Posts Tagged ‘asian art museum’
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
Via ActionNewsSF, you might search to find a KGO-TV bit covering the traffic-disrupting venting steam pipe at McAllister and Larkin today – it’s more steam than usual, that’s for sure.
But this area of Civic Center right in front of our Asian Art Museum (this year, it’s Shanghai) is basically steaming all the time, right?
HC SVNT DRACONES:
Click to expand.
This intersection is usually steaming, unless it’s flooding. Like this:
via Lulu Vision
Oh well.
As per usual, it all happens on (or near) McAllister Street, Gateway to the Golden Gate Park Panhandle and home of the Snickerdoodle bike path (Route 20), your best way of getting over Alamo Heights while avoiding the abysmal, Hayes Valley NIMBY-designed Octavia Boulevard 24-7 traffic scrum.
Tags: 20, 7, alamo heights, art of the city, asian art museum, bicycle, bike, boulevard, broken, channel, civic center, cover, crosswalk, ctiy hall, cyclists, department, dept., disrupt, disruption, dpw, dragons be here, flodding, flood, hayes valley, HC SVNT DRACONES, Here Be Dragons, hic sunt dracones, hill, intersection, kgo, larkin, macallister, manhole, market, nimby, octavia, octavia boulevard, pass, path, pipe, public works, repair, report, restaurant, route, San Francisco, shanghai, snick, snickerdoodle, soluna, Steam, steaming, street, tc, traffic, vent, venting, water
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Thursday, February 18th, 2010
These days, if you don’t have young people and DJs mingling about your museum on Thursday or Friday nights, you isn’t a museum. So, just as the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park has NightLife and the de Young has Friday Nights at the de Young, our Asian Art Museum has nighttime MATCHA. And, bonus, if you go tonight, February 18th, 2010, you can also see Shanghai.
“2010 is the Year of the Tiger! MATCHA kicks off the Lunar New Year and special exhibition Shanghai with dynamic tiger-style kung fu (martial art) demonstrated by Shaolin Temple USA monks. Each mode of Shaolin kung fu is associated with an animal, and in Chinese culture, the tiger is king and symbolizes bravery. Its kung fu style involves footwork, acrobatic kicks, and unique fist positions, relying solely on internal power, simplicity, and explosive force. The evening also includes art activities (make your own good luck poster), Shanghai dumplings available for purchase in the museum cafe, cash bars, music by DJ Friendly Traveler, docent conversations, gallery tours of SHANGHAI, and mingling and merriment with friends!”
See you there.
The “fourth room” of the Shanghai exhibit:
“See SHANGHAI in its opening week. This epic exhibition explores, through the mirror of its art, the tumultuous history that has resulted in one of the world’s most dynamic and cosmopolitan cities.
Don’t know what MATCHA is? Find out here
Wanna try to win tickets to MATCHA? Click here
Check it out, share with friends, and show your support on Facebook!
4:30-7 An Evening for Educators at MATCHA
5–9 DJ Friendly Traveler, Artmarking: Create a Good Luck Poster, Shanghai Dumplings (available for purchase in museum cafe), Cash Bars
6-6:30, 7-7:30 Docent Conversations: SHANGHAI
6:30 & 7:30 Shaolin Temple USA Monks: Tiger-style Kung Fu
8:00 Docent Conversations: Lunar New Year
Tags: 18th, 2010, arts, asian art museum, California Academy of Sciences Golden Gate Park, China, chinese, de Young, DJ Friendly Traveler, docent, dumplings, February, Friday Nights at the de Young, kung fu, kungfu, Lunar, martial, matcha, monks, new year, nightlife, nighttime, Northern California Chinese Culture Athletic Federation, shanghai, Shaolin, style, Temple, thursday, tiger, tiger-style, tonight, usa, year of the tiger
Posted in art, museums | No Comments »
Friday, February 12th, 2010
Well there was a huge turnout of 100+ souls attending the Asian Art Museum’s recent preview of Shanghai - the whole shebang opens today and runs through September 5th, 2010.
