Students were given the opportunity to learn more about the essence of the art and artifacts from ancient Latin American cultures in a presentation by a guest speaker.

Dr. Kim Richter, senior specialist at the Getty Research Institute and curator for Pacific Standard Time Latin America Los Angeles, was invited to give students an insight for an upcoming exhibition at the Getty Museum of Art on Oct. 17.

“We want to broadly represent the ancient Americas,” Richter said during the presentation. “Indigenous people are key.”

PST LALA is a major initiative that was supported by the Getty Foundation focusing on putting exhibitions on Latin American and Latino art.

The exhibit, Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas, in the Getty Museum focuses on the ancient life in mezo-American during the pre-Columbian era.

“Our show is one of these 80 exhibitions that are currently taking place [in] all of Southern California,” Richter added, “We traveled extensively and it was a revelation to see collections that I wasn’t familiar with.”

Richter also stated that the exhibition will help students gain the mastery of ancient American artists and to understand the diversity within the pre-Columbian era.

“These are major civilizations. Diverse, different cultures that produced some of the most amazing artworks known to man,” she said.

Assistant Professor of Art History Lisa Boutin-Vitela helped make the presentation possible.

“Kim Richter was someone that I’ve [come] to know at the [Getty] research institute,” Vitela said, continuing, “When I saw the exhibition, I thought the students would be interested in them.”

She stated that the goal was for students that are enrolled in the world art class to be able to gather more background knowledge to the ancient art, so the students would be able to understand and enjoy the ancient art exhibit.

Students will have the opportunity to see the Golden Kingdoms exhibit from now until Jan. 28 at the Getty Center.