June 8, 2021

We hope you are well and adapting to the changed world of COVID-19. In response, CSAA is reorganizing 2021 – 2022 programs. We want to share CSAA’s program information with you:

Exhibition Series:

“Asian Maritime Travel Posters”, an exhibit of graphic depictions of Asia travel, is planned for November 2021, in cooperation with the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

“Ink Dance: 50 Years of Calligraphy by Yim Tse” is now scheduled at the Asian Centre and Asian Library at the University of British Columbia, with accompanying programs, in the spring of 2022.

“Mokuhan: Woodblock Prints by Naoko Matsubara and Noboru Sawai” is scheduled for the fall of 2022, in cooperation with The Nikkei Museum in Burnaby. These celebrated artists, active in Canada, have married traditional techniques with contemporary expressions.

Asian Illuminations Series:

Virtual programs in spring 2021 included: Ink Dance – a talk and video demonstration of Chinese calligraphy; Scott Williams on the west coast Manila Galleon shipwrecks; and Bird Tracks in the Air, a book launch of Chinese poetry. The events were held in cooperation with the Asian Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver Maritime Museum and Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, respectively. Recordings of the events will be available soon on the website.

Upcoming 2021 programs include a video production on calligraphy with Ink Dance exhibit highlights and a tour of a Bonsai Garden and Nursery with accompanying lecture.

Several talks and demonstrations are also under development, including events on Japanese Kodo or Incense Ceremonies, Japanese Noh Mask Carving, the Art of the Tokonoma, the Cham Culture of Vietnam, Asia Pacific Folk Masks and Design in the Nitobe Garden. Programs offer rare opportunities to experience these art forms with Asian art and culture specialists.

Check the website for updates, to become a member, donate or sign up for event notices. All programs will follow BC Health guidelines. CSAA will continue to increase program accessibility by offering more virtual online events.

CSAA acknowledges we are all in challenging times. We are committed to continue CSAA’s presentation of Asian art and culture programs in 2021 and in the future.

Take care – we look forward to seeing you soon, in person or virtually!

— The CSAA Board

April 14, 2021

March 26, 2021

A virtual talk presented by the Canadian Society for Asian Arts and the Vancouver Maritime Museum

Get ready to travel back in time and discover the Manila Galleon Wrecks of North America. Your guide at this virtual event on March 27, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. will be archaeologist Scott Williams.  

Large galleons built in the Spanish colony of Manila travelled between Spain and Acapulco, Mexico for 250 years from 1565 to 1815. The galleons were the largest ships of their time and carried luxury goods such as silk, Chinese porcelain and spices from Asia to Spanish colonists in the New World.

Three of those galleons were wrecked in North America:

• the Santo Cristo de Burgos—wrecked on the north Oregon coast in 1693
• the San Agustin—wrecked in central California in 1595
• the third galleon, yet to be definitively identified, lies in Baja California—wrecked in either 1578 or 1586

These wrecks have been studied by archaeologists over the past two decades and Scott Williams will share the results of those investigations. Each of these wrecks is the oldest shipwrecks in its area, and the wreck in California is the oldest shipwreck on the west coast.

Scott Williams is a professional archaeologist with over thirty-five years of experience conducting archaeological research throughout the Pacific Northwest, the islands of the Pacific and Australia. Williams is currently the cultural resources program manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation, where he oversees the agency’s archaeology and history program. He is also on the board of the Maritime Archaeological Society and serves as the principal Investigator for the Beeswax Wreck Project, a non-profit project investigating the Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos which was wrecked on the north Oregon coast in 1693. He has just completed an edited volume on the three galleon wrecks in North America.

Registration for this presentation is free for Canadian Society of Asian Arts participants.

February 26, 2021

May 18, 2020

We hope you are well and adapting to the changed world of Covid-19. In response, CSAA is re- organizing 2020 programs and developing future plans.