Part of the scrum in Samsung Hall the other day – wouldn’t you just love to get married in this Beaux Art chapel? Rentals available.
Now this isn’t any kind of lost treasures kind of exhibit, but it shows the progression of art in Shanghai over the years. This is from the first room:
Asian Art Museum
I’ll make a point to get in there and look at everything closely.
By the way, the massive paperback catalog /collector’s item they’re selling in the bookstore is amazing – it’s pretty cheap considering it weighs four pounds plus. (And Amazon is selling the hardback for $32.34 delivered.) It would seem to be a good way to get to know a bit about the most populous city in the most populous country in the world.
Or this, this video is a start.
See you there!
Tags: 2010, art, art of the city, asian, asian art museum, Assistant Curator, california, China, chinese, Curator, Dany Chan, Michael Knight, museum, San Francisco, shanghai
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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Why did Shanghai, the largest city in China, become one of our 16 Sister Cities in 1979? Well, we should all thank former Mayor and current U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein:
“It was sort of a race between Los Angeles and San Francisco to establish a Sister City relationship with Shanghai and of course San Francisco won – and it was the first such Sister City relationship between an American city and a Chinese city.”
(Once again L.A. loses, of course(?) - thanks DiFi.) Now it turns out that our Big Sis is hosting a big party this year – it’s World Expo 2010. So, that’s a good excuse for a bunch of the Bay Area’s cultural organizations to represent, via the Shanghai Celebration featuring Honorary Chair and San Francisco First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Jay Xu, Director of the Asian Art Museum, confronting a media scrum after today’s announcement:
Check out the calendar of upcoming events all related to the Paris of the East - it’s packed, baby. Swan Lake featuring San Francsico Ballet Principal Dancer and Shanghai native Yuan Yuan Tan will kick things off from January 23-31 and then on February 12th comes the debut of the cornerstone of the Shanghai Celebration, a big exhibit at our Asian Art Museum simply called Shanghai. It’s going to be mega.
Just ask Jay Xu:
“The 2010 World Expo that opens in May is Shanghai’s coming-out party, the official debut as the city reclaims its position as a global powerhouse. The Asian Art Museum’s Shanghai exhibition was timed to coincide with this prominent international event. Only through understanding its tumultuous history, can one truly understand the progressive and stylish Shanghai of today.”
O.K. then.
Our jet-setting mayor was on hand to cheerlead for San Francisco, a part of his job which I think everybody would agree he does well. He was dressed for rain today, with blue jeans, and a pair of brown shoes that he claimed were “ruined” by the wet:
More deets from the AAA:
“The Shanghai Celebration is an unprecedented, year-long festival presented by more than thirty San Francisco Bay Area organizations commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the sister city relationship between San Francisco and Shanghai.
Spearheaded by the Asian Art Museum, the Celebration runs throughout 2010, coinciding with the World Expo presented in Shanghai from May to October. The more than 50 Shanghai-related programs feature exhibitions, concerts, performances, films, lectures, book readings, artist demonstrations and other special events and cover topics such as Shanghai’s architecture, jazz, historic Jewish communities, Art Deco design, filmmaking industry, contemporary art, cuisine, high-rise urban planning and fashion.
The cornerstone of the Celebration is the Asian Art Museum’s presentation of Shanghai, a major exhibition examining the visual culture of one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, scheduled for February 12-September 5, 2010.
For the Shanghai Celebration program calendar of events, and a list of participating organizations, please visit www.shanghaicelebration.com.”
Check the lengthy, lengthy sked, after the jump.
