Art spotlight: Objects from Liberia and Sierra Leone at the MIA

Opens Saturday: In 2011, Minneapolis native William "Bill" Siegmann (1943-2011) donated to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts an important collection of traditional art — masks, metalwork, sculpture, textiles and initiation rite objects — from more than a dozen West African ethnic groups. Siegmann, a former curator at the Brooklyn Museum, gathered the material while living and working in Liberia for more than 20 years. The 75 objects span more than 500 years and include jewelry of brass, ivory and horn as well as a silver fez-style hat, helmet masks and objects evoking the animal powers of the forest. First shown in April at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., the exhibit is among the first to identify artists and workshops as well as the cultures from which they came. (Opening ceremony 2-4 p.m. Sat. with Voices of Culture Drum and Dance performance; free. At 2 p.m. Sun., MIA curator Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers will discuss the collection, followed by an update on the Ebola crisis by West African community leader Musu Bryant-Bah; $10, advance registration suggested: 612-870-6323. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Av. S. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Wed. & Fri.-Sat.; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Ends Feb. 8. Free. 612-870-3000 or www.artsmia.org)