SAM Art: Representatives of a Forgotten Past

This fall, Hattie Branch, Blakemore Intern for Japanese Art, will share additional information about a series of masterpieces in Luminous: The Art of Asia, the current special exhibition. This is her first entry.

Works of prehistoric art stand before us, modern viewers, as ambassadors of a forgotten past that still resonates with us today. Luminous includes two such prehistoric works from Japan: a small figure with distinctively bulging eyes called a Dogū, and a large, stout, terracotta soldier called a Haniwa. Separated by approximately thirteen centuries, together they represent artistic highlights of prehistoric Japan, and embody ideas of surrogate personhood that endure to the present.

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Luminous Labels: Object 2

Luminous: The Art of Asia opened last Thursday, October 13. The exhibition plays with space, time, and context, especially Do-Ho Suh’s multimedia installation, Gate. Suh and SAM curator Catherine Roche worked closely on this show, and their perspectives and thoughts are represented throughout the exhibition by way of the labels.

We have the views of an innovative artist and a talented curator – all that’s missing is YOU. We invite you to join the conversation by writing your own “Luminous Label”! Every other week, we will be posting a new object featured in Luminous, and we want YOU to create a label.

Our first installment of Luminous Labels yielded some interesting labels for the painting Krishna in a garden. We received some valuable feedback on the project, and based on those comments, we have decided to make a few changes to Luminous Labels.

Instead of choosing one single label, declaring it “the best,” and posting it in a SAM gallery, we have decided to post as many labels as possible on our blog. Our goal is to add as many voices to the conversation, to show a diversity of ideas and perspectives and spark dialogue. We will be inviting everyone to write labels for a total of 7 different objects over the course of the exhibition, October 13- January 8. Your label must be 60 words or less and to be considered for the second installment, be submitted to luminous@seattleartmuseum.org by 5pm Monday, October 24. Have fun and be creative!

The second installment of Luminous Labels is the Gyodo mask of a bodhisattva (pictured below). It is a Japanese mask from the Heian Period (794–1185), 1158.

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SAM Art: Tokita, Nomura, and Seattle

Kamekichi Tokita and Kenjiro Nomura were first-generation Japanese Americans, or Issei, who made their home inSeattle. While many artists turned their sights to the Northwest’s natural grandeur, Tokita and Nomura looked to the places they knew well—the neighborhood in and around Japantown or Nihonmachi (today part of the International District), the working waterfront, and the farmlands cultivated by Japanese American families.

Labeled American Scene painters (a popular movement in American art of the 1930s) by their contemporaries, both artists’ work reveals the details of place that derive from daily familiarity, often the intimate views one sees while walking. In their choice of subject, the particularities of place and time, and the reference to cultural heritage, they describe the perspective of American immigrants who have made a new home.

Bridge, 1931, Kamekichi Tokita, American, 1897-1948, oil on canvas, 23 1/4 x 19 1/16 in., Gift of the artist, 33.230, © Kamekichi Tokita. On view in Painting Seattle: Kamekichi Tokita and Kenjiro Nomura starting on Saturday, 22 October, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Volunteer Park.

SAM Art: A Luminous Dragon King

The stern eyes and open mouth of this fearsome mask are attributes of the Dragon King, one of the Eight Buddhist Guardians. It is thought that this mask somehow came to be separated from a valuable set of eight masks, the seven remaining of which are still housed at Toji temple in Kyoto. The mask is splendidly carved and colored, and its interior is finished with a coating of expensive black lacquer, signaling this object’s high importance.

Assembled in the twenty-first century, in a museum gallery in Seattle, this mask and the 160 other objects in LUMINOUS: The Art of Asia are radically displaced from their original sites of production. Their significance has shifted from sacred to secular as they have moved from temple hall to treasure house. Here, it is their aesthetic beauty that is being celebrated, not their ritual use. The museum viewer encounters these objects with very different expectations than a thirteenth-century worshipper might have held. We expect to be educated, or even awed, but we do not—in most cases—anticipate spiritual salvation.

