Mayborn Museum Complex To Present Lectures July 8

In conjunction with its exhibit, Feathered Treasures: Ceremonial Objects of the Amazon, Baylor University's Mayborn Museum Complex will present two lectures Saturday, July 8. Maria Velazquez, Attaché to the Consul General of Mexico and art appraiser, will speak on "Feather Art in the Americas" at 11 a.m. and Dr. Anna Roosevelt, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, will lecture on "Ancient Amazon: A Sequence of Complex Cultures in the Rainforest" at 1 p.m. Additionally, the two speakers will give informal gallery talks from 2-2:30 p.m.
Roosevelt, a specialist in Amazonia, is an anthropologist interested in human evolution and long-term human-environment interaction. During her lecture, she will sketch different archaeological cultures of Amazonia, focusing on their ceremonialism and relation to the environment.
A graduate with distinction from Stanford University, Roosevelt received her doctorate with distinction from Columbia University. She is currently a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and from 1991-2002, served as curator of archaeology at the Field Museum of Natural History.
Researching human prehistory and land use sustainability in tropical forest Amazonia, she has published six books and 85 articles on the subject and is considered to be one of the world's foremost experts on human life in the Amazon.
Roosevelt has been a recipient of a five-year MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the Explorers Medal, Gold Medal of the Society of Women Geographers, Order of Rio Branco, the Wings Trust Award and Bettendorf Medal. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Geographical Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Anthropological Association.
Velazquez, an expert on feather art, will address the artifacts exhibited from an art history point of view and in context within the tradition of feather art in the Americas.
She has a degree in art history from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City and has studied art appraisal at New York University and the University of Maryland. She has worked at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, Historic Archives and Museum, Colegio de las Vizcainas in Mexico City, and taught art history at Centro Universitario de Ciencias Humanas (University Center for the Liberal Arts) in Mexico City. Velazquez has published Los Vascos en Mexico y su Colegio de las Vizcaínas (a catalogue of a collection including over 200 Spanish Colonial art works). She is Cultural Attaché for the Consulate General of Mexico in Houston and is a professional art appraiser at Art Appraisals Services International, in Kingwood, Texas.
The cost to attend the lectures, which also include museum visit and exhibit ticket, are $6 for museum members with lunch and free without lunch. Non-members will be charged $16 with lunch and $10 without lunch.
For more information, call Sarah Levine at 710-2517 or go to www.MaybornMuseum.com