Asian Arts Council Calendar - July 2023 - June 2024

Lectures and Study Group meet in Zoom!

1. Lectures, and More

2. Zoom lectures are FREE (for now)! Please encourage friends to join in on these excellent lectures!
   To register, find the date on the calendar of The San Diego Museum of Art. Click here! Once registered, an invitation email will be sent.

3. Thursday, July 25 - 1:00 p.m.

   True View Landscape Painting of the Joseon Dynasty  

   Picture credit: Kim Hajong (artist name: Yudang), Korean, 1815

   
   - Details

   Korea possesses a long tradition of landscape painting, tracing back to the tomb murals of the early part of the common era. The majority of known landscape works were made during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). One of the most important achievements in landscape painting during this period was the development of “true view” landscape painting. These paintings depicted special and sacred places in Korea in innovative ways. We will explore these places through the eyes of the artist involved in these ground breaking developments..

   Almiede "Allie" Arnell, San Diego Museum of Art docent, past co-Chair AAC Study Group

4. Thursday, Aug 29 - 1:00 p.m.

   present Treasured & Quotidian Objects: Still Lifes in Chinese Art     - Details

   Though Chinese art history has not included a formal genre of still lifes as in the Western tradition, depictions of fruit, objects of material culture such as knick-knacks or wealth such as antiquities, and flowers and plants as auspicious symbols have been portrayed with regularity. This presentation will trace the aesthetic principles and examples of Chinese still lifes from the Song dynasty (960-1279) to the modern/ contemporary period.

   Heather Simmerman, Ph.D., San Diego Museum of Art docent, AAC Vice Chair (starting in July) and writer of the Asian Collection Insights column.  

5. Saturday, Sep 7,2024 - Jan 5, 2025

    Wonders of Creation: Art, Science & Innovation in the Islamic World
   Exhibition at SDMA - Details

   More soon: Have you thought of our numbers being Arabic? Watch for a bookbinding workshop. Nov 23rd: Rapper

   Ladan Akbarnia, Curator

6. Thursday, Sep 26 - 1:00 p.m.

   Devine Felines in Japanese Art
   

   Riannon Paget, Curator of Asian art, Center for Asian Art, John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art 

7. Thursday, Oct 31 - 1:00 p.m.

   Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo
   - Details

   Exhibition at The Mingei International Museum, Sep 14, 2024 - Mar 16, 2025 Location, Guest Co-Curated by Barbara Hanson Forsyth and Co-Curated by Emily Hanna. Blue Gold is focused on the intertwined histories of art and science, past and present, addressing some of the most complex challenges of our century. Featuring stunning objects of creative expression, coupled with scientific study and explanation, Mingei’s exhibition will present indigo as a compelling manifestation of art and science.
   
   Indigo—a varied plant family that grows worldwide and the deep, blue dye it produces—has a long and multifaceted history of cultivation, production, and distribution. Blue Gold combines science, craft, and history to explore this color’s complex past and present. Indigo’s beauty and ubiquity have eclipsed the unpleasant realities of its growth and manufacture, including hard labor and pollution, and its association with colonialism and slavery. As a pigment, indigo has been assigned protective properties, healing powers, and dangerous qualities that have shaped its uses in craft and the arts.
   
   The exhibition highlights the roles of botany, chemistry, medicine, ecology, and economics in indigo cultivation. Contemporary craftspeople and artists working with indigo, such as Laura Kina and Porfirio Gutierrez, address questions about the sustainability of indigo, its problematic legacies, and technological alternatives to manual processing.

   Emily Hanna, Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator, Mingei International Museum