Message from crieder

On Monday of this week I visited the Pavilion for Japanese Art at LACMA. What a pleasant surprise it was to explore a museum I never knew existed. I appreciated it all the more because of my current studies about the history and culture of Japan. It would be a great place to direct students to visit after studying Japan. I plan to encourage my seventh graders to visit after our Japan unit. The collections are rotated so I wanted to come up with an open ended kind of activity. I decided if the kids chose to attend for extra credit I would have them fill out sentence starters as they visited. Some examples would be: I wonder why....I was amazed....I would like to know more about.....I was impressed.....I learned..... They would benefit from a visit, especially as the culmination to a unit.
The museum itself just exudes peace and serenity. I felt as if I were inside a temple. The high, decorative ceiling is seemingly held up by Japanese screens, which are really tall panels made to look like screens. As you wander through the exhibit the floors meander into one another along ramps and at the bottom there is a rock like stream that reminded me of our study of Japanese gardens. I started by viewing the hanging scrolls which depict different scenes of Japanese cultural and religious life. A love of the natural and serene are noticeable themes.
Next, I explored a room of Japanese landscape paintings. These works show the evolutionary phases in Japanese painting. The earliest are of sacred places, habitats of Kami, Buddhist miracles, and pilgrimage routes. They are places described in poetry for display of cherry or plum blossoms, maple leaves or scenes in literature. In the 14th to 20th centuries painting changed as travel became more common. The influence of China lessened and western style painting was eventually imitated. As I walked through the history of landscape painting as a novice to the subject, I could pick out different techniques from much more abstract and simple to the use of perspective and the use of more realism. All of this keeping a distinctive Japanese style. One can really get a flavor of the culture and the landscape by enjoying these paintings. Junior high students would enjoy viewing the paintings as well.
In another room there was a statue of Amide Buddha and pottery from the Yayou and Joman periods. I found out what a Living Natural Treasure is in Japan. When an artist is proficient in a traditional artistic skill he or she is protected and encouraged. A kimono with dye applied on silk was displayed and an explanation of the process the artist used. I found the box of playing cards from the Edo Period especially interesting as there were 100 cards to be read each with a well known 31 syllable poem. One card would show the full poem and the matching card would have the last 14 syllables of the same poem.
I learned that Shinto art is much more limited in quantity than Buddhist art. Shinto sculpture is kept in closed shrines while Buddhist sculpture is not. There is a close association between Shinto art, dieties and the court.
Students would be especially fascinated with the samurai suit or armor displayed. The one in the museum is made of laquer and silk and was not worn in battle but for travel, parades and military games during times of peace. I was fortunate to hear a 10 minute speech by a docent explaining the life of a samurai and a little on Japanese society and the place the samurai had in society. She mentioned that if an item in Japan is useful it had to be beautiful as well!
As I left the museum I found the Netsuki Gallery which is full of miniature sculptures unique to Japan. They were worn on kimonos with no pockets to help secure boxes which held money, tobacco, and writing implements. I would have liked to spend more time looking at the netsukis. I will have to save that for my next visit! I would highly recommend a trip to the gallery. It made me appreciate the knowledge I am gaining from participating in the UCLA/Palos Verdes Forum. I want to visit more museums to enrich myself and hopefully my enthusiasm will spread to my students!