(more…)
Tags: 2010, American Jewish Committee, Anchee Min, angel island, Angela Au, architect, Architecture and Survival, art, Art Deco, Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Art Speak, Arts Commission, Arts of Pacific Asia, AsiaAlive, asian art museum, Assignment Shanghai, Ballet, Better City, Better Life, Birth of Jazz in Asia, botanical garden, building, Building Green in China, celebration, Chamber Music Concert, China, chinese, Chinese Jews of Kaifeng, city club, City Club Roundtable, comics, concert, Congregation Emanu-El, Conservatories, Contemporary Figurative Painting, Cultural Encounters, Dany Chan, de Young, Decorative Arts, documentary, dr., Drunken Dishes, East Meets West, Economica, Ellen Lou, Embroidery, Exhibition Opening, Eye of the Tiger, Fabric of Everyday life, Fall Antiques Show, Fall Antiques Show Preview Party Benefit, First Free Sunday, First Thursday Lecture Series, Forbidden City, Friday Nights, gala, Gavin, Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs, High-rise Architecture, Historically Sensitive Development in Shanghai, immigration, Immigration Station, jay xu, Jeff Heller, jennifer, Jews in Modern China, joan chen, Later Jewish Communities of Shanghai, Lehrhaus Judaica, Li Xiaofei, library, life, Lisa Claypool, lounge, Lunar New Year, Lunar New Year Flower Market, Lynn Marie Kirby, matcha, Mayor, Mint, Moderne and Modernity, Music at Meyer, Music Festival, Newsom, O Perspective, old, Old Mint Building, Open Books, Opening NIght Gala, Oregon Reed College, Past/Present/Future, Personal Stories and Reminiscences, Photographs on the Eve of Revolution, piano, Preview, professor, Propaganda Poster Art, public, reception, Recital, Remaking of China’s Gateway to the World, Renee Chow, SAA, San Francisco, san francisco ballet, San Francisco Botanical Garden Society, San Francisco Museum and Historical Society, Sandra Lee Gallery, shanghai, Shanghai 2010, shanghai celebration, Shanghai Connection, Shanghai Dress, Shanghai Film Series, Shanghai Jazz, Shanghai Painting, Shanghai’s Jews, Shuang Stella Zhang, siebel, sister city, Sisters, Society, society for asian art, spur, SPUR Urban Center, Station, stories, String Quartet, swan lake, Swinging Chinatown, target, Target First Free Sunday, U.S. Immigration Station, UC, uc berkeley, UC Berkeley Art Museum, urban center, Visual Narratives of Inter-War Shanghai, Women & the Global Economy, Xian Rui 2010, Yuan Yuan Tan
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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Our highly-rated Asian Art Museum on Larkin Street in Civic Center will welcome all to its 24th Annual Japanese New Year Bell Ringing Ceremony tomorrow, December 31st 2009
All the deets are below. Show up early (or better yet, become a member and show up earlier still) and maybe you and the fam will get a chance to ring the big bell yourself, thereby striking a blow against one of the 108 earthly desires.
This is how it’ll look:
(And then, on January 9th, it’ll be rice pounding time at the Mochisuki Mochi Pounding Ceremony.)
See you there!
24th Annual Japanese New Year
Bell Ringing Ceremony
A unique, fun, and family friendly way to ring in the new year!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
FREE with museum admission
Children 12 and under always admitted free!
9:30–11:00 am: Bell Ringing for Asian Art Museum Members
10:00 am–2:00 pm: Art Activities
11:00 am: Bell Ringing Ceremony
Say goodbye to 2009 with family and friends…by taking a swing at a giant temple bell!
Bring your loved ones to the Asian Art Museum and literally “ring in” the New Year, Japanese-style.
Everyone is invited to participate in the auspicious Japanese tradition of striking a temple bell. This popular event offers the community a memorable opportunity to reflect peacefully upon the passing year.
As in past observances, a 2100-lb., sixteenth-century Japanese bronze bell originally from a temple in Tajima Province in Japan and now part of the museum’s permanent collection will be struck 108 times with a large custom-hewn log. According to Japanese custom, this symbolically welcomes the New Year and curbs the 108 bonno (mortal desires) which, according to Buddhist belief, torment humankind.
It is hoped that with each reverberation the bad experiences, wrong deeds, and ill luck of the past year will be wiped away. Thus, tolling heralds the start of a joyous, fresh New Year.
There will be a short performance of Japanese folk songs preceding the ceremony. Then, Zen Buddhist priest Gengo Akiba Roshi will conduct a blessing and begin the bell ringing. Akiba Roshi is director of the Soto Zen Buddhism North American office. He is also Zen teacher at Oakland’s Kojin-an Zendo.
