Filipino Arts in the City - Filipino American Month at the Asian Art Museum

Asian Art Museum showcased Filipino arts and culture on the first Sunday of October through their event called Ugnayan Lahi. 

As a transplanted Filipino, it was great to see the spotlight on my culture at the Asian Art Museum in my favorite city San Francisco.

The event Ugnayan Lahi fell on a Free Sunday at the Asian Art Museum. It was a glorious Sunday morning and I got to the museum at exactly 11am. I was going to meet up with my good friend from college Mike and he got there earlier than I did. We go back a long way since our alma mater Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila days. We were both thrilled to go see Ugnayan Lahi. 

 

The opening ceremony was being held at the Samsung Hall. I could hear the music from the stairs and the performers were getting ready waiting for their cue.

   

The performances depicted offerings during harvest season where dances are accompanied by crops. The live accompaniment sounded great and was a great addition.

After the opening ceremony, Mike and I walked down to the North Court where there were a lot of activities.  There were music, lectures and family activities in that area of the museum.
  

We lingered a bit listening to artists Kristian Kabuay and Lane Wilken as they provided short but immersive lectures on Filipino Baybayin calligraphy, pre-Spanish writings and the art of tattoo. The topics were all very enlightening even though I grew up in the Philippines.


   

Our next stop was the Hinabi Project at the Resource Center. Hinabi is textile in English. It can also mean spun. They had samples of textiles made from pineapple leaves or piña. They also had videos how the piña threads are pulled from the pineapple leaves and then processed and spun and made into piña textiles. It is a long an arduous process.
   
   

Here are more pictures from the Hinabi Project.
   
   


Another musical performance that I absolutely enjoyed was this Rondalla Music
with the American Center of Philippine Arts.
   

We decided to break for lunch at Cafe Asia which is the cafe at the Asian Art. We decided to get Filipino food. I ordered Monggo soup and Lumpiang Shanghai. Mike decided to get Chicken Adobo and Lumpiang Shanghai. Both dishes are dressed up versions of the more traditional style, they were delicious, nevertheless. For dessert, we shared a slice of decadent green tea cheesecake.
   
   

As if we hadn't had enough, Mike and I decided to take a Docent Tour of Filipino Arts. Just like in other museums, I usually take a docent tour when I am pressed for time. Docent tours allow me see the highlights of a museum. Here are the highlights of Filipino arts at the Asian Art.
   
 

I also had time to check out Asian Art's current exhibition called The First Look exhibition. It contains large scale exhibition of contemporary arts.


It was great to see my culture being showcased at this wonderful museum in the city of San Francisco.

Thanks, Asian Art Museum!

~rl