LNY at Asian Museum

We met at the newly renovated Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park today.  They were having a Lunar New Year Festival.  We arrived before that started so were able to sketch in nearly empty galleries.

This piece used to be displayed in the main Art Museum downtown.  Some/One is made of thousands of stainless steel military dog tags by Do Ho Suh.  He completed it as an assignment for the Rhode Island School of Design to express identity through clothing. He thought about his identity as a Korean in the USA and recalled his mandatory service in the Korean military.  The dog tags "reduce individual lives to a handful of letters and numbers." The sculpture takes the shape of Asian armor.  

Reduction is made of porcelain by Kondo Takahiro.  "The 3/11 triple disasters in Fukushima triggered Kondo to create this series of sculptures, which are modeled after himself.  Seated in a meditation pose, he is pondering the essence of the world". 

Mak Fai Kung Fu & Lion Dance Association performed a live Lion Dance.  The walls of the hall are all stone so it was so loud! I escaped the room before they started.  I was finishing my sketch of this sculpture when the dancers set the lion heads down in front!

Above it I added a sketch of a piece of "White Rabbit" candy that I was told is the most popular in Asia.  It was given to participants in today's activities. 

A few sketchers had already left by the time we gathered for a photo.  

Chilly Blue Sky at Volunteer Park

11/25/16 William Henry Seward

Blue sky! After several continuous days of rain, it was good to see the sun this morning at Volunteer Park. Several hardy Friday sketchers took advantage of it to sketch outdoors, but despite wearing two layers of Polartec, I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. I did, however, have a great view of William Henry Seward from my parking spot. Nostalgically I remembered the last time I had sketched the monument more than four years ago on a warm August day – warm enough that I had to seek shade instead of my car’s heater.

After that I ducked inside Seattle Asian Art Museum, which will be closing soon for major expansion and restoration. First I went to the rear of the museum where I knew the tall windows look out on some of Volunteer Park’s old trees – a good opportunity for a value study. Then I walked through the sculptures in the museum’s permanent collection and found one of a Buddhist monk “at the moment of enlightenment,” whose expression was nothing less than joyful. Or so I thought. The placard, however, said, “it is a moment of intense mental struggle and often associated with actual physical pain.” Well, he looked happy to me.

11/25/16 sculpture of a Buddhist monk, Seattle Asian Art Museum

By the time of the sketchbook throw-down, it was warm enough to stand outdoors for the few minutes it took me to capture one of the museum’s stone camels, who also looked happy to be in the sun.

11/25/16 Volunteer Park tree

11/25/16 SAAM camel

Seattle Asian Art Museum

I was unable to attend this month's sketch outing because of a sudden change in another event I had scheduled. The event took place on 10th Avenue right beneath Volunteer Park. I took the chance to walk the beautiful park in the sunshine and sketch the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM).

The SAAM is a particularly enjoyable drawing experience because of the building's geometric Art Deco facade. Its tight corners, easy proportions and smooth curves make it an excellent drawing exercise. The building's position in the landscape of Volunteer Park also creates a wonderful composition and a chance to study the juxtaposition of geometric and organic forms.

In addition, the building's flat facade removes the need to worry about perspective and emphasizes the scale of people and objects. Most of the depth comes from the people surrounding the building and the size of objects in the scene such as cars. This is an excellent example of the way human scale can define a building.

The SAAM building was constructed in 1933 to house the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). SAM moved to its current location in 1991. The building was refurbished and opened as the Seattle Asian Art Museum in 1994 and continues to hold the majority of SAM's extensive collection of Asian arts.

At the time of this drawing, SAAM was hosting an exhibit of Japanese Pop Culture work produced by the artist Mr. Mr.'s art is produced in a pop culture style similar to Andy Warhol's work, using anime and Japanese pop culture. The exhibit focused on the impact of the Japanese tsunami and nuclear meltdown in 2011 and the many ways that Japanese culture has dealt with the catastrophe.

If you are looking for a good beginning urban sketching exercise, the Seattle Asian Art Museum is a good project. Its flat facade allows for a detailed study of proportions while minimizing the distraction of perspective. In addition, the museum and park offer many other drawing opportunities and cultural events.

Asian Art Museum

I missed the camaraderi of the last sketchcrawl at Volunteer Park, sadly, could not get off my hill with all the snow. But, I had a lovely day there last weekend with Beth. Got to see those great exhibits before they are gone, we enjoyed sunshine and lunch outdoors sketching.