Permanent Collection

Miao or Hmong?

Some Hmong visitors feel that Miao is a pejorative term for the ethnic group in China to whom they are related. In response, Curator Yang Liu has provided the following information. If you encounter any questions or concerns on tours, please let us know.

Per Curator Yang Liu:

“The costumes and silver ornaments… belong to the ethnic group living in China’s Guizhou and Hunan provinces. These people are known as ‘Miao’ in China – that is not only the term used in Chinese official classification of the minorities, but also the self-designation of these people. I have visited these regions many times and know that they have no feeling that Hmong is in any way preferable to them as a common designator. No contemporary Chinese will feel that ‘Miao’ contains a sign of disrespect in any way, as the basic meaning of the word ‘miao’ in Chinese is ‘young plant’.

Although there are different opinions, some Western scholars propose that the term Hmong be used only for designating the Miao groups speaking the Hmong dialect in China (very small group) and for the Miao outside China. According to Joakim Enwall, Professor of Chinese, Uppsala University, it is these non-Chinese Hmong living outside China who advocate that the term Hmong be used not only for designating their dialect group, but also for the other groups living in China.”

Yang has also provided an article that discusses this further:

Miao or Hmong

As we know, sometimes visitors just wish to express concerns, to be heard, and they may not agree with the museum’s choice of terminology. In those cases, it is good to encourage visitors to complete a comment card if they wish to receive a direct response from museum staff.

Norman Akers, Interference and a Tiny Spot of Hope, 2019

Here are some resources to learn more about Norman Akers and his work:

There is some good information in the label, to at least discuss the elk’s presence:
Interference and a Tiny Spot of Hope is a presentation of the past, present, and future. Akers combines flat imagery with illusionistic space to provide an immersive and yet open-ended experience into personal, historical, and cultural issues, such as identity, disruption, dislocation, and belonging. In his paintings, Akers uses Osage stories as metaphors over illustrations, and complexity over a singular, fixed interpretation. The most prominent figure in the painting, the suspended or falling elk, is an important figure in Osage cosmology and becomes a symbol to represent ideas of being between two worlds (Osage and non-Osage), and the precarious place of being between the earth and sky, a fundamental Osage principle of balance in the world. Wind turbines found within the painting and within Osage homelands disrupt the spatial order and space between the earth and sky, and according to Akers, “obscure[d] the horizon….and the blades cut into the earth”. Other features within the painting, including tree stumps and skeletal remains along the riverbed, reference the environmental and cultural disruptions within Osage landscapes.

And here is an article about the artist:
https://www.kansan.com/arts_and_culture/theme-of-lost-identities-within-boundaries-ingrained-in-art-professor-norman-akerss-exhibit-contested-territories/article_93fade32-5e4d-11e5-864f-fb3c6c82acc4.html

And there is this video, and a painting that seems to have some similar themes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MCaPpLxTCI

Gallery 353 works on paper

From curator Dennis Jon, an illustrated list of works on paper in Gallery 353 (as of 9.14.22). The current rotation is up until January 29, 2023.

“I thought I’d share the checklist for the “Recent Acquisitions: Postwar and Contemporary Works on Paper” exhibition now on view in Gallery 353. With diversity in mind, you’ll note that there are a number of artists of color represented, plus Latin American artists, and others.

Black artists: Camille Billops, Rico Gatson, and Jack Whitten
Latin American artists: Luis Cruz Azaceta (Cuba), Teresa Burga (Peru), and Valeska Soares (Brazil)
Native American artist George Morrison (Grand Portage Anishinabe)
Lebanese-American artist Helen Zughaib

This exhibition will be on view through January 29, 2023.”

Gallery 353 Recent Acquisitions-Illustrated Checklist-040422

Resource page for Dressed by Nature: Japanese Textiles and Van Gogh Olive Groves

Welcome to our resource page for Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan (June 25, 2022 – September 11, 2022).

We will also post any relevant materials here for the Van Gogh and the Olive Groves exhibition (June 25, 2022 – September 18, 2022), for guides volunteering for the Stop and Chat station. As materials become available, we will post them.

