pre-2011 museum resources

[Anonymous]

This museum is small, but is full of interesting artifacts about China. It also has an art exhibit, usually, on the second floor of various Asian artists. In the back room on the first floor is an exhibit of a typical Chinese store. They have actual shelving, drawers and other artifacts pertinent to the time period, the 1800's. You can even open some of the drawers to see what might have been its contents.

I do recommend this museum for a class field trip because of this particular exhibit. It is highly educational, and would give the students experiential knowledge of a Chinese store in the United States during the 19th century. This would be good for a World Cultures/World History class.

[Anonymous]

In June of '06 the entire 6th grade at my school went to LACMA to see artifacts from the ancient civilizations we had studied all year. I was too busy doing head counts and keeping a close eye on some curious 12-year-old hands inching toward priceless artifacts to take in the specifics of the tour, but it was well received by the students. The tour divided students into groups of approx. 10 kids with one docent. The docent led the tour speeding around various statues, pottery, tablets, and the occasional sarcophagus with short pauses to explain the significance of what we were looking at. Some moments allowed for discussion of historical context based on student's prior knowledge while others were new information all together.

My personal favorite moment involved a student correcting a parent chaperone on her mis-identification of the greek goddess portrayed in a statue. (Before coming to LACMA we had made masks of greek gods and goddesses using their representative symbols). Coming in a close second as my favorite moment was when the students were crouched around a sarcophagus studying the symbols on the case and I said "boo!" - despite many conversations explaining that mummies are not alive and will never come back to life the students allowed themselves to belive curses ahead of a mildly sarcastic teacher.

Specifically related to East Asia and the creation of a catchphrase: The docent leading my group was a Buddist and had a lot of passion for sharing her knowledge on the topic. We spent a great moment learning about a Buddha statue and the idea of "The Buddha". The docent explained that The Buddha was not one person - anyone who fully dedicated themselves to the task could become The Buddha. (A concise but effective explaination for 12-year-olds.)

She continued that one way to become The Buddha was to live a life of virtue. She had the students think of the people they knew that lived lives of virtue - believe it or not, they said teachers were the people they knew that lived lives of virtue. At this point one of my students looked at me with wide and excited eyes and exclaimed, "You could be The Buddha!"

For the remaining month of the school year my class had a new catchphrase: "You could be The Buddha! I could be The Buddha!" Instead of saying "good job" or "great work" I would congratulate students on their attempt at virtue and they would reply with our new catchphrase.

Storytelling aside, the LACMA trip was very brief but had a big impact on my students. They were incredibly excited to see artifacts from ancient East Asia and other ancient civilizations. They seemed wise beyond their years while using the perspective of a social scientist to find out what story each artifact was telling them. I would strongly encourage anyone to look into the tours available for their subject/grade and for a personal enrichment trip.

[Anonymous]

"Treasures from Shanghai" Bowers Museum (Santa Ana) - 2/18-819

Yesterday, on Chinese New Year, I attended the opening of the exhibit “Treasures from Shanghai” at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. The Bowers was also celebrating the opening of a major new wing, so the day started with a dramatic Dragon parade with the pulsating drums, a ribbon cutting ceremony and the usual state politician with certificates. This was followed by a lecture given by Chen Kelun, deputy director of the Shanghai Museum. Interestingly, his talk was given in Chinese with many in the audience responding to his humor; I unfortunately was dependent on the translator. The lecture provided great background history on all the major pieces in the exhibit from a Neolithic painted pot from 4000BC through many bronze period artifacts, followed by Han, Sui-Tang, Song-Yuann, Ming, and Qing pieces. The finale was a gorgeous hand scroll from the Quing Dynasty that was of the Hai Pai School that combined traditional Chinese painting with Western elements. An earlier piece that was quite unique (Sui-Tang 581-907AD) was a polychrome camel which highlighted the influence of the Silk Road. Since I have been collecting inexpensive blue and white pottery since I started with Blue Imari for my wedding china (32 years ago), I found Mr. Kelun’s detailed information on the various blues used in Ming porcelain fascinating; now I don’t have to be concerned that my own blues are so varied, even seeming to clash at times. And yes, I was moved by the beauty of a Ming blue and white vase that was recently acquired for three million British pounds.

