Even if you can't get to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
to see Discovering Buddhist Art, you can learn a lot
about it from this Web interactive site
prepared to accompany the show. And the Web site
features a number of pieces from SAM's collections
that are not on display at the museum. Examine dozens
of Buddhas--busts, heads, carved into architectural
fragments, and standing figures, including Shakyamuni,
the founder of Buddhism, depicted with long earlobes,
hair in a topknot, and a bump on the forehead,
denoting wisdom. In addition to Buddhas, see
Boddhisattvas and colorful mandalas, and a video of
Tibetan monks making a sand mandala. There are also
sections on Otherworldly Beings, Buddhist Teachers,
Animals, Manuscripts, Ritual Objects, and
Containers. [DS]
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I can think of many art projects that could branch off
from this study. I have shared a site before for an
exhibit of "Sacred Containers" - work of contemporay
ceramic artists - that might be a good high school
ceramics project.