LUMINOUS opens to the public on Thursday, 13 October, and remains on view through 8 January 2012.

Gyodo mask of Dragon King, early 13th century, Japanese, Kamakura period, wood with lacquer, polychrome and gilt, 15 9/16 x 8 1/8 x 5 15/16 in., Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 68.110. On view in the special exhibition LUMINOUS: The Art of Asia, fourth floor, SAM downtown, starting Thursday, 13 October.

Write Your Own Luminous Label

In honor of our exhibition, Luminous: The Art of Asia, opening October 13, we are launching something fun and interactive for all you SAM fans! We are kicking off a promotion called “Luminous Labels” today.

SAM curator Catherine Roche recently wrote about the art of label writing and the difficulties that curators face when telling the objects’ stories to the public. We are calling on you to write your own label for some of the artwork featured in Luminous. The winning labels will be displayed in the gallery next to the official ones.

We will be posting a picture of the work that we want you to label on our blog every other Monday morning. It is up to you to write the label for it–drawing on your interpretations, perceptions and feelings towards the piece. There is really only one rule: it must be 60 words or less. Other than that, we encourage you to have fun and be creative!

For week 1 of Luminous Labels, you will have until Friday morning, October 7, at 9:00am to submit your label to luminous@seattleartmuseum.org. The chosen label will be displayed on October 13–the opening day of Luminous: The Art of Asia–in the gallery next to the official one!

We will be inviting people to write labels for a total of 7 different objects over the course of the exhibition, October 13- January 8. Each label that is chosen will be printed up, just as a real label would be, and posted right next to the official label. Who doesn’t want to see their work displayed in a museum gallery for all the visitors to see?

Our first piece is Krishna in a garden (ca. 1660-1700).

SAM curatorial coordinator, Natasha Lewandrowski, has supplied some questions to ask yourself while creating your label that may help get your started.

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The Art of Creating a Label

On October 13, Luminous: The Art of Asia opens at SAM Downtown. SAM houses one of the finest collections of Asian art in the United States and Luminous showcases that. Totaling 160 pieces, this exhibition meshes the ancient with the contemporary while leaving room for individual interpretation and questioning.  Do Ho Suh is an artist who has worked closely with SAM over the years and has contributed his own contemporary installation to the show as well as his perspectives, ideas and questions, which pepper the labels of various pieces on display.

A common thread that runs through Luminous is the highlighting of difficulties in museum practices. Museums have a very difficult job telling the public the intended message of their pieces in an accurate and concise manner. In discussions with Catherine Roche, the curator of Luminous, Suh said, “The museum is a space of displacement. Every object in a museum has been moved from its original context and placed on a pedestal.” He goes on to mention the important role that the museum has; piecing together gaps to tell the overall story. The question remains – what is the best way for the museum to tell the story? There are three common ways: guided tours, audio guides, and the ever-present labels.

We asked Roche to give us insight on the formation and importance of those labels. She wrote:

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SAM Art: Summer’s last stand

Summer may be over, but you still have one final weekend to enjoy On-Site, the summer installations at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Since June, On-Site has brought together new sculptures by Gretchen Bennett, Nicholas Nyland and Carolina Silva. These three artists created objects, often experimental in concept and execution, that respond to the context of the park environment. Their temporary interventions have provided unexpected encounters with sculpture, encouraging fresh perspectives on sculpture and its making. Working in response to the park environment, their diverse works cast a new lens on our experience with sculpture and with the landscape at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Although Gretchen Bennett’s installations at the Sculpture Park are fleeting, the artist’s  landscape-inspired drawing and video work can be seen in SAM’s permanent collection.

