From an immersive multi-media installation to four new exhibitions, drop-in tours, workshops and more, the Crow Museum aims to foster a deeper understanding of Asian art and culture
DALLAS (Feb. 13, 2025) – Nearly five months after the Crow Museum of Asian Art unveiled its second location on The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) campus, the museum is announcing its 2025 winter/spring season, packed with new exhibitions, interactive workshops, educational experiences and captivating multimedia performances.
Visitors can explore a range of Asian artistic expressions including engaging installations, hands-on activities and events for all ages – from art enthusiasts and families to anyone seeking to broaden their cultural understanding.
Highlights include the debut of an immersive multimedia installation – Saya Woolfalk’s Floating World of the Quilted Cloud – opening March 8 at the UT Dallas museum, alongside three compelling exhibitions opening April 5 at the Dallas Arts District location.
Additionally, the museum is offering a range of interactive programs, from Saturday drop-in tours to a performance of Kinmakers: Hidden Songs in Our Mother’s Dreams, curator lectures and hands-on workshops like Shibori dyeing with designer Mili Suleman.
With its many offerings, the Crow Museum promises an unforgettable celebration of Asian culture that invite guests to explore, learn and connect. Below is the list of events, exhibitions and programs happening at the Crow Museum of Asian Art:
EXHIBITIONS (Please note the specific location for each.):
Saya Woolfalk: Floating World of the Quilted Cloud– March 8-Sept. 7, 2025
UT Dallas museum, Multimedia Gallery 5 (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
Over the span of 20 years, Saya Woolfalk has undertaken the project of world-building in which a fictional race of women known as Empaths inhabit an Empathic Universe. In the Empath world, technology is coeval to the genetic and social interdependence of plant life with humans.
Through this techno-genetic perspective, visitors engage in an alternative mode of being in which the Empaths, as a lived-in community, invite people to center the emotions of compassion, empathy and love. For this immersive installation of Cloud Quilt, Woolfalk created a dynamic interplay of symbols and imagery by drawing on her vast analog and digital archives of past projects. She also draws upon works from the Crow Museum’s vast collection.
Demonstrating her practice of collage or quilting. Woolfalk’s world emphasizes the concept of duration, both as process and as measured time. Since Woolfalk situates the Cloud Quilt installation as an infinity loop, visitors engage in continuous and complex interactions and responses with the Empaths in a never-ending time scale. Visitors will become conscious of the importance of empathy through this endless temporality of Cloud Quilt.
Ancient Echoes, Modern Voices: The Crow Collection Goes Beyond– Through Aug. 25, 2025
UT Dallas museum (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
The display features eight galleries showcasing hundreds of works, ranging from textiles and ceramics to sculptures and paintings, and includes an immersive multimedia installation. The galleries are not labeled according to the nation states of China, India or Japan.
Instead, themes that elicit important stories of cross-cultural contact and that are vital to specific Asia’s communities are foregrounded. The artworks can be considered with these themes in mind or on their own. Through both vantage points, these artworks challenge visitors to contemplate and rethink their relationship to these objects compelling the questions of “what are the stories that are being narrated?” and “what stories are absent?”
The galleries are co-conceived by Crow Museum senior director Amy Lewis Hofland, and by the museum’s curator, Dr. Natalia Di Pietrantonio, who was former assistant curator of South Asian art at the Seattle Art Museum. Exhibition design for the galleries was also provided by Morphosis, working in close collaboration with the museum team.
Cecilia Chiang: Don’t Tell Me What To Do– April 5, 2025-March 9, 2026
Dallas Arts District museum (2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201)
Born in 1934, Cecilia Chu Chiang is a self-taught artist who operates beyond the confines of the traditional artistic canon, expressing her spontaneity and creativity across a broad spectrum of media, including Chinese ink watercolors, oils, acrylics, ceramics, printmaking, textiles and collage. Possessing a whimsical and fluid artistic style, she celebrates color throughout.
