May 14 - September 18, 2002














This exhibition is part of an on-going project that gives young students the opportunity to engage intensively with outstanding examples of Asian art and to create their own works based on them. In addition to the students, the project involves classroom teachers, Asia Society museum educators, and working/teaching artists. The process begins with the pairing of a classroom teacher with a working/teaching artist. Teachers and artists attend a workshop conducted by a museum educator at the Asia Society Museum where they view an exhibition. In discussions with the museum educator, teachers and artists explore ways of looking at art and techniques for using art as teaching material in the school curriculum. Teachers and artists receive a packet of materials including object illustrations, background materials, and suggestions for lesson plans.

The next step involves class visits to the exhibition at Asia Society Museum to see the exhibition. A museum educator conducts a discussion in which students are encouraged to observe the art and think about what they see. Time is reserved for students to make sketches of objects. Back in the classroom students, artists and teachers talk about what they have seen. These discussions suggest avenues for further research to enable the students to create their own works. Eventually, teachers, artists, and students decide on an art project, which is carried out in the classroom/art studio. This phase of the project lasts about four months and is an extremely valuable multi-faceted learning experience for the students.

The culmination of the project is an exhibition at the Asia Society of the works created by the students. Usually, the works are shown in a separate space, since the loan exhibition on which they are based has closed by the time they are completed. In Seeds of Creativity, however, the "raw material" for the students' creations was an exhibition drawn from the Asia Society's permanent holdings, the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection. It was therefore possible to display the students' creations in engaging juxtapositions with the Rockefeller works that inspired them. This novel approach to the display of student's art encourages the visitor to compare the classic Asian works with the contemporary creations, and gives fresh insights into the way we look at art. Moreover, the experience of seeing their own works displayed in a museum gives the students an important sense of validation and personal accomplishment. During the seven years in which the project has been in existence, we have found that the students have responded to this opportunity with enthusiasm, imagination, and remarkable creativity, and have consistently found in the Asian works themes that echo and resonate with their own experiences and environments.

For teacher resources, go to Asian Art Outlook.

Copyright © 2002 Asia Society