We want to share the following information with you:

The “Ink Dance: 50 Years of Calligraphy by Yim Tse” exhibit, scheduled for a May 24th opening is on hold. We are in discussion with the Asian Centre and the Asian Library at UBC to select a new opening time for the exhibit and the accompanying programs. The comprehensive display, with calligraphy accoutrements, will be enriched with a full catalogue.

Also planned is an illustrated talk by Scott Williams on the west coast Manila Galleon shipwrecks, presenting new research and Asian ceramic finds. Scott’s talk in 2018 was standing room only. A lively and engaging speaker, he is returning by popular demand, in cooperation with the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

The 2020 program schedules will be announced, as health guidelines inform our options.

In 2021, an exhibit, “Mokuhan: Woodblock Prints by Naoko Matsubara and Noboru Sawai” is tentatively scheduled for March – May, in cooperation with The Nikkei Museum in Burnaby. The celebrated artists, active in Canada, have married traditional techniques with contemporary expressions.

Several talks and demonstrations are also under development, including a Japanese Kodo or Incense Ceremony and Japanese Noh Mask Carving. Both programs offer rare opportunities to experience these art forms in Vancouver.

Check the website for updates, to become a member, donate or encourage contacts to sign up for the newsletter.

CSAA acknowledges we are all in challenging times. We look forward to sharing Asian art and culture with you in the future.

Take care,

The CSAA Board

March 10, 2020

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND
THE CSAA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
for 2019

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To be held in conjunction
with an illustrated talk by Sam Carter,
CSAA Director and Professor Emeritus,
Emily Carr University of Art and Design

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THE POWER OF DESIGN:
Feng Shui & Genius Loci –
creative cultural industries and
sustainable urban design East & West

Sunday, March 15th, 2-4pm

at 6769 Balsam Street, Vancouver, BC

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Members and Non-Members are welcome!

Membership is required in order to vote at the AGM

Memberships can be renewed by mail and on site

Light refreshments will be served

May 30, 2019

Reception at the Museum of Vancouver
May 15, 2019

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April 28, 2019

Upcoming Programs for Dragon Jars & Lotus Bowls

at the Museum of Vancouver

Saturday, June 1st, 11am

Dragon Jars & Lotus Bowls talk and tour of the exhibit in the Studio Gallery. Asian ceramic specialist Michael Chen will walk through the exhibit, highlighting a variety of ceramic types and design motifs, including the magnificent Dragon jars. Michael will identify special ceramics from the collection from popular blue and white examples to delightful small animal figures.

Sunday, June 9th, 1pm to 3pm

Julie Grundvig, education specialist, will provide an opportunity to explore Asian ceramic treasures and decorate your own ceramic ware with traditional or personal designs. Your ceramic creation is yours to take home. Free Program, all materials provided. The program is for anyone of any age; families welcome.

​Saturday, July 6th, 11am

Dragon Jars & Lotus Bowls talk and tour of the exhibit in the Studio Gallery. Asian ceramic specialist Michael Chen will walk through the exhibit, highlighting a variety of ceramic types and design motifs, including the magnificent Dragon jars. Michael will identify special ceramics from the collection from popular blue and white examples to delightful small animal figures.

February 23, 2019

July 31, 2018

Sunken Treasures: An exhibition of ceramics from shipwrecks found in Pacific seas

Cargoes from shipwrecks, filled with silk, tea, spices and prized Chinese and Southeast Asian ceramics, attest to the vigour of trade and the rich cultural history of the Asian region. Trade flourished from the 14^th to 19^th centuries. Chinese junks and Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and English galleons were among the many ships actively plying the South China Sea, the Manila to Acapulco route and beyond, forming a ‘Maritime Silk Road’.

Ships laden with ceramics, and the especially esteemed blue and white porcelain, tell the story of wares highly valued throughout Asia, the Middle East and eventually Europe. Known for their beauty and utility, Asian ceramics offered a wide variety of forms, glazes and designs popular centuries ago and still popular today.

The Sunken Treasures exhibition presents shipwreck ceramics: snapshots in time that expand our knowledge and appreciation of cultural treasures from long ago, retrieved only recently from the bottom of the sea.