Resources

An introduction to Shinto, one of Japan’s earliest belief systems.

A batik lower garment can be wrapped in many ways. People of varying ages, diverse regional backgrounds, or different marital statuses might wrap their long cloths (kain panjang) in different manners. These textiles often are pleated more intricately for ceremonial occasions. The sarong or tube skirt is a less formal mode of dress, which can be worn by both men and women. In this video Alice Adeboi, with the assistance of Peggy Adeboi, demonstrates a formal and less formal way of wearing a kain panjang, methods taught to her by her Javanese mother. Michael Ogi shows how a kain panjang would be worn by a man on a formal occasion and how a sarong is worn informally.

Discover how an ancient bronze vessel in the shape of a rhinoceros from Shang-dynasty China may have been created via a piece-mold technique.

Ogawa Machiko’s artistic connection to raw natural beauty is linked to her time living abroad with her anthropologist husband as well as to the seaside landscape of her hometown of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. “It is my passion for the earth that drives my continual search for the essential in art. The vessel form, with both interior and exterior space, enables me to best pursue this quest — it is not about making vases. Rather, I am inspired by the concept of emptiness within the whole.”
* Ogawa studied ceramics with three Living National Treasures in Tokyo and at the Ecole des Arts et Metiers in Paris, then continued her studies in Burkina Faso in West Africa and in South America

Artist Kwangwoo Bae demonstrates the process of making Korean mother-of-pearl lacquerware.

“Asia” is a term invented by the Greeks and Romans, and developed by Western geographers to indicate the land mass east of the Ural Mountains and Ural River, together with offshore islands such as Japan and Java.

Asian Art Museum Storyteller, Miriam Mills, tells a story that explains why dragons are often depicted holding or chasing round objects covered in flames in Chinese art.

Asian Art Museum Storyteller Leta Bushyhead tells a story about a woman named Meng Juang-nu and the Great Wall of China in the Chinese galleries of the Asian Art Museum.