Corning, NY 7/5/14

On the drive to downtown Corning we passed the Southeast Steuben County Library.  Originally built in 1897, this building has housed the county library since 1926 when it was also made a memorial to Corning natives who lost their lives in World War I.

 An alley mural.

The facade of the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.  Note the buffalo about to take a flying leap from the second floor.  Artemus by Tom Gardner, 1999, a celebration of the buffalo's return.

In 1832, the Swiss artist, Karl Bodmer accompanied an expedition along the former Lewis & Clark Trail.  His engravings were eventually published and provide a unique resource on early Native American life.

Saukie and Fox Indians, 1845.

 A detail of Mandeh-Pahchu.  A Young Mandan Indian, c. 1840.

 Mahsette-Kuiuab, Chief of the Cree Indians, c. 1839.

 A Sioux-Dakota headdress, c. 1865.

Plaster cast of Appeal to the Great Spirit by Cyrus Dallin, early 20th century.

End of the Trail by James Earle Fraser, c. 1894, was created by the artist as a reverent memorial to a people he believed may someday vanish as a result of U.S. westward expansion.  But it is a controversial image among Native Americans, some of whom see it as a representation of defeat and subjugation.

An 1837/38 Colt Patterson revolver, one of only 500 manufactured.  By 1875, improvements in the portability, speed and accuracy of Colt revolvers guaranteed the end of the Indian wars.

Frederick Remington's The Rattlesnake, 1908.

Lillian Pitt's Klickitat Basket with Masks, bronze, 2000.

Several sculptures by Abraham Anghik Ruben, a native Inuvialuit artist from British Columbia were displayed.  Many of his works combine Inuit, Siberian, Scandinavian, Greenland, Icelandic, and Celtic traditions and myths.

Dancing Bear, bronze, 2013.

Through the Mist of Time, Brazilian soapstone, 2013.

 Keeper of the Light, bronze, 2012.

Contemporary native pot from the Nancy and Alan Cameros Collection of Southwestern Pottery.

Cowboy songs are an art form in their own right, and many described that rough and tumble existence.  In 1927 Carl Sandburg published American Songbag...

which included the lyrics to a cowboy ballad, "Streets of Laredo"...