Following are some highlights from past programs with links to relevant resources.
Thai Khon (classical dance drama) masks on display.
AsiaAlive: Thai Mask Painting
Tuesday through Sunday, November 3 through 8
12:00 noon-4:00 pm
North Court
FREE with general museum admission
In Thai performing arts gorgeous costumes with richly gilded crowns and colorful masks play a large role in conveying the gestures and meanings of the dance. Artist Jakaraphan Paypai from Thailand demonstrated how to create intricate patterns and colors on papier mache masks using paint, gold leaf, and colored glass.
Co-sponsored with Thai Cultural Center of the San Francisco Bay Area and Ban Somdej Rajaphat University (BSRU), Thailand.
Programs in conjunction with the special exhibition, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma.
AsiaAlive: Burmese Puppet Troupe
Tuesday through Saturday, October 25 through 31
12:00 noon – 4:00 pm
North Court
FREE with general museum admission
Mandalay Marionettes Theatre from Burma demonstrated their culture’s traditional puppet-making process. They also performed on Target First Free Sunday on November 1. Watch their performance online.
AsiaAlive: Modern Samurais—Natsusaka Shin-ichiro demo
Thursday through Sunday, September 3 through 6,
Japanese artist Natsusaka presented his original narrative sculpture work “A
Carved Strip,” inspired by traditional samurai stories. Natsusaka mixes contemporary art, storytelling, kitsch images and text to create this crossover art form.
Born in 1971 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Natsusaka Shinichiro graduated from Tama Art University in 1996 with a degree in oil painting. He started creating a series of sculptural works with characters and typography he calls Kambanart ("billboard" in Japanese plus the English word "art") while he was in school. Since 1997, he has created more than 300 figurines as characters from popular animated movies like Princess Mononoke and Nightmare before Christmas.
Natsusaka relocated to France in 2000 and presented an installation that combined sculptural figures and storytelling titled Bande Sculptée (A Carved Strip). In 2004, La Planète des Samouraïs (English title: Planet of Samurais), a part of the installation Bande Sculptée won the Excellence Prize in the Manga division of the 8th Japan Media Arts Festival.
He also participated in Totoro Forest Project at Pixar Animation Studio, California in 2008 and currently working on continuation of the story La Planète des Samouraïs.
Northern California Kyudo Federation demonstrated Japanese archery.
AsiaAlive: Martial Arts Series
Fridays through Sundays, August 7 through 23
12:00 noon–4:00 pm, North Court
Izumi Kyoko, Izumi Junko and Miyake Tokuro (left to right)
AsiaAlive: Art of Laughter—The Kyogen Theater of Japan
Thursdays through Sundays, July 9 through 19
12:00 noon – 4:00 pm, North Court.
Izumi Junko and Miyake Tokuro of the Izumi School of Kyogen from Japan demonstrated performance techniques and discussed their careers as the first female performers in this male-dominated field. Daughters of the nineteenth head of the Izumi school of Kyogen, Izumi and Miyake have been pioneers for opening the Kyogen stage to women while strictly following the rules of their art. Izumi Kyoko, the daughter of Izumi Junko (age 6), also appeared on stage wowing the museum visitors.
AsiaAlive: Sacred Arts of Bhutan
Tuesdays through Sundays, February 21 through May 10, 2009
12:00 noon–4:00 pm (rituals at 11:00 am and 3:00 pm), North Court
The Himalayan Buddhist devotional works on cloth (thangkas)—both paintings and embroideries—in this exhibition were made for, and are used in, religious practice in Buddhist monasteries and temples across Bhutan.
Over time they have inevitably become worn and soiled from handling; exposure to dust, soot, insects, and light; and simple aging. Some have also suffered damage from handling and from accidents. While the traditional care given the thangkas has helped to minimize these problems, these perishable works have gradually and cumulatively become more fragile and in need of restoration.
To return the thangkas as much as possible to their original appearance, conservator Eddie Jose of the Honolulu Academy of Art and Mark Fenn of Asian Art Museum worked with a select group of Bhutanese Buddhist monks to clean and repair them. In this way not only were the thangkas prepared for this exhibit, but the monks have also been trained to continue to care for these and all the other thangkas in their temples and monasteries.
