Home - Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology

Skip to main content

.wp-block-latest-posts__featured-image img { max-width: 100% !important; height: auto; }

wide view of museum exhibit galleries

Explore Global Cultures

Discover North Carolina’s only museum dedicated to the study of global cultures. Explore stories of humanity, from ancient archaeological sites to the celebrations and struggles of today. Learn about people from around the world through their everyday objects, ceremonial artifacts, and visual arts.

Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00am to 4:30pm. Admission is free.
Find the Museum on the Wake Forest campus.

Featured Exhibits

Day of the Dead exhibit

Life after Death: Celebrating Day of the Dead
through December 11, 2026

Shelling Out exhibit gallery

Shelling Out: Traditional Currency from the Collection
Through March 6, 2027

See All Exhibits

Upcoming Events

Four children playing a game with a basket

American Indian Crafts & Games

Monday, October 12, 10:00am-4:30pm

Booth at Hanging Rock State Park Indigenous Peoples Day

Monday, October 12, 11am-2pm

Seats of Power Exhibit Opens

Tuesday, October 20

Recent News Stories

SEMC Comes to Winston-SalemSeptember 8, 2026
Museum Sponsors Repatriation WorkshopMay 28, 2026
Registration Now Open for Summer WorkshopsApril 29, 2026

See All News Stories

Explore the Collection with the Artifact of the Month

Huichol Yarn PaintingOctober 5, 2026
Haitian Cut Iron ArtSeptember 2, 2026
Longuda Anthropomorphic PotAugust 3, 2026

See All Artifact of the Month

Find a Craft Activity with Cultures Up Close

See All Cultures Up Close

Stay in Touch

Receive updates on exhibits and events from the Lam Museum

lammuseum

905

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Oct 6

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18113300843141514

In honor of Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month, our October #ArtifactOfTheMonth is a yarn painting made by E. Gonzalez Martinez, a Huichol artist from Jalisco, Mexico. The Huichol people, who refer to themselves as the Wixáritari, are an indigenous group who live primarily in the mountainous region of northern Jalisco. They are known for their art, particularly beaded objects and yarn paintings like this one.

Huichol artist Ramón Medina Silva made the first yarn paintings in 1962 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Though he was encouraged to take up this specific art form by a Franciscan priest and an American anthropologist, yarn paintings have their roots in nierikas (also spelled nearika or neali’ka), small wooden boards or discs with a mirror or hole in the center. Huichol shamans create nierikas to represent their visions. They place them in sacred locations as offerings, serving as a powerful form of communication with their pantheon of gods. Shamans use bright colors and elaborate symbols to make nierikas, just as artists do with yarn paintings.

Although #Huichol yarn paintings are ultimately a commercial art, most artists retain some religious symbolism in their work, using the medium to convey their beliefs, traditions, and stories. The artist who made this painting explained its symbolism with a note on the back of the board. Translated from the Spanish, it reads: “This painting represents the rain god who is found in the mountain where all the pilgrims go to pay tribute taking their offerings as tributes so that the gods will promise them good health.”

To create a yarn painting, the artist coats a wooden board with sticky beeswax, sometimes adding tree resin as well. The artist then sketches out his vision and presses strands of brightly colored yarn into the wax to fill in the image. Depending on the complexity and size of the painting, artists can take up to six months to complete one piece.

The sale of yarn paintings and other art forms provides an important income stream for Huichol communities.

#lammuseum #yarnpainting #hispanicheritagemonth

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Oct 5

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18057545414561012

We're excited to offer a free kid-friendly celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day next Monday! We hope you'll join us to learn about American Indian groups across the country through crafts and games. Visitors can play the Cherokee bean game, try a Pueblo buzz toy, make a model totem pole, and much more. Hands-on artifacts from Indigenous groups from the Arctic, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Plains, and Eastern Woodlands will be available to explore.

#lammuseum #thingstodoinwsnc #wakethearts #IndigenousPeoplesDay

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 25

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18445632340134032

Look for us tomorrow at the @bethabarapark Apple Fest! Our booth will have authentic hands-on Native American objects from the Yadkin River Valley. We hope to see you there!

