Traveling Exhibits

The North Dakota Council on the Arts' exhibits are not just for museums. These exhibits are for your community, school, bank, tourist centers and town museum. The exhibits are lightweight, easy to set up and very affordable.

For information and bookings on any of the following exhibits, contact the North Dakota Art Gallery Association in Minot:

• 701-858-3242 or 701-858-3836
• or ndaga@ndaga.org
• or www.ndaga.org

Community Arts Access, Presenter Support, and Special Project grants are available to North Dakota non-profit organizations and schools to help pay for the exhibit. Visit the "Grant Programs" section of this site for more information.

Current exhibits:

A.R.T.S. (Art Resources for Teaching Standards) Trunks

To expand and enhance inclusion of the arts in North Dakota's education process, the NDCA's Arts-in-Education program developed the A.R.T.S. (Art Resources for Teaching Standards) Trunk program. There are two thematic trunks that include touchable art materials, videos, CDs, and resource and activity books to enhance the teaching of dance, drama, music, and visual arts:

1. Games and Storytelling
   The Games and Storytelling Trunk has been designed to not only engage students in learning about themselves and their particular ethnic heritage but also about the culture of some 70 different ethnic groups within the state, all by focusing on the universal themes of games and storytelling.
2. Cultural Encounters with Lewis and Clark
   The Cultural Encounters with Lewis and Clark Trunk focuses on an historic event in the history of America: the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Students are invited to take their own voyage of discovery and to share what they find out with others through writing, drawing, acting, performing, and presenting.

Learning activities incorporating the North Dakota Arts Standards are an integral component of the A.R.T.S. Trunk program. Standards-based learning activities included with each trunk can be used independently or integrated with other disciplines.

More detailed information on the A.R.T.S. Trunks, including images, can be found on the NDCA's Arts in Education Web site.

Spirit Trails and Sky Beings: Mythical Scrolls Of The Ojibway Nation

The tradition of storytelling is said by the Ojibway to have begun with the spirit Diibajimad, who taught a half-spirit, half-mortal being called Nanabosho. He, in turn, taught mortals. Since then it has passed from generation to generation through the memory aid of scrolls used to correctly and completely relay these narratives through an elaborate series of symbols called pictographs. The stories are utilized to teach lessons, morals, and values to children as well as to adults. This exhibit features stories scribed on birch bark scrolls as made by Ojibway traditionalist, Anthony Richard LaFromboise (Miskomin – “Raspberry”), one of only a few individuals remaining known as “Keepers of the Scrolls.” This exhibit is a significant step in the preservation and continuation of this very rare tradition.

The exhibit, produced by the North Dakota Council on the Arts, is tailored for schools, libraries, art galleries, museums, banks, and other community organizations. It will easily adapt into educational programs. Educational materials that accompany the exhibit have been designed to relate to middle school ND English, Language Arts, Theater, and Visual Arts standards and contain interdisciplinary activities. In addition, many of the themes of the stories featured involve issues of concern among children and families of today such as self-esteem and loneliness. In such cases, the narratives can serve as tools by counselors for mediating discussions.

For additional information on this exhibit, visit the North Dakota Art Galleries Association web site at www.ndaga.org/SpiritTrails/exhibit.html.