The second program in the series, “Facing Humanity: Selection from the Feinberg Mask Collection” at The Octagon Center of the Arts will feature Native American masks and a lecture by David Gradwohl, guest curator professor of anthropology, Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

Gradwohl, who will bring 12 masks from his private collection to add to the program, plans to emphasize the functions of masks as well as their artistic aspects.

“Most museums show masks as art pieces, which they are, but they are also much more than that,” Gradwohl said. “The importance is the cultural context and the function in the culture.”

Gradwohl compared the use of Native American masks as works of art to a museum housing Christian chalices without identifying the social significance of the communion cups.

The diversity within the Native American culture will be a focus as well. People tend to lump Native Americans into one category without considering the different tribes, languages and cultures, Gradwohl said. The Native Americans use masks in myriad rituals.

The Kachina tribe of the Southwest use masked dolls that function in the education and discipline of children. The Iroquois Shaloms, who are similar to physicians, wear “False Faces” when caring for the ill, and the Cherokee wear masks in political satires, Gradwohl said.

The contemporary Native Americans still use masks in their culture. “Probably none of these people are using them the way their ancestors did 200 years ago, though,” Gradwohl said, but he also noted that we do not practice many of the same rituals of our ancestors, either.

Sunday’s program will begin at 2:30 p.m. with Gradwohl’s lecture and video Crooked Beak of Heaven. The film will feature actual footage of Native American rituals. Refreshments and activities will follow. For more information, please contact The Octagon at 232-5331.