Today's DAR
If you visited DAR Museum period rooms over the holidays, you might have noticed the California Room was decked out with red paper lanterns, faux dumplings, and red banners with gold calligraphy. This striking display was the work of the staff from Washington’s Asian Fusion Gallery and it was just a hint of what was to come.
Celebrating Lunar New Year with the DAR Museum
The DAR Museum works to encourage discovery about the American experience through the lens of the American home. This year we recognized while Asian people have been a part of our nation’s experience since at least 1785, our programs and exhibits haven’t talked much about it. To help address this, we reached out to the Asian Fusion Gallery, one of our partners for many years as participants in our earlier World’s Fair programs.
The resulting Lunar New Year event on January 28 went beyond our expectations. Over 660 visitors took part in an array of fun, exciting, and fascinating activities all with a foundation in educating the public about the holiday and is many traditions. Local children from Rong’s Kung Fu academy demonstrated the dragon dance, the lion dance, and various martial arts techniques. Nine stations around the perimeter of the O’Byrne Gallery offered visitors an opportunity to learn about traditional Chinese clothing (hanfu), taste Asian treats such as Japanese sponge cake and mochi, play with lion puppets and Lunar New Year Legos, and have messages emblazoned in gold Chinese lettering on red hanging ornaments to take home. Of course, no event these days is complete without a selfie station and a cute rabbit mascot posed with children and adults alike.
Venturing beyond the O’Byrne Gallery, visitors could browse the period rooms, a museum volunteer made sure they saw the California Room with its festive decorations, and venture into the museum’s study gallery to view Asian-made or inspired artifacts from the collection. Guests appreciated how the event gave them a fun and relaxed way of learning about cultures and traditions from the very people who practice them. We are already anticipating next year’s event!