Click here for a slide show of the steps involved in conserving a thangka, or devotional painting on cloth.
Archaeologists at work, photo by David Cohen
AsiaAlive: Digging Archaeology
Fridays through Sundays, through January 25, 2009
12:00 noon – 4:00 pm, North Court
Visit digs of ancient Afghanistan: Join archaeologists from UC Berkeley’s Archaeological Research Facility (ARF) to learn how they discover lifestyles past and present. Go on a field expedition, make an archaeologist’s field journal, ask questions, and find out how you can learn from an ordinary object from the past.
Tuesday through Sunday, August 5 through August 10
Noon–4:00 pm
North Court
Famous for its meticulous needlework and vivid representation, Gu embroidery originated during the Ming dynasty in what is now the Shanghai area. Gu embroidery is also known as “painting embroidery” because the subjects are generally based on elegant paintings of previous dynasties. Shao Xiao-Cheng, Chen Hong-Ying and Qian Yue-Fang—renowned embroidery artists from China—lead interactive demonstrations of various techniques and silk thread arrangements. This program is offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty.
For more information about Chinese gu embroidery, click here.
AsiaAlive: Living Tradition of Guqin
Saturdays and Sundays
June 28 through July 27
12:00 noon – 4:00 pm
North Court
Experience the living tradition of guqin with a guqin scholar, author, teacher, and performer Wang Fei. Listen to live performances of guqin music from the Ming Dynasty and discover the art of Ming dynasty in the Asian Art Museum’s special exhibition, Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty.
For Wang Fei's Guqin workshop in September, click here.
AsiaAlive: Contemporary Korean Fiber Artists Friday and Saturday, June 20 and 21
12:00 noon – 4:00 pm
North Court
Artists featured in the museum's Korean gallery installation on view through November discuss and demonstrate aspects of their process.
AsiaAlive: Artists in Celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
May and June 2008
Artists demonstrated their work in this month-long celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage
Month. Visitors made their own artwork inspired by the techniques and traditions of each artist.
Chinese Brushpainting with Aiqin Zhou
Aiqin Zhou demonstrated some of the basic techniques used in Chinese brushpainting, with a special focus on painting flowers.
For Aiqin Zhou's summer 2008 Chinese brushpainting and calligraphy classes, click here.
To see pictures of Ms. Zhou's AsiaAlive program, click here.
Sacred Tibetan Buddhist Paintings with Ang Tsherin Sherpa
Visitors explored the tradition of Tibetan sacred paintings used in the practice of Buddhism with Tibetan painter Ang Tsherin Sherpa.
Japanese Embroidery with Lucy Arai
Lucy Arai uses traditional Japanese materials and techniques in modern ways, creating works on handmade paper with ink, gold leaf, and Japanese running stitch embroidery (sashiko). Arai demonstrated the processes used in her art, and visitors explored the traditional arts of sashiko and temari (thread balls traditionally given as a gift to children).
Ms. Arai was featured in KQED's Spark with segments filmed at the museum. Watch the clip online at www.kqed.org.
To see pictures of Ms. Arai's AsiaAlive program, click here.
Indian Odissi Dance with Niharika Mohanty, Sangumay Ordona and Akanksha Kejriwal
Niharika Mohanty, a leading Odissi dancer in North America and prominent disciple of the legendary late Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, performed and demonstrated various aspects of Indian dance and Odissi dance. Visitors were taught a range of dance moves including hand gestures, body positions, and upper torso movements.
To watch a short video of Ms. Mohanty and her students doing a demonstration of their warm up, please click here.
Top: Sato applies Kabuki makeup to a volunteer. Bottom: Kabuki meets Shakespeare actors Barbara Robertson and Michael Goldberg.
Kabuki Costuming & Make-up
February 2008
In conjunction with the special exhibition, Drama and Desire Japanese Paintings from the Floating World 1690–1850, Nakamura Kanzo IV (Kabuki stage name of Shozo Sato) discussed Kabuki costuming and performed makeup demonstrations. In a special evening program,
Sato introduced the art of Kabuki theatre and discussed his adapations of Western classics. Actors Barbara Robertson and Michael Goldberg enacted a scene from the acclaimed production Kabuki Lady Macbeth.
