Why is American Indian Art in Natural History Museums?

via [Real Clear Arts, Judith Dobryznski]

in which she quotes [Indian Country Today]

"...Natural history museums—they are all over the US and abroad too. They house amazing dinosaur fossils, exotic hissing cockroaches, and wondrous planetariums—right next to priceless human-designed art and artifacts created by Native peoples of the Americas.

Like me, you might wonder why these designed objects are juxtaposed with objects of nature such as redwood trees and precious metal exhibits. Yes, of course art is part of the natural world that we live in—but then, why are there no Picasso paintings or Degas sculptures on display in the American Museum of Natural History?

…When Native American, Pacific, and African art and artifact is lumped in with natural history exhibits, it sends a message that these groups are a part of the “natural” world. That the art they produce is somehow less cultured and developed than the western art canon. It also sends the message that they are historical, an element of the romantic past, when in reality these peoples are alive and well, with many traditions intact and new traditions happening all the time."

I grew up in the Field Museum of Chicago, this is a topic that needs to be discussed; why is Native American art housed in natural history museums instead of in art museums? The Heard Museum in Phoenix does a pretty good job of displaying Indian art as art.