Hands-on art activities are offered in the education studios to entertain families while waiting for their turn at the bell. Guests will also have the opportunity to enjoy the special exhibition, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma.
Tickets
Numbered tickets to ring the bell are assigned to visitors on a first-come, first-serve basis in South Court beginning at 10:00 am, when the museum opens to the public. No advance reservations are accepted. 108 groups of four to six people will be assembled to strike the bell.
Bell Ringing for Asian Art Museum Members
Asian Art Museum members are invited to a special members-only bell-ringing ceremony at 9:30 am. Doors open at 9:00 am. Numbered tickets distributed at the Membership Desk. RSVP: members@asianart.org
Tags: asian art museum, bell, bell ringing, ceremony, civic center, day, eve, Family, japan, Japanese, kids, larkin, mochi, Mochisuki, new year, new year's, Ōmisoka, oomisoka, pound, Pounding, ring, Ringing
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Friday, November 20th, 2009
New York City has been famous for rising clouds of steam ever since the New York Steam Company started providing service back in 1882. (Honey, hath thouest seen thy steam bill this month? It’s huge!)
San Francisco does its best to keep up, as here, in Civic Center at McAllister and Larkin, a problematic intersection that’s seen all sorts of problems lately. Oh well, enjoy the condensation cloud.
HC SVNT DRACONES – Here Be Dragons:
Injunction-defying bike rack in the middle of the street or just another steaming sinkhole fence? You Make The Call.
Click to expand
Tags: asian art museum, City, City Hall, civic center, cloud, company, condensation, HC SVNT DRACONES, Here Be Dragons, larkin, mcallister, new york, San Francisco, service, Steam, street, Vents, water
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Friday, October 30th, 2009
Just look at what ten bones got you down at the Asian Art Museum’s Matcha last night – it was the Thai River Festival 2009.
Lot’s of people upstairs…
…to the see the dancers….
…but also downstairs….
…to make river offerings:
That’s it for Matchas for 2009, but Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma continues…
And the reviews for EC:ASB are in:
The San Francisco Chronicle says that the Doris Duke gift has provided the museum with “a trove of Southeast Asian artifacts that has given the institution a depth in this collection area unique among American museums,” and it notes that “the exhibition, and the glorious catalog that accompanies it, mark the completion of that marathon of remedial work.”
Continuing the conservation storyline, the Wall Street Journal tells the story of how “Some of the Buddha paintings and gilded bronze sculptures that are part of a major upcoming exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco took an unusual detour en route to the museum: They spent decades in storage in a shooting gallery at tobacco heiress Doris Duke’s New Jersey mansion.”
The New York Times reports that “in galleries painted smoky lilac, charcoal or bright green, inlaid glass chips gleam on upholstered benches, shadow puppets of monkeys fight demons and princes ride elephants on cloth paintings.”
The San Francisco Examiner praises“fascinatingly detailed paintings of royal hunts, historical tableaux, legends and Buddhist images. A particularly haunting work is the Burmese gilded wood statue of the monk Shariputra, the body leaning at a strange angle, every detail of it and the robe signifying something.”
Bay Area ArtQuake says that Emerald Cities is “another beautifully organized, elegantly presented exhibit with a catalogue that’s a ‘must buy.’”
See you there!
Tags: 2009, 29, ArtQuake, asian art museum, bay area, blog, burma, Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, chronicle, civic center, Dance, Emerald Cities:, Examiner, grove, larkin, matcha, mcallister, museum, new york times, october, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Siam, thai, Thai River Festival, wall street journal
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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
Just look at what ten bones will get you down at the Asian Art Museum’s Matcha that’s coming up tomorrow, Thursday, October 29th, 2009 starting at 5:00 PM. Your Night at the Museum will include:
Thai Music and Dance, Burmese puppet masters, Emerald Cities plus tasty Burmese Tea Leaf Salad
You simply can’t afford not to go.
