Creative scholars lecture features Cambodian artifacts

photo1By Keely McCoy

Ranger Reporter

 

The Presidential Scholars presented a creative scholars lecture Tuesday night featuring Cambodian artifacts with keynote speaker Dr. William T. Price. The exhibit will be on display on the third floor of the Amarillo Museum of Art until December and is free to the public.

Price is a Cambodian art collector who has given and loaned the art featured in the exhibit. He came to collecting various pieces of art from Asia when he was stationed in Japan during the Korean War. In 1964, several years after the war, he came to Amarillo. He kept traveling the world, however, collecting various oriental rugs. During a tour of India in 1979, he became interested in Cambodian sculptures and by 1984, he began buying the art.

The evening also included five other guest speakers: Jim Jordan, Carol Nicklaus, Dr. Phillip Periman, Alex Gregory and Deana Craighead. Each of the guest speakers spoke on a different piece of Cambodian art that can be seen in the AMOA.

Jordan and Periman spoke on unique techniques of photography in Linda Conner’s Cambodian photographs, specifically on her photos both from 2000 “Boy Bathing, Angkor” and “Fountain Head, Angkor.”

Craighead told a story of mythology on the “Cambodian Garuda” sculpture. The Garuda sculpture depicts a male body with a bird head and a feather headdress and surrounded by snakes.photo2

Nicklaus lectured on the “Cambodian Dvarapala” sculpture. She said it is “modeled similarly to a Buddha. The Dvarapala is a guard.” Gregory differentiated the styles of detail on the “Cambodian Figurative Sculpture.”

The sculptures all have similar body types, a common figure, along with an almost emotionless face. The four sculptures discussed are based on a mix of Hindu and Buddhist art.

The Presidential Scholars were ushers for the evening. The scholars are scheduled to take a trip to Cambodia to participate in a water filtration project inspired by this year’s Common Reader, Wine to Water by Doc Hendley. Those who want to donate toward funding the water filtration project can contact Judy Carter, director of the honors program, at 806-371-5998.

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