May 3 – August 1, 2008
This exhibition, organized by the University of Michigan Museum of Art and drawn from their renowned collection, covers over 1000 years of Chinese porcelains to illustrate the important role of foreign trade and changing domestic markets in stimulating Chinese potters–and their counterparts in Japan and Korea–to continually reinvent their repertoire of shapes and decorative techniques.
The first part of the exhibit traces the exchange along the silkroad between the Chinese Han (206 BC–220 AD) dynasty and ancient Persia and the Mediterranean world between the second and tenth centuries. The second part features colored porcelains made for domestic use and foreign exchange during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911); and the final section focuses on the competition between kilns for imperial patronage and the Chinese influence on later Japanese and Korean ceramic traditions. This exhibition is supported by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and sponsored by the MSU Asian Studies Center.
Click here to listen to Curator April Kingsley talk about the exhibition on WGVU Public Radio.
Opening Reception
May 8, 2008Kresge Art Museum, 6-8 p.m.
Lecture: Trade and Treasure:
The Silk Road and Beyond
Virginia Bower, Adjunct Associate Professor, University of the Arts, Philadelphia
May 20, 2008
118 Psychology Bldg, 7:30 p.m.
Ms. Bower (MSU, ’72) is a well-known scholar of Chinese art and has been guest curator for numerous exhibits on Asian art around the country. She will give an overview of the objects in this exhibit.
Gallery Walk
June 12, 2008Kresge Art Museum, 12:10 p.m.
Lecture: Re-imagining the Silk Road in the Twenty-First Century
Dr. Catherine Ryu, Associate Professor of Japanese Language and Culture, Department of Linguistics and Languages, MSU
June 24, 2008118 Psychology Bldg, 7 p.m.
Dr. Ryu’s research reassesses the Silk Road as a conceptual metaphor used to analyze the interweaving of technology and knowledge and the dissemination of knowledge and power. Her talk will consider the exhibition theme in relation to the circulation of ideas, objects, and people in the increasingly globalized contemporary world order.
Film: Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
July 11, 2008Capital Area District Library (401 South Capital Ave, Lansing), 2 p.m.
This is an award-winning 1991 Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwan film, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. An adaptation of the 1990 novel Wives and Concubines by Su Tong, it is noted for its opulent visuals and sumptuous use of colors, the film tells the story of a young woman who becomes a concubine of a wealthy man during the Warlord Era.
Gallery Walk
July 17, 2008Kresge Art Museum, 5:30 p.m.
The museum will have extended hours until 6 p.m.
Creative Kids: The Way of Writing
July 19, 2008
Kresge Art Museum, 1–3 p.m.
Hands-on Japanese calligraphy with Kitty Douglass, Program Assistant, Asian Studies Center, MSU. After a brief overview of the history of calligraphy, join us for a lesson in the way of writing. All materials provided, FREE, ages 6 years and up, MUST pre-register, call 517-353-9834 for availability. Funded by the Dart Foundation. THIS PROGRAM IS NOW FULL.
This exhibition is supported by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the MSU Asian Studies Center.
Learn more about the Silk Road
The Art Institute of Chicago, Silk Road Project
Learn about the broad cultural influence of the Silk Road using the museum’s world renowned collection which includes ceramics, paintings, sculpture and furniture.
Silk Road—Seattle
This is an ongoing public education initiative sponsored by the Simpson Center for Humanities at the University of Washington. It is an extensive resource which includes photographs, scholarly essays, primary sources, maps, and photographs.
The Silk Road Foundation
Promotes the study and preservation of both historical and contemporary cultures along the Silk Road.
Chronology and Resource List from May 20 KAM Lecture
by Virginia Bower