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At the Renwick Gallery, located just opposite the White House,  we saw an exhibit of paintings by George Catlin of American Indians. He made these about 1830-45, when the Plains Indians still dressed in their old ways and their culture was not much changed by contact with Europeans.  I had long wanted to see these and, coincidentally, when in England I had read a book about them.

The Catlin exhibit is not the only thing on display in the musuem.  It has a permanent collection of pieces that straddle the divide between modern art and handicrafts that turned out to be very eclectic and very appealing, sometimes even very beautiful.

The piece pictured below is a trophy gamefish that has been decorated with game pieces and beads. Some of the decorations are dice, scrabble tiles, marbles, dominoes and more. We loved it.

We both agreed that we would love to have the piece below in pride of place in our living room. The unusual shape delighted us and the quality of the workmanship amazed us.