“Walking Stick from Nadonna Beach,” 2011, Gretchen Bennett, American, born 1960, driftwood, carved oak sapling wood from the OSP, latex paint, Courtesy of the artist, © Gretchen Bennett, Photo: Robert Wade. “On-Site” temporary installations on view through Sunday, 2 October, at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

TASTE Restaurant announces new hours

Beginning Wednesday, October 5, 2011 TASTE Restaurant will update their hours to more closely complement the hours of the museum.

TASTE Restaurant’s new hours of operation:

• Wednesday-Saturday, 11 am – 9 pm
• Sunday, 11 am – 4 pm
• Monday & Tuesday, closed

Remember – this doesn’t take effect until October 5, so you’ve got a few more days before the Restaurant is closed on Tuesdays.

– Calandra Childers, Associate Manager of Public Relations

SAM Art: A new acquisition, all about place

Location, Location, Location

My tea and coffee sets relate to the place they are going.
—John Marshall

Destined for an art museum, a home in the San Juan Islands, and a 1950s Seattle residence, a trio of recently installed tea and coffee services glory in their sculptural delight, technical virtuosity, and the promise of a festive gathering around warm stimulating beverages. Each piece, while an exquisite work of art, was designed to be used and pours properly without a drip—the artist’s impeccable touch.

Tea and coffee pots rank as seminal works in the annals of silver production— in fact, teapots are considered a benchmark for the silversmith. Representing three decades of master silversmith John Marshall’s career, these services blend traditional vocabulary—such as towering, vertical coffeepots and shorter, more horizontal teapots—with his evolution of individual expression. The service shown here was produced as a commission for the Seattle Art Museum.

In this video, Marshall talks about his work and demonstrates metalworking techniques.

“Tea and Coffee Service,” 2008-09, John Marshall, American, born 1936, sterling silver, rosewood, Argentium sterling silver (an amalgam of fine silver and germanium), and acrylic, overall: 15 ¾ x 25 x 26 in., The Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Endowment for the Decorative Arts, 2009.27.1-5, Photo: jerrydavisphoto.com. Currently on view in “Here and Now,” the new acquisitions exhibition space, third floor, SAM downtown.

SAM Goes Inside the Fishbowl at the Seattle Times

Carole Carmichael, has a new position at the Seattle Times (Assistant Managing Editor/Community Engagement) and is working with David Boardman, Executive Editor, and the staff to engage with the community in new ways. One of her tactics is inviting community organizations to the table to give feedback and be part of the process.

This week, Sandra Jackson Dumont, SAM’s Deputy Director for Education and Public Programs/Adjunct Curator, and I visited the Seattle Times and “audited” a news editors meeting.  The editors discussed highlights from yesterday’s paper and website and then the top stories for the day and Sunday.

We were then asked to give feedback about the paper and discuss what is happening at SAM and out in the Seattle world of creativity.  Let’s just say there was no shortage of suggestions for what might be compelling for them to cover.

This type of transparency is something that we are working hard at too. It was great to see them committed to pulling back the curtain as much as SAM is committed to demystifying the museum and our practice.

Do you have some ideas of ways in which we could open up our process?

 -Cara Egan, Director of Public Relations

Carole Carmichael and Sandra Jackson Dumont

 

Free PARK(ing) Day at SAM on September 16

On Friday, September 16 from 10 am – 2 pm, SAM and The Trust for Public Land will bring PARK(ing) Day downtown by hijacking parking spots, feeding the meters and adding a few more square feet of green space to Seattle.

Developed by Rebar, PARK(ing) Day is a one-day global event in which artists, activists and citizens collaborate to transform parking spots into temporary public parks.

Come visit our temporary park by Hammering Man on University Street between First and Second Avene, and check out a variety of fun activities:

  • All ages hands-on art making with teaching artist Elizabeth Humphrey
  • An artist-designed cornhole game (bean bag toss)
  •  A 12 pm concert by classically trained sarod and tabla musician James Whetzel
  • Interactive photo/design activity led by Seattle Design Festival
  • “What’s Your Park Personality” quiz by TPL

Also, make a purchase of at least $10 at SAM SHOP on Friday and get a free Olympic Sculpture Park t-shirt!

