An Embossed Gold Plaque from the "River of Gold" Exhibit

By MIKE NORTON

Autumn is traditionally the “golden season” here in Traverse City, from the warm glow of our fall foliage to the burnished gold of our long fall afternoons.

But this fall there’ll also be gold of a much more literal sort.

Our remarkable Dennos Museum Center has acquired a groundbreaking exhibit of more than 120 exquisitely crafted pieces of Precolumbian goldwork from the ancient cemetery site of Sitio Conte, in what is now central Panama. Entitled “River of Gold,” the exhibition includes large embossed plaques, cast pendants and nose ornaments, gold-sheathed ear rods, and necklaces of intricate beads-as well as polychrome ceramics, and objects made of precious and semi-precious stones, whale-tooth ivory, and bone.

“River of Gold” opens Oct. 11 and will continue through March. Like the museum’s wildly successful 2001 exhibition of artwork and artifacts from ancient Egypt and its 2002 show of cultural treasures from China, it was organized by the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

“It’s the relationships we’ve been able to build with museums like Penn that have allowed us to put on exhibitions here in Traverse City that are really of the highest quality,” said museum director Gene Jenneman. ““We are the first and likely only museum in the Great Lakes region to host it. This is our opportunity to shine.”

 The story behind the exhibition is almost as compelling as the objects themselves. At the turn of the 19th century, the Rio Grande de Coclé — a river in central Panama — changed its course and people began to find precious gold objects on its banks. Stories began to circulate of children playing marbles with gold beads, and by the late 1920s large quantities of gold ornaments were discovered and news of this “river of gold” began to reach the outside world.

In 1940, an expedition from the Penn Museum excavated the site that came to be known as Sitio Conte, and discovered rich and remarkable evidence of a thriving, Pre-Columbian civilization that flourished over a thousand years ago.

Very little is known about the ancient societies of Central America, which have long been overshadowed by the more famous Aztec, Maya and Inca civilizations, but the goldsmiths of who created the gold objects found at Sitio Conte were consummate artisans. The plaques and cuffs were crafted from hammered gold sheet. Exquisitely detailed pendants were one-of-a-kind items, formed by the lost wax casting method.

Jenneman says the Dennos staff is already preparing a series of lectures, musical performances and other presentations built around the “River of Gold” exhibition. The museum’s gift store will feature pins, earrings, and bracelets inspired by the Penn Museum’s collection and the River of Gold exhibition.

(Here’s a tip: visitors who take advantage of our Fab Fall vacation packages might want to know that they incude a two-for-one discount on Dennos Museum Center tickets.)

The Dennos also has an extra treat in store for aficionados of indigenous art: 2009 marks the 50^th anniversary of the printmaking enterprise of Canada’s Inuit peoples, and the Dennos Museum possesses one of the world’s most extensive collections of sculpture, prints and drawings by these talented Arctic artists. To celebrate, it is holding a special exhibition featuring 50 fine art prints from its collection — one from each year of the Inuit printmaking enterprise – that runs from Oct. 16 to Jan. 3.

Located on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College, the Dennos Museum Center is regularly recognized as one of the nation’s finest small art museums. In addition to its extensive permanent collections and regular guest exhibitions, it’s known for its hands-on children’s Discovery Center and as home to the 370-seat Milliken Auditorium, whose 2010 program of jazz, blues and world music features such artists as India’s Nritagram Dance Ensemble and Traverse City jazz guru Bob James.

Visiting the Dennos

The Dennos Museum Center is located at the entrance of Northwestern Michigan College 1.5 miles east of downtown Traverse City. Free parking is available in the Museum’s designated parking lot next to the museum. Wheelchairs are available at no additional charge. The entire Museum is accessible to the disabled. The Dennos Museum Center is open Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, Thursdays until 8 pm and Sunday, 1-5 pm. The Museum is closed major holidays. Admission is $6 adults, $4 children and $20 for families.

For more information about the Dennos Museum Center and its events call 231-995-1055 or go to www.dennosmuseum.org.