#lammuseum #applefest #free

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 22

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18115411822990971

We hope to see you at Byrum Welcome Center tomorrow night! Look for our pop-up exhibit of South African objects in the lobby.

#lammuseum #legacyfilm #wakethearts #free

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 21

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18141722782596030

This is the final week to see "Archery: Hunting, Warfare, and Identity" before it closes. Stop by the Museum to catch it before it's gone!
#lammuseum #wakethearts

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 14

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18024663524698702

🗓 Mark your calendar and join us for a screening of "Legacy: Apartheid's Shadow" next Wednesday. The film will be followed by a conversation, Q&A, reception, and pop-up exhibit featuring South African objects from our collection.
Please note that this event is not at the Museum. It will be held in Kulynych Auditorium in Byrum Welcome Center at 1580 Wake Forest Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.
We hope to see you there!

This event is sponsored by @wfuhistory @wfuaas @wakediv @zsrlibrary @wfudocumentaryfilm @wfuanthro @wfuenglish @wakethearts and Film and Media Studies

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 8

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18097578947160632

Today's the day! "Life after Death: Celebrating Day of the Dead" is now open and will be on display through December 11. See if you can find what we've added since last year!

#lammuseum #DayOfTheDead #díadelosmuertos #díademuertos #mexicanart

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 4

Open post by lammuseum with ID 17879445348527552

The Museum will be closed Saturday, Sept. 5, through Monday, Sept. 7, for Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the holiday and we look forward to seeing you next week!

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Sep 2

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18351633457217934

Our September #ArtifactOfTheMonth is a piece of Haitian cut iron art (koupe fè in Haitian creole). Haitian metal artists traditionally use discarded oil drums as their base material. To transform them into art pieces, they first cut the lids open and make a long slit down the side of the drum. Next, they light a fire of dried sugarcane, grass, or paper inside the drum to strip the metal. Then the artists flatten and cut the metal into sheets. The artists draw the design in chalk before cutting, hammering, embossing, and bending the heavy metal by hand to form the final piece.

Haitian cut iron art was pioneered in the city of Croix-des-Bouquets in the 1950s by blacksmith Georges Liautaud (1899–1991), who started out making metal crosses for public cemeteries before expanding to more elaborate works. This piece was made by Joseph Louis-Juste (1940-1989), who started working with Liautaud in the 1960s. Joseph is the youngest of the Louis-Juste brothers, whose work gained international acclaim contributing to the spread of the art form. Today, there are hundreds of metal artists sculpting in workshops across the country, but the primary center remains Croix-des-Bouquets.

Birds, like the chickens depicted here, are a common subject for iron artists, but they also draw on many other themes, including scenes from nature, musical bands, and mythical creatures like angels and mermaids. Symbols from Haitian vodun, an Afro-Caribbean religion, are also popular.

By repurposing industrial waste into domestic art, Haitian artists assert their cultural creativity and resilience even when raw materials are difficult to find. This piece’s creation reflects the power of artistic innovation in the face of economic constraints.

Research assistance for this post was provided by Mingyang Zhou (’27).

#Haiti #Haitianart #lammuseum

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Aug 31

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18110558654117551

Mark your calendar! We have a busy semester planned and we hope to see you soon!

#lammuseum #wakethearts #thingstodoinwsnc

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Aug 21

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18168565480455712

Our favorite time of year is coming... "Life after Death: Celebrating Day of the Dead" opens on September 8!

#lammuseum #dayofthedead #díadelosmuertos #diademuertos #diadelosmuertosart

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Aug 11

Open post by lammuseum with ID 17878169850624018

This is the final week to see "Return to Sender? Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Repatriation" before it closes. Don't miss this opportunity to learn about Australian Aboriginal culture!

