UC Berkeley Extension Zen Art Course Makes the Most of Museum Exhibit.

Business Editors/Education Writers

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 4, 2001

Making the most of the current Asian Art Museum exhibit on Zen Art, UC Berkeley Extension this fall hosts a new course on the Buddhist-inspired work that redirected Japanese art starting in the 12th century.

"Zen Art and Aesthetics" will take place on Saturdays, Sep. 8-Oct. 20, 10 am-1 pm. On Sep. 8-29, the class will meet at the Asian Art Museum, in Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco; on Oct. 6-20, the class will meet at the UC Berkeley San Francisco Extension Center, at 55 Laguna St., in San Francisco. The fee is $200. To enroll, call [phone], or enroll online at www.unex.berkeley.edu.

The course is timed to make the most of the major exhibition Zen: Painting and Calligraphy, 17th to 20th Centuries at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco through October 7. Four class sessions will be held at the museum, where students will be able to get up close to the work. The museum meetings will serve as a point of departure for readings of original texts, slide lectures and analyses of works of art.

The course will trace the Japanese transformation of Zen Buddhism into a complex spiritual and artistic path that meshes painting, poetry, and philosophy. From Chinese sources in Ch'an Buddhism and Taoism, Zen art came to employ the power of empty space to suggest mystery and evoke a meditative state of mind. The course uncovers how the metaphor of emptiness represents a special state of insight and reflection in Ch'an and Zen art.

Students will explore how Chinese traditions of painting were interpreted by the Japanese, as well as which Buddhist sutras were used by the Zen schools as a basis for the "sudden style" of haboku, the unique flung-ink style of Zen painting. Students will read the Mumon Koan and other Zen texts in translation, and consider the approaches of Western interpreters of Buddhism from D. T. Suzuki and Alan Watts to contemporary researchers. Examples from Chinese painting, the Ukioye print and the Zen interest in nature are also included.

The course was organized by Celia Rabinovitch, Ph.D., M.F.A., an artist, cultural historian, and author of Surrealism and the Sacred: Power, Eros, and the Occult in Modern Art. Guest lecturers include Laura Allen, Ph.D., who has taught Japanese art history at UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and Deborah Clearwaters, M.A., the coordinator of adult education at the Asian Art Museum.

For a free catalog listing 1,300 courses offered by UC Berkeley Extension this fall in locations around the Bay and beyond, call toll-free 1-888-UC-SMART (1-888-827-6278) or visit Extension's Web site at www.unex.berkeley.edu.

CALENDAR LISTING:

Sep. 8: "Zen Art and Aesthetics" -- UC Berkeley Extension course, Saturdays, Sep. 8-Oct. 20, 10 am-1 pm; held Sep. 8-29 at the Asian Art Museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco; Oct. 6-20 at UC Berkeley Extension San Francisco Center, 55 Laguna St., San Francisco; fee: $200. To enroll, call [phone] or enroll online at www.unex.berkeley.edu.