Awarded The Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Emperor of Japan and the Certificate of Commendation by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan for his promotion of Japanese culture throughout the world, Nakamura Kanzo IV (Kabuki stage name of Shozo Sato) has received international recognition for creating a new form of Kabuki in which the plots of well-known Western classics have been adapted to introduce a new genre in the conventions of Kabuki. He has conceived, designed, and directed award-winning productions of Kabuki Lady MacBeth, Iago’s Plot , Achilles: A Kabuki Play, Kabuki Othello, Kabuki Faust, and Kabuki Macbeth. These works have captivated and thrilled audiences throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and the United States.
To see images of these programs, please click here.
Korean Buddhist Art
December 27, 2007 – January 13, 2008,
Inspired by our hugely successful 2003 series on traditional Korean Buddhist arts (see below), the museum presented Korean sacred artists: Seol Min-seunim (the nun and master painter formerly called Jae-U-seunim), Myung Chun-seunim (also a renowned monk-artist), and Sung Ryun-seunim (a monk-artist). This program culminated in a sacred eye-opening ceremony of two hanging scrolls the artists donated to the museum.
The Japanese Art of Miniature Contemplative Stones (Suiseki)
November 9–25, 2007
The California Suiseki Society with invited Japanese artists presented an informal display of their suiseki (the Japanese art of collecting and displaying miniature landscape stones).
Photo courtesy of the Korea Society.
The Sound of Ecstasy and Nectar of Enlightenment
Buddhist Ritual Song and Dance from Korea
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Young San Preservation Group performed Young San, a Buddhist ritual that included offerings of flowers, fragrances, music, and sacred dance in honor of the Buddha. In the distant past, the ceremony was performed across Korea to celebrate good fortune and mitigate disaster. The sounds and dances of the Young San ceremony are unique to Korea and were nominated by the Korean government in 1973 for preservation as an Intangible Cultural Asset. The group’s leader is Dong Hee, the first woman to be associated with the ceremony and a pupil of Song-am Park, the scholar who helped preserve it.
This program is part of a national tour organized by The Korea Society. The Korea Society is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) organization that is dedicated solely to the promotion of greater awareness, understanding and cooperation between the people of the United States and Korea.
Support also provided by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in San Francisco and the Korean Art and Culture Committee of the Asian Art Museum.
Time’s Arrow, 1987. By Hiroshi Sugimoto. Seascape 1980, reliquary fragment, Kamakura Period, 13th century). Gelatin silver print, gilded bronze, 3.3 in. Image courtesy of Hiroshi Sugimoto.
A Historical Continuum: A Conversation on Japanese Art & Fashion with Hiroshi Sugimoto, Akiko Fukai, & Melissa Rinne Thursday, October 11, 2007
Asian Art Museum Assistant Curator of Japanese Art Melissa Rinne led a discussion with artist Hiroshi Sugimoto and Akiko Fukai, Chief Curator of the Kyoto Costume Institute.
PODCAST
A podcast of this conversation is available, please click here to listen.
With a 300-year history, Japanese puppet theater known as Bunraku, incorporates live music and narration in the telling of classic and contemporary tales using detailed puppets measuring about half the size of a human being. In this educational program, the audience, which included 100 school children, experienced an exciting and informative demonstration of the art of the narrator (tayu), the shamisen musicians, and the puppeteers. The program was introduced and interpreted by Peter Grilli of the Japan Society of Boston.
To see images from the event at the Asian Art Museum, click here.
To learn more about the program presented at Cal Performances, click here.
Storytellers Mohan Bhopa and his wife Patashi, who were featured in William Dalrymple's essay titled "Homer in India" in the New Yorker (11/20/06), performed traditional storytelling art of Rajasthan, northwestern India at the museum in conjunction with Princes, Palaces and Passion: The Art of India's Mewar Kingdom. A bhopa (storyteller, priest, dancer, and musician) and his wife, a bhopi, travel from village to village to perform epic stories that not only entertain but are also thought by some to have curative powers for people as well as for their valued livestock. Artist Kalyan Joshi—who specializes in painting "storycloths" (phad)—also demonstrated his work.
