We are taking you on a wonderful tour.
We're exploring the newly renovated Seattle
Asian Art Museum on Seattle's Capitol Hill.
We've actually been wanting
to go check this out.
Have you been there yet?
I haven't, but I'm excited.
It is beautiful.
You're going to love this,
so the curator, Xiaojin Wu.
She was kind enough to
give us a private tour.
This is the garden court at the Seattle
Asian Art Museum and it's so beautiful it's
one of the parts of the new renovation.
But it's also the gateway to the new
edition and joining me now to talk about
the incredible changes you'll see at
the Seattle Asian Art Museum is one of
the curators of the museum herself.
Thank you so much for being with us.
Talk about what is going to be new and
different when people come to see it.
This renovation.
We had really transformed the whole museum.
Now when you walk into the front entrance,
you can see the volunteer park through
those new openings and it really opened up
the space and becomes so much more welcoming,
but also inside the gallery's we bring
start the aging art collection differently.
Each gallery is installed around a
particular theme and also presents
work from all across Asia.
In the 13 collection gallery's we
presented the installation entitled
found lists really showcasing the
vast variety of Asian art in the
two largest gallery's we have,
a special expression card belonging,
let's go look at belonging because I
think it is a phenomenal place to start.
This
is one of the most incredible pieces
of art I've actually ever seen it.
You can't tell by just looking at here,
but it's made up of thousands of dog tax.
It is called some. Flash one, yeah, this
is the anchor work in these exhibition
by the Korean artist Doha Sir. We
plan it. The
installation around this
amazing piece. Actually we planned the
expansion of the gallery around these
peaceful city trying to install these
incredible work at HR museum for years.
But finally after we expanded the
museum we were able to install
it in this gallery, right?
'cause it's so large and I
don't know if you can get
the size of it. On the TV, but it's so
large that we had to create
a space for it, but I
love this specific exhibit such as that
painting right there behind us because it
is a really important message, correct?
This work is by Filipino American
artist Ossario. He made it in
the 60s. You can tell from the styles.
It's kind of Jackson Pollock and
other abstract expressionism.
But as queer and Catholic,
he was also expressing his
internal complexity through
his work. So many intersectionality
just so many incredible artists, and.
We've got one that actually one piece
that we're about to show that had to
do with the Seahawks championship,
right? That's right.
OK, let me check that out. This is
a really cool piece of art because
it pictures and actual Seahawks.
And I didn't realize we almost lost
this piece of art because of a bet
between these museum in Denver
and the Seattle Asian Art Museum.
If we lost the Super Bowl,
we were going to send this to them.
That's right, and there's this wall
150 nihonga paintings. You know
our collection. Thanks to this wonderful
gift where the largest repository
of this type of painting outside of
Japan and it's so important, right
that people gift these
incredible pieces for you,
exactly, we have one more place
I really want to show you.
You're going to be so relaxed
by the time we're done.
Let's go check it out.
So to me this is one of the
most powerful exhibits in the
museum called the Awakened Ones,
and it features three different
Buddhas from three different areas
in the centuries, the Japanese Army,
da Buddha and flanked by Chinese and
Thailand Buddha sculptures on both
sides and really you said it's a multi
sensory experience, right?
You come in, the lighting is just so the
music is just so yeah, there's a
soundtrack as kind of background in music.
It's a combination of chanting and
also Temple Bell and really offers
a very special setting for people
just to have a moment for yourself.
So beautiful. Another beautiful
place I have to go before we leave
the museum is the park lobby.
It's literally my favorite part of
the redesign because I feel like
you're floating in the trees exactly,
but you walking
in here you can see the beautiful
park outside. So here in the park.
You can also have a glimpse into the museum.
This is so great. Thank you so much
for that or it's just been incredible.
My pleasure and thanks again
to Sam for giving us that
Awesome Tour and we've got a
link to tickets and the museum
hours on new days website.
Are you ready to go now?
Oh yeah, I'm excited.