Her multi-disciplinary artwork is free from any constraints, open and brimming with personality, much like the artist herself. The artist’s practice spans an impressive 40 years, during which she has maintained a near-daily painting practice and art creation. In this exhibition, there is an abundance of art making and an abundance of joy.
Anila Quayyum Agha: Let One Bird Sing– April 5-Sept. 28, 2025
Dallas Arts District museum (2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201)
“Give some tree the gift of green again. Let one bird sing.” Echoing the lines of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem, Ek Din Yun Khizan Aa Gai (When Autumn Came), in this solo exhibition Anila Agha addresses the violence and destruction of natural environments such as plants, trees and entire ecosystems. In Faiz’s poem, the birds are a metaphor for the human condition and for the continual alienation of marginalized communities – their dreams disintegrating; their voices withering in their throats.
Here, injustice perpetuated against the land stands in for the oppression of man. In a similar vein, the centerpiece of this exhibition is a laser-cut steel cube, Rainforest. The piece, which is its own room within a room, portrays a lush, tropical and immersive environment.
A rainforest is typically cacophonous with the sound of many animals and birds. With the immediate threat of rainforest deforestation and the loss of avian habitats, birds are in the process of being silenced.
The Shogun’s World: Japanese Maps from the MacLean Collection– April 5-Oct. 5, 2025
Dallas Arts District museum (2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201)
Several characteristics are unique to historical Japanese maps. First, only Japan created maps on ceramic plates. Second, Japan was willing to fully integrate European map-making techniques. These might include a grid of longitude and latitude, a compass rose – the circle or decorative device printed on a map showing the points of the compass, copperplate printing, or information taken directly from European maps or European-style land surveys.
A third feature is the maps’ orientation. Some Japanese maps are labeled to the outer edge in all directions. In other words, they are created to be viewed from any side. No view is prioritized, which is likely a direct result of historically viewing maps on the floor. This worm’s-eye perspective means the viewer is meant to enter the map as if one is standing in the center and looking outwards in every direction.
For the complete list of exhibitions
PERFORMANCES AND LECTURES
“Kinmakers: Hidden Songs in Our Mother’s Dreams” Performance– Saturday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m.
Space is limited. Tickets are $10; free for Crow members, UTD students, faculty and staff
UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
Enjoy a performance of “Kinmakers: Hidden Songs in Our Mother’s Dreams.” In this world-building ritual of “Kinmagic,” visitors engage with participatory live movement and sound – a whole-body immersion to listen beyond oneself and ponder, “What is it like to be you?” The presentation is led by artists Surabhi Saraf and Laura Hyunjhee Kim, in collaboration with Zack Nguyen and Kristen Duong.
“From Concept to Collection: Curating a New Museum”– Thursday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m.
Curator lecture with Dr. Natalia Di Pietrantonio
Tickets are $10; Free for Crow members, UTD students, faculty and staff (space is limited to 25 people; first come, first served)
UT Dallas Campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
In 1998, the Crow Collection of Asian Art opened in the Dallas Arts District, marking a significant milestone in the City’s cultural landscape. Now, the recent opening of a second museum on the UT Dallas Campus presents an exciting opportunity to rethink how the Museum’s collections are curated and displayed.
In this talk, curator Dr. Natalia Di Pietrantonio will explore the evolution of exhibitions at the Crow Museum, examining both its rich history and the innovative transnational approach being adopted at the new site.
“Popularizing Indigenous Art: A Curatorial Conversation with Ananda Cohen-Aponte and Emmanuel Ortega”
Thursday, March 13, at noon
Tickets are $10, free for Crow members, UTD students, faculty and staff
UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
Join the Crow Museum for a conversation about the special exhibition Un/Popular Art: Redefining a Latin American and Caribbean Tradition with curators Dr. Emmanuel Ortega and Dr. Ananda Cohen-Aponte. Featuring a range of mediums whose origins span Latin America and the Caribbean, this exhibition challenges conventional understandings of “folk art” by offering nuanced perspectives on ideas of authenticity, foreign influence on artistic production and Native identification.
