Installing Japanese Screens

The Beyond Golden Clouds: Five Centuries of Japanese Screens exhibition has arrived from halfway across the country — the St. Louis Art Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Staff from each institution were required to accompany the shipments by riding on long-haul trucks for well over 40 hours. We are now installing the exhibition and the screens, and the galleries are really lovely. One of the most exciting pieces is contemporary, the From the Mountain Lake Screen Tachi Series by Okura Jiro; the screens in this series have gold foil pieces attached to them, and they leave some tiny pieces of gold foil in their wake. This is not normally what we like to see, but the artist created these screens with the intention of seeing them deteriorate over the years.

In a true collaboration, both lenders have portions of the screen and we have placed them together, and they are fantastic. The screens are a wonderful mixture of traditional and contemporary and I look forward to the public will be able to see them on Oct. 15.

Eating near the Asian Art Museum – Part 3

Continued thoughts on where to eat near the Asian Art Museum (check out Part 1 and Part 2 for more yummy ideas).

My last post talked about selected dining options near the Asian Art Museum. I have to say that the new menu at the Café Asia has some really delicious items. I love the Orange Glazed Duck Salad and the Shanghai Dumplings (in case the Shanghai exhibition makes you hungry for Chinese food), not to mentioned the Furikake french fries (they come with the salmon sandwich or as a side). If you are really hungry for some meat try the new Puxi sweet ribs.

If you want to try dining somewhere outside the Museum here are some more suggestions:

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Asian Art in San Antonio

I recently returned from a site visit to the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) where we have some loans from our collection that we have been checking each year.  I feel a strong connection to SAMA because it was the first loan I coordinated when I first began working at the Asian in 1991.

Rear view of the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA)

The Asian has had loans from our permanent collection on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) since February 1992. At that time SAMA, which opened their doors in 1981 in the remodeled historic Lone Star Brewery complex, had a collection of Asian Art which they supplemented by borrowing additional pieces for display.

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Sneak Peek: Bali in Amsterdam

Greetings from the land of cheese and chocolate — Amsterdam. Most of our visitors probably are asking, “Why are staff from the Asian Art Museum in Amsterdam”? Well, I’m here, along with objects conservator Mark Fenn and Associate Curator of Southeast Asian Art Natasha Reichle, planning for the first ever U.S. exhibition of Balinese art.

The exhibition, Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance, will open at the museum in February 2011. But like many of our exhibitions, years of work are needed to ensure that it is a spectacular success.

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Eating near the Asian Art Museum – Part 2

My last post talked about Vietnamese dining options near the museum.  But of course there are other cuisines nearby.  I still think the number one choice for lunch time dining is right inside the museum at Café Asia.  But here are some other choices if you find yourself leaving the museum and wanting to have lunch or an early dinner near the museum.

Ananda Fuara salad and samosas. http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxkiesler/ / CC BY 2.0

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Eating near the Asian Art Museum

What should you do when you are visiting the Asian Art Museum and discover you’re hungry?

First, the Asian Art Museum has its own Café Asia and the food is delicious. The line moves quickly so you can get right back to the galleries, resource room, North Court or Samsung Hall activities — and of course the gift shop — in no time. If it is a sunny day you are in luck because you can sit outside on the terrace –– one of the very few al fresco dining options in the neighborhood.

Cafe Asia's delicious Chinese Chicken Salad

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Unpacking in the Forbidden City

We started unpacking and condition checking objects from the exhibition Power & Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty at the Forbidden City in Beijing.  Everyone working  here at the Palace Museum was required to wear a face mask — an effort to prevent Swine flu. Here is a photo of the unpacking team (that’s me  in the first row on the right, with Asian Art Museum conservator Mark Fenn beside me):

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Ming returns home

After a 12 month long US tour with stops in San Francisco, Indianapolis, and St. Louis, Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty, has finally returned home to China. This is the end of a project that I have worked on for more than three years.

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