It was refreshing to see many children in attendance, happily trailing the dancing dragons. I applaud the parents for providing this field trip that our schools cannot seem to financially cover any longer. Also the museum had thoughtfully set up art and craft stations that were inspired by the collections. I was touring the museum with an old friend, and we reminisced about all the projects we had loved making back at old Emery Park School in the 50’s - possibly leading us both to be history majors in college. She’s presently a fourth grade teacher and laments the lack of time for extended, creative projects because of the demanding elementary curriculum dictated by the relentless standards.

For me Chinese New Year was very renewing. In addition to the Shanghai exhibit, the Bowers opened an additional new exhibit of Ansel Adams’ titled “One with Beauty,” and still has the continuing “Mummies” exhibit which is very strong. Enjoy!
Yesterday, on Chinese New Year, I attended the opening of the exhibit “Treasures from Shanghai” at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. The Bowers was also celebrating the opening of a major new wing, so the day started with a dramatic Dragon parade with the pulsating drums, a ribbon cutting ceremony and the usual state politician with certificates. This was followed by a lecture given by Chen Kelun, deputy director of the Shanghai Museum. Interestingly, his talk was given in Chinese with many in the audience responding to his humor; I unfortunately was dependent on the translator. The lecture provided great background history on all the major pieces in the exhibit from a Neolithic painted pot from 4000BC through many bronze period artifacts, followed by Han, Sui-Tang, Song-Yuann, Ming, and Qing pieces. The finale was a gorgeous hand scroll from the Quing Dynasty that was of the Hai Pai School that combined traditional Chinese painting with Western elements. An earlier piece that was quite unique (Sui-Tang 581-907AD) was a polychrome camel which highlighted the influence of the Silk Road. Since I have been collecting inexpensive blue and white pottery since I started with Blue Imari for my wedding china (32 years ago), I found Mr. Kelun’s detailed information on the various blues used in Ming porcelain fascinating; now I don’t have to be concerned that my own blues are so varied, even seeming to clash at times. And yes, I was moved by the beauty of a Ming blue and white vase that was recently acquired for three million British pounds.

It was refreshing to see many children in attendance, happily trailing the dancing dragons. I applaud the parents for providing this field trip that our schools cannot seem to financially cover any longer. Also the museum had thoughtfully set up art and craft stations that were inspired by the collections. I was touring the museum with an old friend, and we reminisced about all the projects we had loved making back at old Emery Park School in the 50’s - possibly leading us both to be history majors in college. She’s presently a fourth grade teacher and laments the lack of time for extended, creative projects because of the demanding elementary curriculum dictated by the relentless standards.

For me Chinese New Year was very renewing. In addition to the Shanghai exhibit, the Bowers opened an additional new exhibit of Ansel Adams’ titled “One with Beauty,” and still has the continuing “Mummies” exhibit which is very strong. Enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Pacific Asia Museum
46 North Los Robles Avenue
Pasadena
pacificasiamuseum.org

For over four decades I have been intrigued by a house. Growing up, I was fascinated by a Pasadena house on the corner of Los Robles and Union. My museum assignment gave me a perfect opportunity to explore this gem as it became the Asia Pacific Museum in 1971, the only museum in Southern California devoted solely to Asia and the Pacific. The building has beautiful, traditional Chinese architecture with four walls surrounding a serene courtyard with a koi pond, rock sculpture and symbolic plants, such as the pine, bamboo and the plum tree. The two primary exhibits now showing are Himalayan Art in Practice (open until the end of May); and Jade, Silk and Porcelain (open until late 2007). Comprising part of the Tibetan exhibit is a room offering at least fifty different Buddhas. However, this exhibit not only covers the art used daily by monks but also includes everyday items used by the scholar and laypeople. I particularly liked a cotton worker’s apron painted with a very wrathful face. The Materials of Asian Art exhibit was devoted to explaining the Chinese artistic techniques used with these beautiful materials. Having always loved European tapestries, I was delighted with the Chinese version crafted with beautiful, brilliant hued silk. This museum is a very manageable size, easily covered in two hours. Being adjacent to Pasadena’s Old Town, there are good restaurants and shopping to make it a full and fun day outing.

[Anonymous]

My students received a grant from the Japan American National Museum. Under the grant, we were granted 2 busses and free entrance to the museum. Our tour started with a history of origami and an origami lesson. Then the students got a lesson and demonstration on Taiko drumming. Some of them were invited to try their hand at Taiko drumming. After these two lessons, they were broken up into small groups and given a tour of the museum by a survivor of the Japanese internment camps. It was especially interesting and meaningful because it was told from this living primary source. Students examined artifacts and documents from World War II. Their guide explained both their historical significance as well as the lessons that must be remembered in our times. After the museum tour, the students walked out to the memorial to Japanese American soldiers and got to meet and talk to two Japanese American World War II veterans.