Recording of Andreas Marks’ lecture:

Dressed by Nature exhibition lecture 06.16.22

Guide training resource document, with small pictures of artworks and labels:

Guide Training_Dressed by Nature_Textiles of Japan June 2022_v3

 

Stop and Chat training

Stop and Chat training 06.30.22

Stop and Chat slides

Stop and Chat DBN and VG (1)

Update on storage of Stop and Chat:

Storage of Stop and Chat cart and garment forms

 

Labels

DBN_Labels_3P_Combined

Panels

DBN_Panels_Mockup_Reference

Exhibition Layout (also a print version is posted in the Guide Lounge)

DBN for Educators

FAQ for Dressed by Nature:

Dressed by Nature Fact Sheet 5-25-22

Videos:

How to video: Bingata technique: 【Ryukyu Bingata】OKINAWA STRUCTURE Vol.1 – Resist-dye technique of Japan

How to process for banana fiber cloth (bashofu)

How to Video: Banana fiber cloth

Shibori (includes hari hitta shibori): The art of Japanese tie-dyeing (shibori)

Indigo dye process video: Short film (less than 2 minutes)

Indigo dye for ikat process: Long video of Japanese ikat process (29 minutes)

 

Van Gogh and the Olive Grove (see resources from Dallas Museum at end of page)

Lecture by Matthew Welch:

Van Gogh and the Olive Groves 06.23.22

Exhibition labels and panels:

EUR221407_VG_Scientific_Panels_V5

EUR221407_VG_INTRO_Texts_V4

EUR221409_VG_Wall_Labels_V2

Exhibition layout (also a print version is posted in the Guide Lounge)

VG for Educators

FAQs for Van Gogh

Van Gogh and the Olive Groves FAQs

All Olive Grove paintings, in chronological order, left to right, top to bottom:

olive groves grid

Peer resources

Dressed by Nature

Here are articles and videos shared by guides, connected to the exhibition:

Articles on Mia’s blog:

and

From Susan Arndt, the posted link to the May Friends’ lecture, by Anna Jackson: “Drawing on the works to be featured in the MIA exhibition Dressed by Nature, and on those in the V&A and other collections, this lecture will explore what these textiles they can tell us about the lives, beliefs and tastes of those who created and consumed them. In doing so, it will pull together the common threads that bound rural villages to fashionable city streets and connected farmers and fishermen to merchants and entertainers. It will also examine the value and meaning these works have today and the efforts being made to preserve the skills and artistry they embody.”

link to the May Friend’s talk by Anna Jackson, “The Social Fabric”

Susan Arndt also shares some great articles:

The Art of Turning Fish into Leather

From Prejudice to Pride (an article about the Indigenous Ainu culture)

The Secret Language of Salmon Skin Coats

From Kay Miller:

‘Kimono Style’: A Beautiful Painting You Can Wear

From Margie Crone, a site with some information on Ainu patterns: Ainu-Siriki are patterns inscribed on the tools and clothes of Ainu. Ay-us-siriki and morew-siriki, which are whirling designs, are the most popular patterns.

From Pat Gale, a long article on the Ainu, including information on the tattoos women received: AINU: THEIR HISTORY, ART, LIFE, RITUALS, CLOTHES AND BEARS

Peer resources

Van Gogh

From the Mia blog:

Touched by Van Gogh: What a newly discovered fingerprint tells us about a Mia masterwork

From the Dallas Museum of Art, a lecture: Exhibition Talk: Van Gogh and the Olive Groves

From Dallas Museum of Art, online article and images: Virtual Van Gogh and the Olive Groves

From the Van Gogh Museum:  Why Did Vincent van Gogh Cut off His Ear?

From Lyn Mierswa, an information page at the Van Gogh Museum:  Vincent van Gogh FAQ’s

Van Gogh and Japan (examples of the influence of Japanese art on Van Gogh)

From Lucy Hicks, a great podcast episode focused on Van Gogh’s sister-in-law:

Episode #96: Cherchez La Femme, or The Woman Behind the Art–Johanna Van Gogh (Season 11, Episode 5)

and another article about Jo’s efforts to publicize Van Gogh’s work:

The Woman Who Made van Gogh

From Pat Gale: How Japanese Woodblock Prints Transformed Van Gogh’s Dreams of Utopia

From Deb Baumer, a chapter from the book Vincent van Gogh in Saint-Paul de-Mausole concerning the options for treatment for mental illness in Van Gogh’s time:

Insanity History and Therapies in Van Gogh’s Century

 

 

Fiber Art and Helena Hernmarck

Here is a video of Curator Nicole LaBouff’s training on February 26:

Fiber Art acquisitions and Helena Hernmarck 02.25.20

And here are some additional resources from Nicole:

Hernmarck Scandinavian Review article

Here is an additional article shared by your colleague Lynn Brofman: