Hurst Gallery is pleased to present Art and Artifacts from the Travels of Robert Gardner, 1951 - 2001, a sale and book launch for Gardner's most recent book, The Impulse to Preserve, Reflections of a Filmmaker (Other Press, June 2006).  The exhibition will open June 14 from 5:30 - 8:00 pm with a preview reception and book signing by author, filmmaker, collector, and former Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts at Harvard University, Robert Gardner.  All sales will benefit Documentary Educational Resources, Inc. (D.E.R.), a 501 C 3 Corporation acting as fiscal sponsor for the making of DVDs, videos, films, and books in the Gardner manner.

Books will be for sale, as well as art and artifacts collected by Gardner in the field while producing his celebrated films Dead Birds (1964), Rivers of Sand (1974), and Forest of Bliss (1985).   Gardner's vintage photographs of New Guinea and other parts of the world will also be available.  Objects from New Guinea include a selection of carved and painted wooden figures as well as a war shield from the Asmat of Irian.  A group of shell and fiber bride prices of the Boiken of East Sepik Province will also be featured, as well as Ethiopian, Konso sculptures, Coptic religious paintings, and a number of carved wooden ritual crosses.  Objects representing Jain and other esoteric art from India will be represented.  

In addition to his films and the recently published The Impulse to Preserve, Robert Gardner has authored works including A Human Document (1965), Gardens of War (1968) and Making "Forest of Bliss" (with Akos Ostor, 2002).