[Anonymous]

Just read the last posting on the Japanese American National Museum and I'm very jealous! I went for another class two Saturdays ago and cruised it solo, so I didn't get all of the neat activities or helpful information from a guide.

The museum itself is gorgeous; you feel at peace just walking through the doors. The Japanese architecture is minimal and fluid, and like the Getty is it's own piece of art to appreciate. The building was probably my favorite part of the museum.

The artifacts themseves were well displayed. Basically it traces the history of Japanese in America starting around the 1800's. Of course the main focus is on the Japanese internment during WWII. They start with a lot of images / posters of anti-Japanese sentiments, photos of homes with banners reading "White neighborhood! No Japanese!" and racist caricatures of Japanese people.

What was really neat was that they had an actual barrack from one of the camps rebuilt inside the building. There is a whole display devoted to those who went and dismantled the barrack with the intention of housing it in the museum.

My only critique of the museum was that it is very small and limited. I wanted there to be more, but the reality is that it covers such a short amount of time and the focus is so specific that there isn't a whole lot more they can display. The tour the last teacher described sounds amazing. The incoroporation of origami immerses the students into a piece of Japanese culture, and getting to hear a person talk firsthand about their experiences in the camps is priceless. When I went to the Museum of Tolerance, that was the most memorable part for me. If I ever get the opportunity to take my students, that's what I want them to experience most.

[Anonymous]

I went to the Pacific Asia Museum on a Friday in which they are free to the public the last Friday of every month. I was very impressed with their diverse collection of Buddhist art from various countries such as India, China, Korea, Japan, Burma, Vietnam, and Tibet. Walking through and seeing the various statues and sculptures of Buddha allows one to not only trace the spread of Buddhism in Asia but allows one to notice the differences in the representation of Buddha throughout various geographical locations in Asia. For example, one might notice that the image of Buddha in India is much thinner than the image of a plumper Buddha in China.
Although different cultures might have different visual representations of the Buddha, the core teachings of Buddhism are similar throughout all cultures. The Buddha taught his followers that following the Noble Eightfold Path would lead them out of their cycle of endless rebirth and suffering. The branches of the Noble Eightfold Path are having the right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration through meditation. By practicing the Eightfold Path, a follower of Buddhism can reach enlightenment known as nirvana.
Another interesting exhibit at the museum was the exhibit entitled: Jade, Silk and Porcelain: the Materials of Asian Art. Out of the three art forms, my favorite was the porcelain dishware in the collection. Porcelain was first made in China in the 6th and 7th centuries AD from porcelain clay known as kaolin, found in the Gaoling Mountains of southeastern China. Chinese potters mixed the kaolin clay with a powder ground from a stone called baidunzi, a rock that contains feldspar, a glassy mineral. It is fired at very high temperatures above, which causes the surface of the clay to melt and become smooth as glass. The beauty of the porcelain comes from the purity of the whiteness that is produces. A high quality porcelain is one that is thin, white, and when held up to the light, is transparent. To show off the beauty of the porcelain itself, many porcelain objects were left unpainted. The Chinese traded porcelain and guarded the secrets of making porcelain from outsiders.
When the Italians saw porcelain objects, they thought the ceramics were make from ground up seashells and named it porcellana or "little female pig," the Italian name for small white cowrie shells. Porcelains were first used by the Imperial court and only the purest, whiteness, and most transparent porcelains were beautiful enough for the emperors. Later, porcelain was exported west and was painted with cobalt blue. Porcelain is just one example of the delicate art that the Chinese created. Silk and Jade are two other forms of art which expresses the Chinese’s attention to detail and patience in their craft.

[Anonymous]

I visited the Bowers Museum last weekend for their exhibit entitled “Treasures from Shanghai: 5000 Years of Chinese Art and Culture.” The objects ranged from the Neolithic Period to the Qing Dynasty. Everything is on loan from the Shanghai Museum. The exhibit shows the progression and evolution of Chinese technology, art and culture.

I was particularly impressed by the pottery and jewelry. Other objects included bronze and ancient oracle bones from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, porcelain and other ceramics from the Tang through Ming dynasties, and boxes, paintings, and calligraphy in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The majority of the exhibit was bronzes. This part did not interest me as much. There were 20 bronze pieces, from cookware to musical instruments. These revealed a lot about the cultures, for example their cooking cultures and rules and traditions of ceremonies.

