So, in my defense, there were no signs and certainly no curators or workers around to tell me otherwise, so when The Guy and I went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts I saw no reason why I should not take pictures of some of the breathtaking and awesome sights we saw today.
Ever since The Guy's last refresher course when they took a field trip he has been trying to get me to the HAoA. I have either been far too tired or hurting, or we have not had a day off together to enjoy doing so. It's too bad the Kid wasn't back yet, b/c they had a lot of keiki activities going on, including making visors and really pretty flowers from origami and mulberry paper. We will have to see when they have more keiki activities, b/c I think she would really enjoy the museum...for a while.
Coincidentally enough the first gallery we stepped into was the Korean gallery. There were several amazing pieces, including a great painting of a Korean dragon, but since I was just getting used to the museum mode on my camera I didn't get a clear shot of it. It was my favorite thing in the Korean gallery. *boo* We did get one decent one of the tiger print.
I was intrigued by the cabinet and the tablet that had all of the sino characters on them. It is pretty cool to know that my Mandarin will come in partially handy in Korea. I should be able to read my way around decently. I was actually able to translate some of the tablet, but it has been so long I had forgotten too many (simple!) words. Oops!
You could totally tell when we wandered into the Chinese galleries, b/c the artwork was far more ornate. The Guy tells me that Korean art and craftsmanship was considerably simpler in design. Still beautiful, but much more simple. You can tell by seeing these close-ups of a carved shelf. The whole shelf was only about two feet in height, but the detail on the tiny Fu Dogs is incredible.
Something else I love is Chinese calligraphy, b/c it is as beautiful as it is hard for me to read. I could easily decorate a home w/ large prints of well done calligraphy.
Here is one of The Guy on the other side of a glass case full of teeny tiny Chinese bowls and such. They sure loved to make teeny tiny things. And not a single one of them had any less detail than the larger pieces. The craftsmanship just blows me away.
I had to take some close-ups of this watchtower carving for The Guy b/c he loved the tiny figures peeking out from the tiny doors. Again, this whole thing was only about three feet tall, tops.
I don't know how long posts are allowed to be, but I am going to break this up into a few.
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