Moderated by the Crow Museum curator, Dr. Natalia Di Pietrantonio, the conversation will explore the exhibition’s innovative approach to display to better understand the diverse artistic traditions that continue to shape the region’s visual culture today.
EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Drop-In Lunar New Year Craft Stations Feb. 16 during open hours
UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080) and Dallas Arts District location (2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201)
Ring in the Lunar New Year with creative crafts. During open hours at both Museums, drop by the craft station to create a piece of paper art to bring good fortune in the year to come.
Art of BrainHealth: Night at the Museum– Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m.
As part of BrainHealth Week 2025, the Center for BrainHealth and the Crow Museum present this specially curated event for young professionals, celebrating the connection between art and brain health. The event is hosted by the Center for Brain Health’s young professionals group, The Think Tank.
Enjoy an evening of Asian cultural experiences, a Kathakali showcase, appetizers and sake tasting, plus an after-hours visit to many of the beautiful galleries in the Crow Museum with a unique guide. Valet parking is complimentary. For questions, please contact Nicole Garrison at nicole.garrison@utdallas.edu.
Shibori Dyeing with Mili Suleman
Saturday, March 8, from 1-3:30 p.m.
Tickets are $45, $30 for Crow members, UTD students, faculty and staff
UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
Dive into the art of indigo dyeing with this hands-on workshop that explores a variety of ancient Shibori techniques and the process of indigo vat dyeing. Attendees can take home their own handmade banana silk shibori bandana, while gaining practical knowledge about creating an indigo vat and experimenting with different shibori techniques.
They’ll also get an exclusive experience in the exhibition, Indigo Threads: Weaving Stories from the Montgomery Collection, with an artist Q&A. Textile designer and multidisciplinary creative, Mili Suleman, founded Dallas-based KUFRI Textiles & Wallpapers in 2013.
Specializing in artisan handwoven textiles, KUFRI has become a favorite of interior designers looking for wabi sabi textiles and is used in residential and hotel projects worldwide. The KUFRI mission is to champion the craft of handloom weaving, to provide employment to women and aging weavers, and to promote a conscious, beautiful life at home.
Born in Bombay and raised in Oman, Mili graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in Sociology and Collin County Community College with a degree in Graphic Design. She enjoys speaking and consulting on textiles and building a creative brand while traveling the globe in search of inspiration.
Saturday Drop-In Tours
Feb. 1-May 3, at 2 p.m.
UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080)
Free (space is limited to 25 people; first come, first served)
Join the Crow Museum every Saturday at 2 p.m. for an enriching, one-hour tour led by UTD Museum Ambassadors. These engaging tours explore different works, artists, mediums and themes each week to always offer fresh perspectives of the exhibitions on view. Experience the Museum through the eyes of a UT Dallas student and discover new ways to look, love and learn.
The Crow Museum of Asian Art operates two locations on the UT Dallas campus (800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080) and in the Dallas Arts District (2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201). Both museums are open Tuesdays-Sundays (11 a.m.-5 p.m.) and closed on Mondays. Admission is free.
ABOUT: THE CROW MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS
The Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas inspires and promotes learning and dialogue about the arts and cultures of Asia through its exhibitions, the research and preservation of its collections, artistic and educational programming, and visitor experience and engagement.
The Museum accomplishes this in accordance with the highest professional standards and through collaboration with diverse audiences and community partners within North Texas and throughout the world. The original location in the Dallas Arts District was founded in 1998; in 2019, the Crow family gifted the collection to The University of Texas at Dallas in honor of its founders and to ensure its preservation and care in perpetuity.
A second location on the UT Dallas campus in Richardson opened in Fall 2024 as part of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, a multi-phase arts and performance complex designed by Morphosis Architects
. Both locations are free and open to the public with an array of beautiful spaces and galleries, groundbreaking exhibitions and programs, and a commitment to enhancing the region’s artistic and cultural landscape. For more information,
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