I found the limited array of items rather nice. Instead of being overwhelmed by the contents of an entire museum, I felt that this exhibit let me really study the items and think about why each one might be included. Therefore the message which was the evolution of Chinese technology, art, and culture was not lost.

The Shanghai exhibit will be at the Bowers Museum until August 19, 2007. I was also intrigued to find out that the Bowers will have an exhibit on the Terracotta Warriors starting August 2008. I will definitely have to return!

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I recommend the Japanese Art exhibit at LACMA. The building the collection is housed in is beautiful. The structure looks modern Japanese yet it has some very traditional qualities as well. The walls were made to resemble the paper doors older Japanese homes. The walls are opaque, allowing light to come through. The exhibit is rich, filled with calligraphy, paintings, wood work, and much more. This a great field trip destination for Jr. and SR. high students.

John Yamazaki

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I have heard that the Huntington Library Gardens are amazing. I believe there is a Japanese and Chinese Garden on site. Parts of Memoirs of a Gheisha were filmed there. Such gardens are living artwork. Students can compare and contrast Chinese Garden styles with that of gardens from Japan. Also I believe the 1st Monday of every month is FREE! Check out the website for further confirmation. Again this is a great field trip site as well for JR. and Sr. High students.

John Yamazaki

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

I want to share with you all a very unique story about my family that has great historical significance. My step mother was shopping at an antique shop in Santa Barbara one day when she noticed a pretty red laquer box. She picked it up, looked on the bottom, and was amazed. She discovered the in caligraphy the script RYUKYU! This was the old name for modern Okinawa. As an Okinawan her self she was amazed to find this old box in Santa Barbara of all places. She purchased the box for $15. About a year later taking the box, she traveled to Okinawa and visited family. She took the box to the national museum in Okinawa and found that she had a very historical and priceless artifact. Her box dated to the early 1900s and is unique for how it was made and it is very rare because very few of these artifacts survived WWII. She and my father donated the box to the museum and returned the it to the people of Okinawa. The president of the Museum was overjoyed to receive this box in such great condition. This story tells you that you never know what you may find in an antique store.

John Yamazaki

[Anonymous]

Greetings,

There are some great online museum resources for Jr. and Sr. High students and teachers. Both Japan and Taiwan have National History Museums with web sites that are interactive. You can tour through various exhibits and displays. These sites are a great tool to reinforce the material you are teaching. These images and exhibits bring the information to life. I highly recommend them!

John Yamazaki

[Anonymous]

Several Asian countries have national museums with websites. These sites are a great tool. You can use them to tour exhibits and you can have students use these sites for research. A great activity would be to have students do a gallery walk around your class. Simply print out some images from the museum sites with info for each and have the students take down notes as they move from station to station. The sites for national museum of Taiwan and Japan are great.

John Yamazaki[Edit by="jyamazaki on Jul 9, 12:44:25 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

In the past I've mentioned the Pacific Asia Museum but, as it's been a while since I last visited (this time last year) I thought I'd drop by... I love this place (and the little courtyard is so cool - literally!). Last year I walked around with a notebook, jotting down information and questions for a high school level extra credit hand-out in two of the Social studies classes I teach (sadly now deceased - my p.c. caught some malicious bug and erased everything, down to the wiring and, of course, I'd forgotten to back it up). It's just as good as I remembered, and I started looking for information that I can use teaching sixth and seventh grade.

For sixth grade, there's an excellent array of Buddhas and bodhisatvas, and the materials for a lesson demonstrating the ways in which a religion adapts itself to the pre-existing indigenous culture. A lot of the littlies are familiar with the rotund, rub-my-belly Buddha, and so it's valuable, I think, to be able to expose them to other personifications, both from various cultures and in different characterizations - for example, the thin, aesthetic Buddha to the serene Enlightened One, by way of adding dimension to the jolly fat man. (Check out the Thai Buddha - he's shown with an elongated face and graceful, willowy body, sometimes shown walking, a posture unique to Thailand.)

There are also wonderful representations of Hindu deities which, again, mesh nicely with the sixth grade curriculum - it's difficult trying to conjure up the brilliance and power of Hindu art and sculpture, short of being able to stand there in front of it The textbook illustrations can't do them justice (which, I guess, is true of a great deal of cultural artifacts and religious symbolism) and even overhead transparencies and powerpoint illustrations don't quite do the job as well.

