Posts by Tara Beresh
“The People’s Tapestry”
By: Tara Beresh, Museum Curatorial and Collections Manager This Q&A initially appeared in the Moab Sun News in June, 2023. Exhibition Significance The Moab Museum consults with regional tribal members to learn how to better serve a portion of our community that has been inaccurately represented, with regard to Museum environments. My primary question to our Native…
Read MoreExploring the Archeological Significance of the Ancestral Load Basket
By: Tara Beresh, Curatorial and Collections Manager If you’re local to Moab or a longtime visitor to the Moab Museum, you may be aware of the renowned “burden” basket—an extraordinary ancestral relic, iconic to the area and sacred to proximate Native groups. The cone-shaped basket is styled to be worn like a backpack, is woven…
Read MoreAuthentic Land Acknowledgement: Are we just checking a box?
By: Tara Beresh, Curatorial & Collections Manager “It is important to understand the longstanding history that has brought you to reside on the land, and to seek to understand your place within that history. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is a current ongoing process, and we need…
Read MoreHopi Katsinam
By: Tara Beresh, Curatorial & Collections Manager If you live in the Southwest, you’ve likely encountered brightly painted carved figurines in gift shops. You may have even purchased one. To the average non-Native, “kachina dolls” are a beautiful representation of Southwest Native American culture. The human figures, reminiscent of local ancestral rock imagery, has even…
Read MoreConserving a Twenty-Year Labor of Love | The Moab Museum’s Homage to Urbanek
Longtime Moab locals, John and Anne Urbanek presented what is today referred to as “the Urbanek map” to the Moab Museum in December 2005. Originally from Kansas, John and Anne moved to Moab for employment at Arches National Park. Prior to Moab, John served as a pilot in the Korean War and enjoyed observing the…
Read MoreThe Implications of an Object
Cultural Material Acquisition and Exhibition at the Moab Museum Tara Beresh, Curatorial and Collections Manager, Moab Museum Museums worldwide have been criticized for the controversial display of indigenous objects. In years past, the Moab Museum showcased prehistoric ancestral objects such as ceramics, basketry, projectile points, and sandals. Some visitors admired these objects, inquiring: How old…
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