Three brightly colored fish captured the eye of Virginia resident Martha Ruehlmann as she walked through the Kresge Art Museum Wednesday.
"Three Fish" is the title of the Jessica Oonark painting which features fish colored in blue, orange and yellow, positioned one on top of the other.
"I kind of like the one with the fish because it's not really colored in," Ruehlmann said. "It looks weird, that's why I like it."
She and her mother stopped by the museum while visiting the 15-year-old's grandmother.
The Inuit artwork Ruehlmann encountered when she entered the museum is part of the exhibition "Power of Thought: The Prints of Jessica Oonark" and "Cultural Reflections: Inuit Art from the Collections of the Dennos Museum Center."
Visitors can view these pieces until 5 p.m. July 25, when the museum closes for the rest of the summer until Sept. 1.
"It was a wonderful way to provide Inuit art to the Mid-Michigan area," said Julie Thomson, community outreach coordinator for the museum.
Inuit artwork hails from people living in the Canadian Arctic and captures their hunting and gathering custom. In 1948, artist James Houston visited the Inuit people and helped them gain financial stability by publicizing their artwork.
This is the first time the museum has shown Inuit artwork, but not the first time the two museums which loaned the pieces to Kresge have collaborated, Thomson said. Oonark's work is on loan from the University of Richmond's Marsh Art Gallery, while artwork for "Cultural Reflections" came from the Northwestern Michigan College's Dennos Museum Center.
As part of the exhibit visitors can view an informational video about Inuit art, as well as participate in various lectures and gallery walks, Thomson said.
"The video gives another dimension of understanding," she said.
Linda Beck didn't have a chance to watch the video, but took the time to look over the paintings and sculptures of the Inuit people.
"I lived in Alaska for a while, so I was interested (in the artwork)," said Beck, an MSU employee. "The stone carving is pretty incredible. I like the animals in particular."
Many of the Inuit sculptures are made of serpentine, a hard stone that comes in various colors and textures.
When the museum reopens in the fall, a host of artwork from 18th century paintings to American impressionist pieces done by Michiganians will fill the walls of the galleries, Thomson said.
Jefferson Sina, an assistant professor of MSU's Lyman Briggs School, will host a free lecture 7:30 p.m. today at the Kresge Art Museum about the artwork
