Native Northeast: Iroquois Indian Museum in Upstate New York By Erynne Ansel Ms. Ansel is Director of the Iroquois Indian Museum. The Iroquois Indian Museum is a truly unique cultural destination located just minutes from the Howe Caverns in upstate New York. With gorgeous contemporary art and exhibits along with nature trails, history and archaeology – as well as extraordinary architecture – the Museum is enjoyed by thousands each year. The Museum hosts two Iroquois arts and culture festivals annually, the first one is on Memorial Day weekend and the second, and slightly larger one, is held on Labor Day weekend. This Labor Day Weekend the Museum hosted the 22nd Annual Iroquois Arts Festival featuring Ulali, the Jim Sky Dancers from Six Nations reserve, the Six Nations Women Singers, the Santee Smith Performers, and much more. The festival also included storytellers and craft activities such as beading and cornhusk doll making. Our nature park can be explored by a guided nature walk. The pottery, carving, beadwork, jewelry and other crafts made by Iroquois artists will be on display and ready for purchase. Festival visitors also enjoyed Native American food and the Museum was open to view the exhibits and watch documentaries. In the Museum you will find contemporary multimedia installations co-mingling with 9,000-year-old stone tools. And while there are enough ancient artifacts on exhibit to indulge those with an interest in archaeology and the past, this is not simply a history museum. The Iroquois are still here today, and much of the art on exhibit expresses the experience of contemporary human life from an Iroquois perspective. Located on the original homelands of the Iroquois, the Museum is a facility that honors the ingenuity of the past while exhibiting the creativity of today and confronting controversial issues. Breathtaking bone and stone tools, trade items, wooden utensils and contemporary art illustrate this unforgettable story of change and perseverance. Visitors to the museum should prepare to be challenged intellectually. The art displayed here is moving and mysterious, often personal, and at times sharply satirical. It is also as beautiful as it is fiercely political. On the Hanks Gallery floor and walls is an exhibition of paintings and sculptures drawn from the museum’s permanent collection. Titled “Keeping the Balance: Past and Future,” the exhibition explores the complex nature of maintaining one’s cultural identity in a rapidly changing world. On the upper walls of the gallery, visitors will enjoy an exhibit of grand paintings by Carson Waterman, “Art on the Longhouse Wall: Traditions and Transformations,” on loan from the Dowling Collection. Other exhibits at the museum in the year 2003 include “Gifts of the Forest,” a basketry and woodcarving exhibit representing craftspeople from 16 Iroquois communities during the last quarter of the twentieth century. Downstairs in the Museum, visitors enter into the Children’s Iroquois Museum, where they view sculptures of the clan animals, touch a deer hide, make a cornhusk doll or beaded necklace, commune with turtles, play a real water drum or elm bark rattle, read books, or roll around on cushy pillows with a plush stuffed beaver. Outside visitors can go inside authentic Native log homes from the nineteenth century, try out a real lacrosse stick, as well as explore the trails of our Nature Park. The trail maps teach visitors about the Native uses of particular trees for food, medicine, or housing, etc. The Iroquois Indian Museum is located 35 miles west of Albany, NY, near the intersection of Highways 7 and 145. Take exit 22 from Interstate 88 and follow the signs. The Museum is open in the Spring and Fall Tuesday - Saturday, 10-5, Sunday 12-5. In July and August, hours are extended to Monday-Saturday, 10-6, Sunday 12-6. The museum is closed Jan.1- March 31. Visit our website at www.iroquoismuseum.org or call 518-296-8949 for further information.  Festivals are supported by a generous grant from the New York State Council of the Arts.