![\"\u2018Art](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/web-IMG_2037-300x176.jpg\" "\\"web")
At a special preview before the gallery\u2019s official opening, Executive Director Roxana Vel\u00e1squez joined Asian art curator Sonya Quintanilla and representatives from Staples & Charles, the museum and exhibition design firm that was hired for the project, for a ribbon cutting and tour of the new space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis collection is a collection that grew up very organically,\u201d said Quintanilla, who helped start the redesign and exhibit eight years ago. In 2012, she moved from her SDMA position to take a position as Cleveland Museum of Art\u2019s Indian and Southeast Asian art curator, in Ohio.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last 85 years, we have a collection of Asian art that amounts to about 45 percent \u2026 of the museum\u2019s entire holdings,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a \u2026 collection I was hoping would become more accessible and more human.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quintanilla said she wanted to take the best pieces from the permanent collection and place them in \u201cauthentic contexts\u201d to \u201cgive a textured experience as you go through the space, and have it be a pleasure to come and spend time in these various environments.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to numerous pieces of art in SDMA\u2019s permanent collection that were taken into consideration for the exhibit \u2013 the final exhibit houses over 280 objects with more than 100 of them never before on display \u2013 Quintanilla worked closely with Staples & Charles on the design and layout of the new galleries, using each element to create the \u201cauthentic contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The renovation cost neared $1 million, and was funded in part by San Diego County and City grants, The Leeds Funds and a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Vel\u00e1squez said. SDMA is located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n Barbara Charles of Staples & Charles spoke during the tour, giving insights into different design elements in the new space, including color and ceiling height \u2013 lowered from the last, two-room space many dubbed the \u201cAsian Court\u201d \u2013 as well as mounts, podiums and cases.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve taken two galleries and split them into five. These are really like chapters of books,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The Art of East Asia galleries are grouped by geographic region as much as philosophy, theme and time period. The first room, \u201cTombs: Art for the Dead in Ancient China,\u201d includes pieces that date from 3,000 BCE to the eighth century. From here, the exhibit moves into the second room, highlighting Buddhist tradition and influence in art in both China and Japan.<\/p>\n Visitors then move into a longer hallway, where artifacts from Korea are displayed, providing several firsts for SDMA.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve never in this museum before had the chance to feature the art of Korea in its own single section,\u201d Quintanilla said, calling the area a \u201cmicrocosm\u201d of the East. The placement allows visitors to see subtle differences in art between the three nations, she said, including Korean and Chinese celadon, a type of ceramic.<\/p>\n \u201cWe [also] have the only permanent installation dedicated to Korean domestic arts on the West Coast,\u201d Quintanilla said. The installation, which was a major gift from a local collector, includes objects from traditional Korean kitchens, as well as carpentry tools and a wedding chest.<\/p>\n Quintanilla said her experience in gallery research and observations in how people interact with art influenced the overall design of the new gallery. One aspect, which Charles called the \u201csingle biggest challenge,\u201d were seating areas.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople love to sit in Asian galleries,\u201d Quintanilla said. \u201cThere\u2019s a contemplative and peaceful quality in them. I wanted to provide a comfortable place where people [could] come and sit as long as they would like.\u201d<\/p>\n Corner seating booths in the fourth room, which Charles said had to be designed for modern requirements and needs, are considered completely new. Quintanilla said there was no model for the work Staples & Charles put into the design.<\/p>\n \u201cI noticed how little people actually look at the objects,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I could integrate casework with little objects in them, where people like to sit anyway, and give them something to look at, then perhaps the objects would actually be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n Another aspect that came to Quintanilla and Charles during the design was providing forgeries, or fakes, of the authentic art that visitors could feel and see up-close. These pieces are placed next to the authentic pieces housed within museum cases.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thought it would be the perfect thing for people to be able to touch,\u201d Quintanilla said of the forgeries. \u201cThey feel and look quite like the objects that we find behind the glass.\u201d<\/p>\n Vel\u00e1squez was particularly excited about the hands-on aspect of the exhibit, which also includes an interactive station for learning calligraphy and upcoming virtual tours on portable devices. She said the education department worked together with the curators throughout the entire process.<\/p>\n \u201cWe work hard because we are devoted to our audiences. We know that \u2026 we need to be accessible to everybody,\u201d Vel\u00e1squez said. \u201cWe want to be close to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n Near the end of the tour, Charles reiterated the purpose of the redesign, saying the focus was always about the art.<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally, these architectural details we put throughout kind of give you some spirit of the space, of the place the objects are coming from [and] the environment they would have been in,\u201d Charles said. \u201cBut in the end, the goal is that you\u2019re really looking at the objects.\u201d<\/p>\n SDMA opened the gallery to visitors Saturday, Feb. 9. For more information, including gallery hours, special events and additional tours, visit sdmart.org or call 619-232-7931.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SDMA opens new, permanent-collection gallery, redesigned to make art accessible By Anthony King | SDUN Editor In the process of launching their latest exhibit, \u201cArt of East Asia,\u201d the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) unveiled a completely renovated gallery touted as one of the most sophisticated exhibition spaces in San Diego.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Art of East Asia\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\u2018Art](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Screen-shot-2013-02-15-at-10.41.35-AM-300x189.png\" "\\"Screen")
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