The exhibition features rare wooden masks, weapons, tools and even textile fabrics from Central and West Africa.

A wide-ranging collection of African art is currently on display at Macy Gallery, and a reception that will feature a talk by the exhibition's curator, the internationally known artist and TC faculty member Maurizio Pellegrin, is scheduled for Friday, February 6, from 5 to 8 p.m.

Pellegrin said the exhibition, "Tribal Art from Africa," is unique in that it focuses exclusively on art pieces that were used by tribes in Central and West Africa.

The objects on display, which include several wooden masks, weapons, tools and textile fabrics, come from a private collection and the New York City based-Bangally African Expo.

"These are all authentic objects," said Pellegrin, who has had more than 150 solo exhibitions around the world. "In the beginning of the last century, Africans started producing art for tourists. They stopped using these objects as part of the tribe. These objects are the real things. All of the tribal art belongs to a period free from European influence."

Pellegrin said that each year, he curates three exhibitions at Macy Gallery, one of which focuses on the historical aspects of art. The goal, he said, is to give future educators at TC a perspective on how art has evolved over the centuries. African art has been profoundly influential on Western artists, he said, and can be traced from the paintings of Gaugin and Matisse through Picasso and the Abstract Expressionists.

The reception on February 6 will be held in the Macy Gallery, and the exhibition runs through February 13. The Macy Gallery, located on the fourth floor of Macy Hall, is part of the Art and Art Education program of the Department of Arts and Humanities at Teachers College. More details on this and upcoming exhibits at the Macy Gallery are available online at www.tc.edu/macygallery.

Published Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009