#lammuseum #AboriginalAustralia #aboriginalart #Free #thingstodoinwsnc

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Aug 3

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18065999363722175

Our August #ArtifactOfTheMonth is an anthropomorphic pot from the Longuda people of northeastern #Nigeria. Along with their neighbors, the Cham and Mwana people, the Longuda use anthropomorphic pots like this one in traditional healing practices, particularly in the treatment of spiritual disturbances that overlap with mental health issues and neurological disorders. The terracotta pots are known as kwandalowa or kwandalha to the Longuda and itinate to the Cham and Mwana. Though very similar in purpose and appearance, the #Longuda pots are made by women, while among the Cham and Mwana, they are made by men.

The Longuda believe that this type of anthropomorphic pot can absorb and hold maladies. In healing rituals, a diviner transfers the illness into a pot, where it can be contained. The diviner first meets with the patient and commissions a potter to make a vessel in a specific design. The potter must be very skilled and knowledgeable about the different forms the diviner may prescribe to ensure that the ritual will be effective. Before the potter begins to form the vessel, she brings the raw clay into contact with the patient to start the process of moving the sickness into the pot. Once complete, the diviner activates the pot, and the patient takes it home. After the patient has been cured, the pot is discarded far from the village.

The appearances of healing pots like this one often evoke illness through rough texture, bumps, scales, or pained expressions. The open mouth is both functional for containing herbal concoctions and symbolic of the vessel’s role in receiving and transmitting healing knowledge.

#ceramics #healing

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Jul 6

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18119292988875199

Registration for our Mandala Workshop will close this Friday at noon. Don't miss your chance to join us for this fun and educational afternoon! Register today via the Upcoming Events link in our bio.

#lammuseum #wakethearts #mandala #sandmandala #thingstodoinwsnc

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Jul 2

Open post by lammuseum with ID 17865959892587874

The Museum will be closed Friday and Saturday, July 3 and 4, for Independence Day. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend! 🎆

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Jul 1

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18272891983294332

As the country prepares to mark America’s 250th anniversary, we’re using July’s #ArtifactOfTheMonth to spotlight an Indigenous tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation since well before Europeans arrived in the New World.

For almost 3,000 years, the Cherokee people have made pottery in Western North Carolina. The oldest #Cherokee pots were large, hand-built, thin-walled, waterproof vessels that were stamped with wooden paddles to create rectilinear and curvilinear designs. The Cherokee used these pots for a variety of functional and ceremonial purposes. In the early 1900s, Cherokee potters transitioned almost entirely to hand-building a heavier form of pottery called “blackware” featuring incised decorations rather than stamped. This is commonly referred to as the “traditional” style.

This blackware Cherokee pot was made by Cora Arch Wahnetah (1907-1986). She was born into a family of recognized Cherokee potters and learned coiled and modeled pottery techniques from her mother, Ella Long Arch. She hand-formed her pieces using wooden tools and pit-fired them in a wood fire. Throughout her career, Wahnetah remained faithful to these older pottery traditions, preferring their simplicity over more modern techniques like pottery wheels and kiln firing. In the early 1950s, Wahnetah played a role in the beginnings of the Oconaluftee Indian Village, where she demonstrated pottery techniques for visitors.

Throughout much of the 20th century, tourists provided an important source of income for Cherokee potters. To appeal to this market, potters made more decorative shapes, like this one, though the pots were still made in the traditional style. In 1946, Wahnetah was a charter member of what would become the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual cooperative, where this pot was purchased. This is the nation’s oldest Native American cooperative, providing Cherokee artists with a local outlet to sell pottery and other crafts while preserving and promoting their traditions.

#lammuseum #cherokeepottery #pottery

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Jun 23

Open post by lammuseum with ID 17977280153880214

If you missed last year's exhibit featuring highlights from the UNC-Wilmington Collection, I have great news... it's now online! You can explore the full exhibit of more than 50 objects from all over the world via the Virtual Exhibits link in our bio.

#lammuseum #worldcultures #virtualexhibit

View Instagram post by lammuseum

Jun 18

Open post by lammuseum with ID 18537500977072841

The Museum will be closed Friday and Saturday for Juneteenth. If you're looking for a great way to celebrate, check out the @triadculture celebration downtown on Saturday!

#juneteenth

Follow on Instagram