Release: Immediate
Contact: Esther Wu | 469-438-5627 | ewu@crowcollection.org
Interviews/photos available upon request
Some people view museums as static, boring institutions filled with dead objects—but not Dr. Caron Smith. When this museum expert walks into a museum, she sees live treasures waiting to be explored.
"The purpose of a museum is to bring objects to people and people to objects, and let the magic happen," says Dr. Smith, who is the new consulting curator at the Crow Collection of Asian Art.
"The experience of art is different for every individual. A museum's job is to facilitate that individual connection."
The Crow Collection of Asian Art is a set of permanent galleries located in the Dallas Arts District and is dedicated to the arts and cultures of China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia.
"The Crow does a better job at bringing people, art and cultures together better than many museums that are much larger. Many museums simply don't use their resources as well the Crow," said Dr. Smith.
The New York-based consultant will now contribute to planning and organizing the Crow Collection's permanent and visiting exhibitions.
"It is quite a coup to have someone of Caron's caliber join our staff," said Amy L. Hofland, museum director. "She brings such a depth of knowledge about Asian art to the Crow Collection. The museum will benefit greatly from her expertise and passion."
Dr. Smith holds a doctorate in Chinese painting from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has written extensively on Asian Art and is a frequent traveler to China and India.
Before joining the Crow, she was the co-director and senior curator of Asian Art for the Rubin Museum of Art in New York. She also served as Deputy Director and Senior Curator of Asian Art at the San Diego Museum of Art from 1997 to 2003; Deputy Director of Galleries and Curator of Collection for Asia Society from 1995 to 1997; and held administrative and curatorial posts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 10 years.
Dr. Smith worked with Crow Collection curator Shiyuan Yuan's on the museum's current exhibition, Untamed Beauty: Tigers in Japanese Art, tiger paintings by some of Japan's most important artists over the last 300 years.
The exhibition was originally organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art and is on loan from the private collection of Harriet and Edson Spencer.
The Crow Collection of Asian Art is dedicated to the arts and cultures of China, Japan, India and Southeast Asia. The museum, located at 2010 Flora Street, is open Tuesdays–Sundays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with extended hours on Thursday until 9 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays. Admission is free. For more information call 214-271-4484.
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