Korean model home invites viewers in
By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic
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| A mural by Hyo-Chong Yoo is part of "Grandfather's House," an interactive exhibit that recreates a prosperous traditional Korean home. After a three-year run in Seattle, the exhibit — slightly changed, with contributions from local families — is at the Academy of Arts until Dec. 31.
Honolulu Academy of Arts |
The exhibit was conceptualized and organized by the Newark Museum in 1995. It was so popular on its tour of the Seattle Asian Art Museum that it remained there for three years before arriving at the Honolulu Art Academy last January. At least 10,000 young people have attended the exhibit here, along with teachers and parents.
In each of these venues, the house was different. In Honolulu, Fujio Kaneko, the museum's installation wizard, visited South Korea to study the structure of a traditional house. The shoji doors, windows and big gate originally came from Korea, along with the furniture, kitchen utensils and oil paper for the floors. With his staff, Kaneko constructed the house with a tile roof and added an authentic element that wasn't in Seattle — heated floors.
The house is a model of a yangban (prosperous Korean family) home with a sarangbang (men's quarters), anbang (women's quarters) and a kitchen. Inside, you can wander through the rooms and learn about the customs of a successful Korean family during the middle of the last century.
The interactive play room is where kids (and grown-up kids) can try on Korean costumes, make a fan, a tiger and paint with calligraphy brushes.
"Some children have spent a few hours here with their parents," said Karen Thompson, Curator of Education. "It's a wonderful learning experience when kids can hold something in their hands. It is a more powerful experience and more meaningful for them."
Grandfather's House:
A Children's Exhibition on Korea
10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays
Through Dec. 31
Education Wing Galleries
Honolulu Academy of Arts
The costumes in this section, as well as other items in the house, were donated by the Korean community in Hawai'i.
"The primary mission of the academy, as stated by our founder Anna Rice Cooke, is education," Thompson said. "It was designed to be a resource on art. We take our mission seriously."
Thompson won the National Art Education Association Award for 2003. "I really don't think of it as mine," she said. "The entire education department is a great team. We all won it."
The exhibit is designed for grades 1 through 4. But that didn't lead tour guides Ivor Kraft and Sylvia Rapoza to discourage two older women from having a blast asking questions and playing in the interactive section. (My friend and I are grateful for their tolerance.)
If you have children and haven't seen the exhibit, you have until Dec. 31.
Correction: Karen Thompson was misidentified in a previous version of this story.