PARK(ing) Day is free and open to the public. Visit us at our pop-up park, and then come inside the museum to enjoy more art.

-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

Create “pop-art” during PARK(ing) Day on September 16 from 10 am – 2 pm.

Need a Venue for an Event? Look No Further Than the Seattle Art Museum!

Museums are beautiful, tranquil places filled with some of the most beautiful pieces of art that history has to offer. Imagine holding a corporate meeting at the Seattle Art Museum to impress some important clients, or imagine impressing your friends by renting out the Seattle Asian Art Museum to throw a party, or even more amazing, imagine yourself getting married in the Olympic Sculpture Park with the Seattle waterfront as your backdrop! Many people are unaware that we can make these dreams a reality.  You can rent just a portion of the museum or the entire building if it suits your needs and then have the event catered by our fabulous restaurant TASTE.

Jamie and Jared felt that the Olympic Sculpture Park was the perfect place for a ceremony and had an afternoon that they will never forget. Jamie and Jared were married on September 18, 2010 in the Park and our summer TASTE intern, Kristina Krug, had the chance to ask them a few questions about their wedding. Here’s to wishing them a happy one year anniversary from all the folks here at SAM!

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Totems and Trees: A Tour of the Native American Art Galleries

Hello SAM fans! My name is Lindsay Baldwin and, I am a (very) recent graduate of Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication as well as in French. My number one passion is traveling. I was lucky enough to have lived in Edinburgh for six months. During breaks, I traveled extensively through Europe. I have visited many museums around the world and if I had to choose one of my favorites (besides SAM, of course!) it would have to be the Van Gogh Museum. I am very excited to be a part of this great museum for the next three months and cannot wait for the challenges that lie ahead.

If you have not yet checked out the Native American art that SAM has to offer, then I suggest that you put a tour of the galleries on your to-do list.

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Jenny Heishman Announced as 2011 Betty Bowen Award Winner!

Today the Betty Bowen Committee announced that Jenny Heishman is the winner of the 2011 Betty Bowen Award. The award comes with an unrestricted cash prize of $15,000. In addition a selection of Heishman’s work will be on view at SAM beginning October 20, 2011. The Betty Bowen Committee, chaired by Gary Glant and administered through SAM, has selected local artists to win cash prizes for 33 years.

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SAM Art: Sydney Laurence and the end of Beauty and Bounty

Our painters revealed to us the matchless splendor of a scenery which shall arouse increasing astonishment and reverential awe and rapture in the hearts of generations yet to be.

—Art critic S.G.W. Benjamin, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1879

 

Sydney Laurence’s career was tied to the popular interest in the Alaska Territory that followed the Gold Rush. From the time he began prospecting in the area around 1904, Laurence painted there. His paintings helped to inspire tourism, and tourism in turn led to Laurence’s commercial success.

This is an early and impressively scaled view of Laurence’s favorite and most famous subject, Mt. McKinley.  It stands as one of his greatest statements on this, America’s highest mountain peak.  He painted this impressive canvas, possibly an exhibition piece, as the U. S. government’s Interior Department was working to establish a national park with McKinley at its center, projecting: “…the creation of this national park would, no doubt, result in… additional visitors to Alaska, and would give an impetus to the settling of the country.”

Beauty and Bounty is on view through Sunday, 11 September.

“Mount McKinley,” 1914, Sydney Laurence, American, 1865-1940, oil on canvas, 38 1/4 x 28 1/4in., Promised gift of Hugh S. Ferguson, T2006.57, Photo: Paul Macapia. On view until Sunday, 11 September, in “Beauty and Bounty: American Art in an Age of Exploration,” Simonyi Special Exhibition Galleries, fourth floor, SAM downtown.