The sked:
5–9
Tasty Sample: Burmese Tea Leaf Salad
Art Activity: Create Your Own River Offering
Live Thai Ensemble Music
Cash Bars
5:30
Talk on Mythical Thai Bird-Women (kinnari)
6:00
Burmese Marionette Introduction & Demonstration
6:30, 8:30
Docent Conversations: Emerald Cities
7:30
Classical Thai Dance Performance
8
Docent Conversations: Southeast Asian Galleries
So, join the crowd.
See you there!
Tags: 2009, 29, asian art museum, burma, Burmese Tea Leaf Salad, civic center, Dance, Emerald Cities:, grove, larkin, matcha, mcallister, museum, october, Siam, thai, Thai River Festival
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Friday, October 23rd, 2009
San Francisco’s highly-rated Asian Art Museum launched a new special exhibit today – it’s called Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma.
See?
Read all about this great show from Candace Jackson, Nancy Ewart, Carol Canter, and Janos Gereben. (Civic Center Mike? Hello-oooo?)
So, let’s cue the monks and then check the Facebook:
“The opening ceremony went well! Peaceful, calming chanting and praying culminating in a monk blessing everyone by lobbing water droplets on the audience. Emerald Cities is now officially open, the orchid display goes down after Sunday, and on Sunday …we have our Fall Family Festival — daylong festivities for all ages, and families don’t have to pay the Emerald Cities surcharge!”
And if you drop by the AAA in the next few days, you’ll get to see the orchids.
And win some free tickets here!
Check out this white elephant on Objet 136:
That’s got to be the angriest-looking olliphant ever:
(‘ll post some more shots when they get back from the Photomat.)
A lot of work went into this exhibit so check it out, why don’t you?
See you there!
Tags: 2009, 2010, aaa, art, Arts of Siam & Burma, asian art museum, burma, Candace Jackson, Carol Canter, civic center, Emerald Cities:, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma, Janos Gereben, myanmar, Nancy Ewart, photos, review, Siam, southeast, thailand
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
In between downpours yesterday, made it over to the Asian Art Museum where they were getting ready for Orchids: A Tribute to Doris Duke, starting today and running through Sunday, October 25, 2009.
Turns out that Doris Duke was heavy into orchids, she was “collector, cultivator, and preservationist” all in one. Plus, some of her pieces will be on display in the Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam & Burma, the new exhibit starting this Friday, October 23rd. So why not turn the AAM into a mini Conservatory of Flowers for a little while, huh?
Orchids: A Tribute to Doris Duke
Tuesday, October 20 through Sunday, October 25
Main Lobby, North and South courts
FREE with museum admission
Click to expand:
Roll credits:
“Orchids (Orchidaceae) are flowering plants commonly found in Southeast Asia and other tropical parts of the world. This is a botanic description of orchids, but for most of us orchids are the most exotic of plants with an enormous diversity of shape, size, color. Doris Duke, who collected many of the artworks presented in Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma, was an avid orchid collector, cultivator, and preservationist. As an homage to Doris Duke and her passion for collecting, for the first time and for five days only, the museum will present a striking display of orchids. The display features arrangements by members of Ikebana International and Ikebana Teachers Federation, San Francisco Orchid Society, San Francisco Garden Club, Asian Art Museum Flower Committee, de Young Flower Committee; floral designers, orchid aficionados, and others.”
See you there!
Tags: ABC, arts, asian art museum, avery brundage, bank, burma, burmese, carmen, carmen m chrsitensen, catalogue, channel 7, christensen, Circle, civic center, connosisseur's council, counsel, courts, david p buchanan, doris duke, doris duke charitable foundation, Emerald Cities:, Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma, exhibit, exhibition, Federation, Flower Committee, flowers, free, Garden Club, Ikebana, Ikebana International, Ikebana Teachers Federation, international, james h w whompson foundation, k bank, kasikorn, kasikornbank, kbank, kgo, Koret Foundation, larkin, magazine, me, Mrs., museum, north, Orchid Society, Orchidaceae, orchids, San Francisco, show, Siam, siamese, society for asian art, south, teacher's, united airlines
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