Celebration of Asian arts and culture at Knoxville Museum of Art features workshops and performances

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Saturday, visitors at the Knoxville Museum of Art could explore the art and culture of Asian communities. The event was organized as part of Global Asias Community Day and featured workshops and performances by members of Knoxville’s Asian community.

They included opportunities to learn about the history of Japanese tea ceremonies along with demonstrations from artists. Visitors were also able to participate in a hands-on art-making demonstration.

As the event approached, the art museum displayed several pieces of art from notable Asian artists. There were works from Hung Liu on display, whose style developed out “socialist realist” traditions that were taught in China in the first half of the 20th century.

The museum said she faced years of forced labor as well as the dislocation of her family during the Mao era. She later immigrated to the U.S. in 1984, studying art at the University of California.

The artwork from Liu on display in Knoxville was a trio of self-portraits, which show the kind of self Liu felt she inhabited during different stages of her life, the museum said. The portraits reflect notions of herself as a “reeducated youth” who underwent forced labor, an immigrant in a new country and notions of herself as a global citizen.

Her artwork is also accompanied by pieces from the “Global Asias: Contemporary Asian and Asian American Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” collection. It will be on display through April 24.

Anyone who wants to participate in the celebration of Asian arts could register for free online. It starts Saturday at 11 a.m. and lasts through 3 p.m.