U.Va. Art Museum's Final Friday Celebrates Chinese New Year

January 8, 2010 — On Jan. 29, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the University of Virginia Art Museum hosts its Final Friday Chinese New Year Celebration in conjunction with the special exhibition "Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University."

The exhibition is organized by the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery of Columbia University and curated at U.Va. by Dorothy Wong, associate professor of East Asian art in the McIntire Department of Art.

Highlighting one of the notable collections of Chinese stone sculpture in the United States, "Treasures Rediscovered" includes 21 monumental sculptures that provide a comprehensive view of how art manifests ritual practice and reveals, through iconography, the transmission and transformation of culture from the Han through the Tang dynasties, which span the time from 206 B.C. to A.D. 907. The exhibition also reveals the dissemination of Chinese Buddhist culture along the famed Silk Road.

As a counter to the colossal objects found in "Treasures Rediscovered," the museum also presents "Expressions of the Buddhist Faith," an exhibition drawn from the museum's collection and key loans from private collectors. From woodblock printed texts to ceramic tiles, miniature stupas and pagodas, paintings and sculptures in different medium, this selection of objects from across Asia demonstrates the broad range of religious expressions inspired by the Buddhist faith.

In addition to showcasing these monumental exhibitions, the museum's Final Friday reception will celebrate the Year of the Tiger with Asian-inspired refreshments and traditional Chinese music performed by members of U.Va.'s Chinese Student and Scholar Society.

Admission is free for museum members and U.Va. students, thanks to Arts$. A $3 admission fee is charged to nonmembers.

Free parking is available at Culbreth Road Garage, on Culbreth Road, and in the A6 parking lot, next to Madison Bowl on Rugby Road.

The U.Va. Art Museum is open to the public Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For information, visit www.virginia.edu/artmuseum.

— By Jane Ford

Media Contact