A friend and I called at Seattle Asian Art Museum today, and I was thrilled to see that the current exhibition 'A Fuller View of China, Japan and Korea' contains three of my favorite pieces of art: 17th-century Japanese "Crow Screen", set of woodblock prints and the lyrical "Poem Scroll with Deer."
Seattle is lucky to have those treasures, but they rarely come out of storage due to their high maintenance requirements, as they needs special low light and regulated air, and they are usually shown as separate collections; so it was like visiting old friends, having a reunion! SAM owns about a half of the entire Deer Scroll, about 30 feet of it; the scroll was divided by a Japanese collector in the 1930s and the remaining pieces of the scroll are in 5 different Japanese museums and owned by several private collectors.
The Deer Scroll display this time had a note attached, directing to the tablet on the wall for further exploring of the scroll: a perfect marriage of fabulous art and some amazing technology - one can view the entire work, zoom-in for close ups, read about the restoration and read all 28 poems in Japanese and English translation. Wow!
And you can view it on your computer, too! Go to this SAAM webpage and click where it says: 'CLICK IT: Poem Scroll with Deer has been virtually recreated so the entire scroll can be explored' - it will open to the scroll and keep you out of trouble for quite some time (I know it's not leaving my computer screen anytime soon). Thank you, SAAM!
Here is poem # 6, by the monk Saigo:
Baffling!
What might be the reason
for autumn
to be so sad?
(The portion of the scroll above is NOT matching the poem, because I couldn't find the right piece on the web).
• • • • •
Now, on to our 2014 schedule of classes and films (I also put it in the right side of the blog, so you continue to see it even as this post moves down with time; eventually I will also post it to the calendar page).
First of all: two events NOT on this schedule but happening next Saturday, March 22 at TCR:
• our semi-annual Unit 86 meeting 10:00-12:00, followed by:
• Kyoto field trip discussion and FAQ at 1:00 pm. At this pre-trip session Dewey will show slides of gardens in a historical time line, providing a glimpse of what you can visit in Kyoto and some ideas of what you can see and do on the field trip. Yes, we are planning a field trip to... GASP... .JAPAN on Nov. 11 - 26, 2014.
BTW, after 10 years as a SJG docent I still wonder who was the yahoo that named us 'Unit 86' and what was he thinking? Sounds like we are some army part, while we are just Japanese Garden guides (and the other 85 Arboretum 'units'? Not sure about them, either, saw about two on the tours: one was a gardening group of sorts, and the other fundraising type).
2014 CLASSES AND FILMS—SJG Unit 86:
The Tateuchi Community Room will open for classes from 10 AM to 1 PM. For films, doors will open from12:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Feel free to bring your lunch to the films or classes. Look for more detailed email reminders monthly—schedule subject to change.
April 2, Wednesday, 12 -3:30 PM *Film—“Tampopo” (1985) comedy classic—spicy “Ramen Western”
April 19, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM Class —Selection and placement of stones, landscape design—Mark Bourne
May 10, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—May Bloomers Garden Tour—Unit86 Plant List Committee
May 24, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—Haiku workshop in the Japanese Garden—Michael Dylan Welch
June 4, Wednesday, 12-3:30 PM *Film—“Living Treasures of Japan” (1988) - Revered artist documentary
June 19, Thursday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—Contemporary Way of Tea—Mrs. Naomi Takemura
July 19, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—Gardening the Body—Art and Practice of Butoh—Joan Laage
August 6, Wednesday, 12-3:30 PM *Film—“Departures”—(2008)
September 18, Thursday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—Aquatic Ecology of Our Little Pond—Robert Pacht
October 1, Wednesday, 12-3:30 PM *Film—“I Wish”—(2011)
October 18, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—Sumi-e painting—brush and ink artist Louise Kikuchi
November 8, Saturday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—Our rare and beautiful Maples, tour of Garden—Plant List Committee
November 20, Thursday, 10 AM-1 PM Class—2014 update (bring questions) —Garden specialist Masa Mizuno
*For descriptions of the films please visit SJG FILM BANK at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pr7S1rs_RJOkacYabNfwJN7WGdjb9ETZzvTi_E7Hx0w/edit#heading=h.nxa0qotwrrkh or search Internet Movie Database: www.imdb.com
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