Khanh: When Art Speaks
My time so far at the museum has been pleasant and educating. I know much more about mother-of-pearl sculptures and the Rama Epic than I had at the beginning of August. The most gorgeous pieces to me are the ones from the Rama Epic, a famous Indian tale. I find it engaging and relatable to many visitors. My favorite character in the story is Ravana, the ten-headed demon who steals the protagonist Rama’s wife, Sita. Ravana’s charisma and ne’er-do-well charm made him the villain everyone loved to hate.
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Anyone coming to the civic center should stop by and check out our museum’s Rama Epic gallery. We do audio tours of the pieces, decorated with terrific voice actors narrating gorgeous works of art. If you’re not the most enthusiastic about museum art, or you just find it boring, don’t worry! The Asian art museum facilitates family fun days on the first and third Sundays of every month. While there, families or anyone that’s walking by can join us for some fun art making activities based on the pieces seen in the galleries. They are simple to create and you get to take home your finished product.
When we’re not preparing for Family fun days, we are planning on hosting cultural days. These are celebrations of various cultures in Asia, and include arts and crafts that pertain to that society’s art and way of life. On our Korea Day, we created lacquer ware boxes from cardboard, black paper, and strips of gold paper. It was a kid-friendly interpretation of actual Mother-of-Pearl lacquer ware, which was demonstrated close by from famous artist Hwang Samyong, creator of the pebble sculptures residing in the museum.
On Fil-Am (Filipino American) day we reached out to local Filipino communities to come celebrate with us. Dancers rushed Samsung hall, and the museum was alive with traditional music and festivities. Parents and children worked together with us to make Mindanao fans, used in many Filipino dances. We also had a button making activity, where you could create a button of the Philippines flag. As of today, the museum has introduced two new pieces of contemporary art! I am thrilled that we are taking this step; it is entirely different to the work we have had so far, and I feel like it will attract a whole new demographic to the museum.