Beauty Shot Fridays: “Green” Winner and Our Final Question

We have really enjoyed the Beauty Shot Fridays project that we put together to give people an opportunity to respond to the themes in our Beauty & Bounty and Reclaimed exhibitions.

Last week we asked, “What does ‘green’ mean to you?” and offered two tickets to Beauty & Bounty to the photographer behind our favorite photo.

SAM staff member Liz Stone selected the winner. Liz is a digital media assistant and a member of the SAM Goes Green Team. Of the winning entry she said, “I like this photo for its simple act of gratitude. Green means all of the things people posted here and more but I found that in almost all of the submissions this week there was a sentiment of gratitude in them. Whether it was the appreciation of a backyard wonderland, or a velvety forest full of life, to the recognition of all the possibilities Earth provides―it never hurts to take a moment―and a breath―and thank the Earth for its bounty.”

Congratulations to Atsuko Nagakura! She was the photographer behind our favorite “green” Beauty Shot. There were many great pictures to choose from. Click here to see the complete album.

Beauty & Bounty and Reclaimed close September 11 so this week’s Beauty Shot Fridays question is our final one. We want to know: How has your landscape changed?

Send your photo response to beautyshots@seattleartmuseum.org by 4 pm on Friday. Our favorite photo will win a $25 SAM gift card and a copy of Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast: A Superb Vision of Dreamland by SAM curator, Patricia Junker.

-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

Free days at SAM!

If you missed the opportunity to take advantage of free admission to SAM and the Seattle Asian Art Museum on First Thursday, don’t fret. This weekend, there are several ways you can come visit us for free!

First Fridays: Admission is free for seniors 62+ the first Friday of every month. (And by the way, teens aged 13-19 get in free every Second Friday from 5-9 pm.)

First Free Saturday Presented by Wells Fargo: On September 3 from 11 am – 2 pm, bring your family to the Seattle Asian Art Museum to create ink drawings with music from the drums played across Asia, including Japan, Korea, India and the Philippines.

Bank of America’s Museums on Us: On the first full weekend of every month, Bank of America cardholders receive free admission at SAM and the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

Blue Star Museum Program: SAM and the Seattle Asian Art Museum are participating with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and over 1,000 museums in the US by offering free admission to military personnel and their families.Over 2,000 people have already come to SAM thanks to this program. Just show your military ID. The military ID holder plus up to five  immediate family members (spouse or child of ID holder) are allowed in for free per visit.

If none of these free days apply to you, please remember that admission at SAM and the Seattle Asian Art Museum is suggested, and we welcome you to pay what you can.

As Delightful as a Double Rainbow: Summer Interns Sara and Hailey

We’re saying goodbye to the last of our summer interns. Here’s a little about Sara Portesan and Hailey Hargraves’ experience at SAM in their own words. -Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

Hailey Hargraves, summer intern at the Seattle Art Museum

SAM’s School & Educator Intern Hailey Hargraves treds lightly on Carl Andre’s Lead-Aluminum Plain.

Hello all! Our names are Hailey Hargraves and Sara Portesan, and we have spent the past three months as interns in the Education Department here at the Seattle Art Museum. In light of our time here, which is sadly coming to an end, we decided to interview each other and give you (the delightful and dedicated reader) a better idea of both ourselves and our roles here at SAM.

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A Day as an Intern at SAM

We’re saying goodbye to the last of our summer interns. Here’s a little about Alex Wade’s experience at SAM in his own words.
-Madeline Moy, Digital Media Manager

By Alex Wade

My alarm goes off at 7:30 am. Of course I hit snooze for those oh so crucial extra five minutes.  Then it’s off to the shower.  I get dressed and walk to the bus stop.  It’s 8:13 am and the 345 arrives a few minutes late like always.  I take my seat and ride to the Northgate Transit Center where I hop on the 41.  I get off at my stop and walk through the tunnel.  As I continue through the tunnel, I can see the light  (figures huh?).  I come out of the tunnel at 2nd and University right in front of SAM. It’s an impressive building and I always feel important as I swipe my card key to get into the employee entrance.  The security guard says, ”Hi Alex” as I sign in and type my pin code into the computer. Then it’s off to the 5th floor, a floor you would never expect existed unless you worked at the museum. A floor where everything that keeps the museum going is thought of, implemented and carried out.

