A photography exhibition, "Hanoi and its Painters," featuring the work of Ronald Bernier, professor of art history at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will be on display at the Boulder Public Library April 14 through May 8.
The exhibit will be held in conjunction with a public symposium on South and Southeast Asian Art highlighting the research and work of nationally and internationally renowned scholars on April 17-18 at the Fiske Planetarium and the University Memorial Center.
Both events are sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and CU-Boulder's fine arts department and are free and open to the public.
Bernier has made several trips to Vietnam, where he works with the traditional wooden architecture and modern artists in cooperation with the Vietnam Fine Arts Association, the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology and the Institute of Fine Arts in Hanoi.
"Hanoi and its Painters" highlights works in the demanding medium of lacquer, a time-consuming but brilliantly colored medium that Bernier calls "delicious" in its ability to look fluid and wet in the hands of internationally known masters like Dinh Quan, who is at the center of the exhibit.
Photos take the viewer into the streets and surroundings of Hanoi to show the houses and studios where artists live and work, the byways of the bustling city where people pursue their daily lives and to some sites of the northern area known for their beauty. Special attention is given to men and women who are well known as both traditional and avant-garde artists of the moment.
A public reception will be held on Wednesday, April 24, at 5 p.m., followed by a gallery talk with Professor Bernier at 7 p.m.
The symposium will feature lectures and panel discussions with international scholars on their latest research on Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia, India and more.
Presentations will include new slide-illustrated materials as well as recent discoveries, such as Cambodian gold. The audience will have opportunities to meet with the presenters, and questions will be allowed after each presentation.
Following is the schedule for the symposium:
Wednesday, April 17, Fiske Planetarium
* 1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., "A Lacquered History of the Kings of Pagan: According to the Glass Palace Chronicle," slide lecture by Sylvia Frazer-Lu, author and Burma specialist
* 3 p.m.-4 p.m., "Enlightened Manifestations: The Narrative Art of South Asia and Borobudur," slide lecture by Kurt Behrendt, Temple University
* 4:20 p.m.-5:30 p.m., "Recent Discoveries in South and Southeast Asian Arts," panel discussion
* 7:45 p.m. to 9 p.m., "Vietnam as Entrepot," slide lecture with Nancy Tingley, California independent scholar
Thursday, April 18, UMC room 235
* 1 p.m.-2:10 p.m., "Getting to Know the Neighbors: Visual Culture as a Strategy for Expansion in India and Burma," slide lecture by Robert DeCaroli, George Mason University
* 2:30 p.m.-3:40 p.m., "Exposing the Khmer Past: Recent Archaeological Discoveries: Legal and Illegal" by Emma Bunker, independent researcher
* 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m., "The State of South and Southeast Asian Studies," panel discussion
* 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m., Overview with all speakers and CU guests, and summary with slides.
Paper abstracts will be available. For more information, contact Ronald Bernier at (303) 492-8525 or send e-mail to ronald.bernier@colorado.edu.