greeting us). She approached us even though she had to quickly go back to the counter as some of the other customers were clearly waiting on her to check them out. This is a common scenario that African Americans experience where store staff hover out of (what feels like) a concern that you might steal something. I felt angry immediately, but eventually purchased the lollipop and left the store. As we began to exit the museum, I felt it important that I share with this employee how her actions made me feel. I did this. She assured me that this “was not her,” that I “had this wrong,” and that she “has biracial people in her family.” I cannot say what is in a person’s heart, but I can say that it is a reasonable expectation not be racially profiled in a museum that is considered a cultural center and presents the art and experiences of a segment...

Service Appreciated the parking validation they gave me, saved me $20. They have the option to re-cycle the lapel clip they give out when you buy a ticket. I was going to keep it but I decided not to, cause they could use it again.

How I spent my time The first exhibit I viewed was Contemporary Inuit Art, and I went through the whole upstairs level, went downstairs to the more Western-style paintings, and then the second exhibit was the kicker, I loved it. Preston Singletary and his glassworks. It probably took about 2 hours. I went to the museum giftshop.

Political Considerations/Personal Lense I was judging the language used in the placards for the Western paintings. There was a guy complaining to his wife about the language used in the upstairs exhibit (curated by native people) which made strong objections to the Kansas city chiefs and their rituals? little imitations of what their mascot is purported to represent. He was like oh so it’s okay if native people do these things? Yes, you….$&^}%+^!

There is a schism in the museum when you go from the western art to the art by native people, in terms of the words accompanying the art. It marks a difference in how parts of the U.S. think about things. You could say the western art in this museum has a past lense already set up for any viewer that comes by. The Western paintings are all about native people, railroads, and manifest destiny; the contemporary art here actually comes from Native people (as it should) and pushes back and moves the story forward, cause they haven’t disappeared from the land at all. It’s not just complaints about cultural appropriations that they provide in an artspace. I came to this museum expecting less of the former. I’ve been convinced into my beliefs about things cause I’ve been listening and learning, I know it takes awhile to accept a different way of thinking about this. I’m sure this is the right way.

Really wish the book about the lost Mormon kingdom would not be sold in the gift shop, Mormons have this idea that they actually were involved in building everything in the Americas (Mexico’s historic sites) and have very racist ideas about native people written into their religion.

Some things I did like about the paintings: The painting of the grand canyon split up into different frames was great Secrets of the Dark Forest,...