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Surf’s Up! Catch a Wave Film Series Contest

The sun is out, and we’re celebrating by giving away a pair of tickets to this September’s film series, called Catch a Wave: The Art of Surf Culture. All you have to do is leave a comment that answers the following question. We’ll pick the winner out of the correct answers and let you know who won on Friday, September 2. Start guessing!

Which of these writers have written about surfing?

  1. Alexander Hume Ford
  2. Jack London
  3. Mark Twain
  4. Tom Wolfe

Good luck!

Attention SAM Shoppers

Just the other day a woman who moved from Seattle to Nebraska back in 2005 came into the shop for the first time since our expansion 4 ½ years ago.  Her eyes were big with wonder as she exclaimed, “It’s so BIG and BRIGHT!”  Her excitement took me back to when I saw the newly expanded shop for the first time.  It was a big and bright canvas and the possibilities were endless. And thanks to the magical skills of our buyers and creative and enthusiastic staff, the possibilities remain endless.

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All Roads Lead to SAM: New and Improved Visitor Information

At the suggestion of one of our customers, SAM’s online visitor information just got tricked out. In an effort to encourage people to use different forms of transportation and to make it easier to find us no matter where you are, we’ve added several links to maps that show people how to bike, bus and even walk to SAM Downtown, the Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Olympic Sculpture Park. Some of the exciting new features include:

  • Bike rack information (did you know that there are bike racks at all three locations?) as well as maps that have bike and bus directions.
  • Links to three different public transportation sites with a SAM location already entered as the destination, as well as a link to Metro that lists all the buses that go nearby.

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SAM Art: Model Totem Pole

According to legend, Dan-kea was a grizzly bear hunter who was captured by the bears but escaped and returned home. Trying to quell a fever by sitting in the water, a rival chief got a sea-dog to seize him.  Dan-kea put out his tongue to feel what had touched him and his tongue stuck to the sea-dog, then was drawn out to a great length. This model totem pole has three bears with their eyes, hands and feet inlaid with abalone; the bear at the top is Dan-kea, holding his long tongue in his hands.

The small-scale totem pole is an indigenous genre that pre-dates contact: Captain James Cook personally collected one at Nootka Sound in 1778. Some model poles are diminutive, specific versions of the forty- to sixty-foot versions erected to honor the lineages of deceased chiefs and nobles. By the mid-19th century, these easily portable and compelling sculptures were in steady demand by outside buyers (including museums and World’s Fairs).

“Gyaa.angaa” (Model totem pole), ca. 1890, Haida, yellow cedar, abalone shell, height: 23 ½ in., Gift of John H. Hauberg, 91.1.44. On view in the Native American art galleries, third floor, SAM downtown, starting Wednesday, 24 August.

Dear SAM: A Love Letter From a Summer Intern

Dear SAM,

I usually begin letters more eloquently than this. There’s usually a smooth intro, a “how do you do,” a nifty tidbit about my life. But brutal honesty is all that’s coming to mind now and I think we’re now close enough for that. So here it goes: I am going to miss you immensely. And here’s why…

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Beauty Shot Fridays: What is one of your favorite summer explorations?

The Stranger’s Jen Graves is on to us.

We like exploration.

In fact, we like it so much that it’s the focus of this week’s Beauty Shot Fridays question:

What is one of your favorite summer explorations?

Send your photo response to beautyshots@seattleartmuseum.org by 4 pm Friday. Our favorite entry will win two tickets to “hitRECord
at the Movies with Joseph Gordon-Levitt”
on August 23 at the Neptune Theater.

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