I attended the Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles at the Nelson-Atkins Museum which was an exhibit that featured textiles from China, Japan, and the Safavid empire. Each region’s textiles were very unique in the symbolism used, the processes used to create them, and their indention for use. Of the textiles from China was the robe of an emperor from the Qing dynasty accompanied with an explanation of all the symbols used on the robe including not only the imperial dragon but symbols for rule and law, the sun and moon, an ax (which I thought interesting for a relatively peaceful time in China), constellations for the heaves and so on. Many pieces in the exhibit detailed the production techniques so it included some pieces that were woven, some that were stamped and also detailed a very interesting technique working with gold thread. One difference I noted was that all of the Chinese and Japanese textiles were either clothing or hanging scrolls while the Safavid pieces included banners, chair covers, and even tents for military campaigns. I will include some pictures because it adds to the wonder with these seemingly mundane objects being so richly decorated. My favorite piece was a pair of Japanese hanging scrolls of cranes that features very intricate work with metallic thread. It is beautiful. As a World History teacher, this is a valuable comparison that can be made with the western Industrial Revolution but also a bigger discussion on the social purposes of clothing throughout history and why pieces like this would be created.

Molly - thanks for taking us to the exhibition. Nelson-Atkins is one of the most important collections of Asian art. The website has video and images for this exhibition: https://nelson-atkins.org/exhibitions/weaving-splendor/. You could put your students on a hunt (and ban letting them using search to immediately get answers) on items on virtual exhibition at a set of collections you designate. Ask a question that requires digging into the collection pages or videos (e.g., what does X symbolize, can you provide examples from X collection or X period). I know I'm a bit of a local booster, but LACMA also has an interesting textile collection. A long time ago, I saw a Japanese kosode exhibition and haven't forgotten it. Some examples can be found at the museum's website, but there's no collection page (as a Nelson-Atkins) to give fuller context. An example: https://collections.lacma.org/node/224956. Here's a young woman's robe: https://collections.lacma.org/node/225669

I was excited to be able to visit the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena with my East Asian education glasses on! I’m a member of the Huntington so I’ve been before and visit occasionally, but it’s definitely different visiting with my students in mind! I focused my visit on the Chinese and Japanese gardens. The Japanese gardens include water features, bridges, manicured trees, small decorative objects, as well as an exhibition pavilion with objects that showcase japanese tea ceremony culture and ikebana (flower arranging). There is also a zen rock garden, two curated bonsai collections, and some “touching stones” from the eel river. The Japanese garden seeks to spotlight the beauty of nature. While it may look less planned than a traditional british garden for example, each element is carefully planned to accentuate the beauty of the natural environment. 

The Chinese garden on the other hand, highlights the beauty of human construction in nature. Architectural elements and water features take center stage, with special attention paid to giant limestone rocks with chinese characters carved into them.

If I took students here, I would love to have discussions comparing and contrasting these two gardens. It would be great to give them the opportunity to deeply observe their surroundings using arts integrated modalities. Sketching, photography, using viewfinders, taking rubbings of the different textures could all be great ways to engage students here. I also saw in their emails that the Huntington hosts concerts of traditional chinese music in the garden every Wednesday afternoon. This would be amazing for a field trip!

According to this website (https://www.huntington.org/tours), there is a digital resource that would help provide more context for students. We could bring iPads and refer to the digital guide as we explore! There are also plenty of youtube videos of walking tours of the Huntington, so we could use these in the classroom if we weren’t able to make it out on a field trip (for those out of the area, you can just search Huntington Library Virtual Field Trip and see what comes up – there’s a lot!)

I also attended an online event about Japanese Crafts. The event hosted in Tokyo and the leader of Japan Craft 21 addressed some dilemmas of handcrafs in moden society. Lack of students,low efficiency, and small markets are three reasons that constraint the development of Japanese handcrafts.

From my own experience, the dilemmas of handcrafs are the same in China. Most people choose to buy cheaper industry products instead of handcrafts. There are many handcraf men show how they make those items only by hands in some tourist attractions. However, most tourist only watch how those handcraf men do their job, but not willing to pay extra money to buy those high-priced handmade goods.

I will post this question to my students when I teach them some art crafts. How should we do to protect those ancient skills? I will also teach them to make some simple handcrafts, like bamboo dragonfly.