There's a huge number of animal motifs to be found - everything from water buffalo to rabbits, turtles to deer, rooster to phoenix, crickets to the dragon king, and one or two mythical beasts that students may or may not be familiar with (including Garruda, the winged and beaked half-man/half-bird who accompanies Vishnu). These would make a great game of find-the-animal - for example, in the netsuke display alone there are 12 demons, 3 foxes, 2 dragons, and a monkey to be found. Students could then take notes from the information alongside each exhibit to discover the symbolism of each (the turtle for longevity, for instance) and describe the context - netsuke, ceramic bowl or other pottery, sculpture, wooden carvings...

I suspect that the only problem with bringing a field trip to this particular venue might be its size - having 36 + students in so confined an area may present problems... However, the museum does have a program for field trips (up to 60 students - available Wed., Thur., and Friday) which divides the students into smaller groups and gives them an hour-long docent-guided museum tour followed by an hour's worth of art workshop. Contact Lucy Solin on (626) 449-2742 ext. 22 to set up a date.

If a field trip is out of the question, there's always the museum's website. It's really comprehensive, and even has its own website-only exhibition: Nature of the Beast - Animals in Japanese Paintings and Prints (again with the animals!). And there are scads of other resources - right now I'm checking out their Chinese ceramics factsheets which complement the exibits. It's difficult sometimes having students understand such (seemingly) commonplace things like, what exactly is porcelain and how is it made? So the factsheets are a great resource for seventh - and probably tenth - grade Social Studies classes.

Overall,most highly recommended!

Ray[Edit by="rrobinson on Jul 11, 5:18:22 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

I took my 6th grade class to the Skirball Museum for an Archaeology field trip several months ago. While the topic of this trip was Archaeology I found that it helped later in the year when we were discussing artifacts from Asia.

In order to have the opportunity to take this field trip I had to attend a workshop at the Skirball Museum last summer. At this session I was infomed of the process to sign up for the trip, get a bus scholorship, and was given a tour of the exhibits my students would see. I attended a workshop in mid-August and found that they were already booked through the end of March, so attend an earlier workshop if you woudl like to take the field trip earlier in the year.

The trip was for 6th grade and specifically addressed the topic of Archaeology and how artifacts are discovered and studied. One week prior to coming to the museum I picked up their kit with activities that would better prepare the students for the field trip. It took me several hours to read the directions and activity binder and sort through all the pieces before I could realistically devise a plan to carry out the activities. Because of the time restrictions on having the kit and scheduling conflicts at my school there was only one day that I could do these activities. I made all the photo copies several days in advance and came early the day of the lessons to stage the stations. I could not set up the stations until just before my 3rd period class because I teach art in the morning. I recruited several responsible students to help me set up during our nutrition break. The preparation and set up for this activity was somewhat stressful and time-consuming, but I found that it paid off.

I gave each student a packet with all of the activity sheets rather than set them at each station. There were 10 stations so I had groups of 4 students rotate whenever they finished and another station opened. Some activites took only a couple of minutes, others took long periods of time. Because of this some students did up to 6 activities while others worked only on two or three. I wish I could have had several days to do these activites and would encourage anyone else who does these activities to schedule accordingly. The students really enjoyed the stations. These included instruction and practice in identifying the oldest to newest version of oil lamps, using code cracking skills to translate ancient languages, and matching artifacts to written documents that described them.

The field trip itself was generally good. While it was short, it was informative and memorable. The first part of the trip included looking at ancient artifacts that were organized from oldest to newest. The docent would hold up a modern object such as a cup and have students point out all the artifacts that once servd the same purpose. My students enjoyed this "guessing game".

The second and most memorable part of this trip was the archaeological dig. Outside there were five sand pits that had various artifacts buried in them. Students were given brief instructions on how to dig for objects and then were allowed to go for it. It was obvioulsy a popular activity. Students found various replications of statues, pottery, coins, tools, and a writing tablet. Upon uncovering the writing tablet one girl exclaimed, "I found the 10 commandments!" She was quite thrilled by this, even when the discussion portion revealed it was a replica of a legal record. After 15 minutes or so of digging there was a docent led discussion of what all the various artifacts were and what they told us about the civilization they had once belonged to.

This field trip was brought up many times the rest of the year during our history class. While the field trip did not specifically address education on Asia, we used our knowledge of archaeology to help us better study Asian artifacts in our units on ancient China and India.

[Author]

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