by Amy Lewis Hofland
If
you’ve been paying attention to art museum education in the past
two decades, you know how much has changed. Gone are the sleepy
galleries, dark after five, the tour guides who are “walking and
talking,” and the inescapable hush of a silent space. To be
sustainable, museums have had to repurpose, redefine, validate, and
re-invent, or in Dallas Museum of Art terms, Ignite
the Power of Art. It
has been the greatest kind of journey.
Now, museums are the
new coffee houses: places where people meet and return often, ideas
are exchanged, and art changes lives—lots of lives. In this spirit,
the Crow Collection of Asian Art recently adopted a new mantra: Body,
Mind, Heart and Art. We
are a place where you can grow in these important aspects of your
lives.
 |
| Filming Vishnu’s
OHMazing™
Journeys in the galleries of the Crow Collection of Asian Art |
Body:
For thousands of years, Eastern philosophy recognized the importance
of attending to a healthy lifestyle. Whether
you are studying the Analects
of Confucius or the
teachings of Buddha, body and mind are interconnected. Yogiños: Yoga
for Youth®
explores yoga both
on and off the mat. This fall the second DVD
with yoga and art
instruction for children was unveiled: Vishnu’s
OHMazing™
Journeys.
In our galleries, you will find classes, lectures, tours, and
wellness programs, all through the lens of art, history and language.
A bright new partnership with the Dallas Yoga Center presents a
broader, multi-disciplined range of teachings.
 |
| Vessel, China, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736–1795). Nephrite. The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, 1975.1 |
Mind:
Did you know a knowledge of jade helps you with a knowledge of
people? Our next installation in the Jade Room explores how we are
like jade. Confucius wrote in the Book
of Rites II (Zhou
Dynasty, c. 1050–256 BC,
transl. Legge), “Anciently superior men found the likeness of all
excellent qualities in jade.” Moral aspects of virtue, faith, and
duty were taught through a study of the visual and physical
properties of jade, and these teachings were requisite
of any gentleman or official in training. Our curator, Caron Smith,
explores these teachings through a selection of works from our
collection with a hope, like Confucius, that in the end, we are all
better people from the study of jade.
Heart:
In September 2009, in a hot studio in Shanghai, I met Qiu Anxiong,
the artist presented in this fall’s exhibition by Melissa Chiu of
the Asia Society Museum. Huge canvases lined the walls of a space
generous by Shanghai standards. In a contrast of experiences
(customary in China), he pulled out his Apple computer and presented
one of his video works. Six or seven of us crowded around his
computer. Time suspended, we watched over an hour of his animations:
virtual “flip-books” of digital stills of his paintings present
an emotional landscape of the histories of China. Qiu collaborates
with Chinese composers to lure the senses into a place where your
heart stops and nothing else matters. I find his works arresting in
every sense of the word. Starting on October 15, we will present
Qiu’s new work in video format alongside several paintings,
sketchbooks, and drawings. This is Qiu’s third U.S. exhibition, and
my favorite Shanghai souvenir. Your heart will thank me later.
 |
| Children discuss and sketch a relief of Ganesha |
Art:
Perhaps at the core of
what keeps our body, mind, and heart in motion is art. At the Crow
Collection of Asian Art you can find it throughout the fall—in the
inventive studio projects designed by our creative museum educators,
in the Crow Collection After Dark programming and in the curiosity
and wonder-driven exhibitions. Hundreds of programs offered this
October through Art in October, in collaboration with the Dallas Arts
District, remind us of the power of art and its vital place in our
lives. In Asia, art and life are interwoven; one is not separate from
the other.
Join
us for a journey exploring how rewarding a life coupled with art can
be!
Amy
L. Hofland
DIRECTOR
The
Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art features a
variety of spaces and galleries with changing exhibitions of the arts
of China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia spanning from the ancient
to the contemporary. Just 12 years in operation, this lovingly
curated free museum offers a serene setting for quiet reflection in
the heart of the Dallas Arts District.
The
Crow Collection continues to grow in art and service to the Dallas-
Fort Worth community with an emphasis on shared learning and fun.
New initiatives include the development of an Asian physical and
mental wellness center endorsed by Dr. Andrew Weil as well as an
Asian Sculpture Garden slated to open in the fall of 2012. The garden
features traditional Japanese landscaping, new Asian art acquisitions
and additional works from the museum’s collection. For more
information, please go to crowcollection.org.
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