Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 8216 PRESERVING & PRESENTING HISTORIES THROUGH ASIAN ART YAO WU REFLECTS ON HER FIRST YEAR AT SCMA AS SCMA’S INAUGURAL JANE CHACE CARROLL Curator of Asian Art, Yao Wu has spent her first year learning, traveling, teaching, giving talks and guiding the development of the museum’s distinctive Asian art collection. One of her primary goals is to develop the Carol T. Christ Asian Art Gallery as a space where visitors can experience the diversity of the arts of Asia, including historical and contemporary works from many countries. Here, Yao Wu reflects on her role at SCMA. CONNECTING WITH ART Not many liberal arts colleges and museums have a dedicated curator of Asian art, so Smith has established itself as a leader. I am fortunate to be working with so many thoughtful, dedicated scholars and supporters to enhance our work in this area. As I’ve studied Smith’s collection, and had conversations with students, faculty and other museum visitors, I’ve become aware of a strong interest in seeing a dialogue between the old and the new in Asian art. Asia is quite diverse geographically and chronologically, so my challenge is to find a way to present the diversity of Asian art while also giving it coherence. With our new gallery, we have an opportunity to explore thematic ways of displaying the arts—themes that can tie together different cultures in Asia. There tends to be a disconnect between the perceptions and realities regarding Asian art. If you don’t understand how Asians have thought and func- tioned over the past 5,000 years, you may not fully un- derstand today’s Asia. In my work, I feel a strong need to help people understand not only where the present has come from, but also where the past has led us. I started my job at SCMA immediately before the inauguration of the Asian gallery. It was a wonderful opportunity to see the space “in action” and learn about how it functions. Although I didn’t curate the first exhibition, Dislocation, I was constantly participating in programs related to it. This really allowed me to get to know my audiences well and afforded me time to explore the collection more fully before my first installation in fall 2016. I’m still studying the museum’s collection of close to 2,000 Asian art objects to see how it can be developed. Over half of these are Japanese works of art, and more than 500 are Chinese artworks. We also have a select group of Korean, South and Southeast Asian, Himalayan and Middle Eastern art. Gifts from alumnae have created areas of strength in our collection, such as Chinese jades and Japanese prints and tea ware. While we aspire to expand the scope of our collection, we have also identified key areas in which we can increase our acquisitions. Modern and contemporary Asian art, including photography, for example, is one area we want to develop further. PRESERVING & PRESENTING HISTORIES THROUGH ASIAN ART