Anita Chowdry demonstrated traditional miniature painting of South Asia, and discussed historical techniques and materials that were used by artisans in the royal ateliers of the Mughal and regional Indian schools of painting. Chowdry is a painter and illustrator who has devoted a lifetime to researching and teaching this art form and its history. For details about her May 2007 painting workshop at the British Museum click here.
Japanese basket artist Kibe Seiho—visiting from Kyushu Island's Oita Prefecture—demonstrated bamboo weaving techniques typical of Kyushu bamboo artists, including the so called “plover plaiting” or chidori-ami. Kibe actively exhibits in the Japan Craft Arts Association, and has won numerous awards for his work. Kibe also led a 2-day workshop in which participants completed their own bamboo flower container.
Offered in conjunction with the special exhibition Masters of Bamboo:
Japanese Baskets and Sculpture from the Cotsen Collection. This project was made possible in part by a grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, in partnership with the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation. Support for ongoing programs on Japanese bamboo arts is provided by the Lloyd E. Cotsen Endowment.
Spiral of Blessings: A Board Game Exploring Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art
By surrounding themselves with auspicious symbols, many Chinese believe that their wishes will come true. Test your knowledge of some of these symbols in this board game based on a traditional Chinese New Year game. Download the game board for play at home. Use unique rocks or buttons for your game pieces.
Contemporary Persian American artist Ala Ebtekar blends old world Persian and urban hip hop aesthetics in his installation art.
Ebtekar is featured in the exhibition organized by the Asia Society entitled One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, on view at the Berkeley Art Museum through December 23, 2007.
Motoshi Abe (June 2006)
Japanese Bamboo Arts with Motoshi Abe June 2006
Renowned Japanese basket artist Motoshi Abe demonstrated his bamboo weaving techniques.
This program was generously supported by the Lloyd E. Cotsen Endowment for the study of Japanese bamboo arts.
Bidou Yamaguchi (June 2006)
Noh Mask Carving with Bidou Yamaguchi
June 2006
Master artist Bidou Yamaguchi from Japan demonstrated the carving techniques used in making his superbly crafted masks for Noh theater, a poetic and stylized Japanese dance-drama.
Yamaguchi showed his contemporary Noh-style masks drawn from iconic images from the entire history of art at a Santa Fe gallery in June 2007.
Prince Nithakhong Somsanith with a prodigy (April 2006)
Lao Textile Arts with Prince Nithakhong Somsanith
April 2006
Prince Nithakhong Somsanith demonstrated four forms of art stenciling for architectural decoration and embroidery, gold thread embroidery, making banana leaf and flower offerings, and decorating lacquer. For more information about Lao arts and culture, click here.
Poem by Du Fu in cursive script (caoshu)
By Ye Gongchao, 1904–1981.
Hanging scroll, ink on paper
Gift of the Yeh Family Collection, F2002.2.38
The Elegant Gathering: Art, Politics and Collecting in China Symposium
Friday & Saturday, May 12 & 13, 2006
UC Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
In conjunction with the exhibition The Elegant Gathering, this academic
conference explored the collecting of art, calligraphy, and poetry
as a social activity, providing the framework and the pretext for yaji,
the "elegant gatherings" of the Chinese literati.
Participants included Julia F. Andrews, Professor of Chinese Culture in the Department of History of Art at Ohio State University; Robert Ashmore, Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley; Qianshen Bai Associate Professor of Art History at Boston University; Patricia Berger Chair of the Department of History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley; Shana J. Brown Assistant Professor in the Department of History, University of Hawaii; Katharine Burnett Associate Professor of Art History at the University of California, Davis; Jonathan Hay, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Jeffrey Riegel, Louis B. Agassiz Professor of Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley; Kuiyi Shen, Associate Professor of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego; Peter Sturman, Chair of the Department of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Richard Vinograd, Christensen Professor in Asian Art in the Department of Art & Art History at Stanford University; Max Yeh retired comparative literature professor from UC Irvine and Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and steward of the Yeh Family Collection; and Wen-hsin Yeh, Richard H. and Laurie C. Morrison Professor in History at the University of California, Berkeley.
To watch a webcast of the symposium, please click here
Shozo Sato demonstrated Japanese painting and introduced traditional formats and materials as seen in the exhibition Traditions Unbound: Groundbreaking Painters from Eighteenth-Century Kyoto.
