Under the Minoan Sea

Thematic Statement

Under the Minoan Sea is an exhibit that dives into the Marine Style of art, primarily focusing on works from the Minoan people of the Aegean island of Crete. With motifs in Minoan art surrounding the liveliness of their everyday dwellings and culture, Minoan art compositions depict the beautiful interconnectedness of their life on Crete with the underwater world to be interacted with daily. From octopuses to shellfish to flying fish and mammals of the sea, the cultures of the Aegean islands with the ocean as a part of them produced artworks of aesthetic grandiose to be discovered again today by new viewers.

The Bronze Age Minoan civilization (2000-1500 BC) was a prime time for the composition of pottery. Minoan pottery and vase ware are illuminated with a history of their own; the Minoan style Kamares (vases) originating most likely in 2000-1700 BC with the introduction of the tool of the pottery wheel on the island of Crete. These vases were adorned with our exhibition focus, marine motifs, but also decorations that celebrated life and aesthetics, curves and spirals, human figures, and even flowers and greenery as paintings and reliefs on the pottery (Cartwright). Minoan pottery holds the characteristics of Minoan culture as energy is conveyed through the artwork portrayed on these ceramics as well as the forms of the ceramics themselves. To be seen is Minoan pottery and its display of play with design; shapes with slender and round vases and thoughtfully placed handles and openings.

The Minoan culture having art in abundance under the subset of the marine style shows the Minoan values of life (Heath). With a culture of trade throughout the Aegean sea, the marine style influence is apparent through the Aegean islands. We'll view the walls of great palaces to pottery that adorned homes and was used for daily purposes; the marine style is apparent throughout the artwork to be seen. Though this exhibit focuses on the Minoans of Crete, we will visit the Cycladic people of the Cyclades, who interacted through sea trade relations with the Minoans, amplifying the apparentness of the influence of marine life throughout the Aegean.

The subject matter and the actual pieces exhibited in Under the Minoan Sea relate directly to the values of Minoan and surrounding Aegean cultures. Exemplifying traditions and the complexities of social life during the Bronze Age for Aegean cultures, Under the Minoan Sea, shows a surface-level view of the majestic relations to the under-the-surface sea connecting the Aegean islands and people who inhabited these worlds.