Lucy Arai (January 2006)
Sashiko Embroidery with Lucy Arai
Wednesday–Friday, December 28–30, 2005
Thursday–Sunday, January 5-29, 2006
Lucy Arai demonstrated her creative combination of ink painting (sumi-e) on handmade papers with running-stitch embroidery (sashiko).
Check out the SPARK feature on Lucy online at
www.kqed.org.
Monkey on a Rock, by Nagasawa Rosetsu
Traditions Unbound: A Symposium on 18th Century Kyoto Painters
Sunday, January 8, 2006
Japanese art scholars discussed the artists featured in the exhibition with a focus on how the unique environment in Kyoto during this time fostered individualistic creativity. For a copy of the program inclunding abstracts distributed at the event click here.
Richard Milgrim demonstrated working on a wheel and trimming works to create tea bowls, caddies, water jars, and flower containers. To learn more about this artist and the Japanese tea ceremony, click here.
Achmad Farmis (September 2003 and 2005)
The Monkey Character in Javanese Dance and Art
A Gallery Talk and Performance by Achmad Farmis
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Achmad Farmis enacted aspects of the monkey characters in the Shadows, Masks, and Music exhibition and performed two solo dances in North Court. Click here for more information about Indonesian dance and culture.
Great Wave off Kanagawa
Traditional Japanese Woodblock Printing
Lecture/Demonstration Sunday, September 25, 2005
Click here for more information about Japanese woodblock prints. The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints demonstrated the printing of a replica of Hokusai's masterpiece, “"The Great Wave off Kanagawa," using the same techniques employed for more than 700 years in Japan.
Co-sponsored by the Consul General of Japan and the Japan Foundation.
Haji Noor Deen (September 2005)
Chinese Muslim Calligraphy
September 9–18, 2005
Master calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang demonstrated Arabic calligraphy from China. Haji Noor Deen's demonstrations often interweave Islamic characters and writing style with Chinese style brushwork.
Myrna Pula and Ganay Delikan from T'boli, Philippines (September 2005)
Filipino Textile Weaving
September 9–18, 2005
Traditional Filipino weaving demonstrations by master artists Ganay Delikan and Nelia C. Rogano visiting from the Philippines.
Gold leaf techniques demonstrated by Patchara Wonprasat (April 2005).
Classical Arts of Thailand
April 2005
Traditional Thai painting demonstrations were performed by Vibul and Patchara Wonprasat. Visitors made their own jewelry inspired by the objects in the exhibition The Kingdom of Siam.
Korean Buddhist Painting December 2003
Three Korean monks--Jae-u Seunim (now known as Seol-Min Seunim), Myung Chun Seunim, and Sung Bum Seunim--demonstrated Korean Buddhist painting, sutra printing from wood blocks and the making of rubbings from ceramic tiles. Jae-u Seunim completed a new painting of the Guardian King of the West, which she then donated to the Asian Art Museum. For details about this painting, please visit the museum's online collection database. To see photographs of this program, please click here.
Two of these same monks returned to the museum for another residency from December 27, 2007 through January 20, 2008. For details about this program, please see above .
This program was supported by the Korea Foundation, the Koret Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Additional support is provided by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Generously sponsored by Samsung and United Airlines.
Lead funding for the Asian Art Museum’s Education and Public Programs is provided by the Bank of America Foundation.
Major support provided by the Koret Foundation, Freeman Foundation, Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation, and Douglas Tilden.
AT&T is the 2010 Education sponsor for the Asian Art Museum. Additional support provided by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, MetLife Foundation, Wells Fargo, Louise Rosenberg & Claude Rosenberg Jr. Family Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, San Francisco Foundation – Shenson Foundation, Mary M. Tanenbaum Fund, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Louise M. Davies Foundation, Joseph R. McMicking Foundation, Margaret Liu Collins and Magdalene Chan, Nancy and Stephen Grand Philanthropic Fund, John and Lisa Pritzker Family Fund, Barbara and Richard M. Rosenberg Philanthropic Fund, Deborah Strobin, Dodge & Cox, Mem Dryan Bernstein, and Bingham McCutchen.
