Exhibition | Phaan Howng: A Bag of Rocks for A Bag of Rice
SEPTEMBER 17 - DECEMBER 12 (Closed Nov. 25-29)
Virtual: VIEW EXHIBIT HERE
gallery Hours BY APPOINTMENT for TU Students/Faculty/stafF
Exquisitely disposed rocks and trees and vegetation. The promise of an inspired space
of meditation and detachment. Such has been of the Westernized image of the Chinese
and Japanese garden. Yet, such enchanted “natural” spaces camouflage the histories
of empire, wealth, privilege, exploitation, ecological extraction, and displacement
behind their creation. Phaan Howng’s site-specific installation engages East Asian
gardens as a case study of the dynamics embedded within these private spaces.
Gallery Talk & Opening Reception | Meet the Artist: Phaan Howng
THURSDAY, September 17, 6:30 p.m.
VIRTUAL: REGISTER HERE
Celebrate the opening of Bag of Rocks for a Bag of Rice with an opening reception and talk by artist, Phaan Howng. Virtually experience the
immersive gallery space while chatting with the artist about her process and the issues
that compel her work.
If you require captioning during the event, please submit your request to asianarts AT_TOWSON by Sept. 14.
Workshop | Forest Bathing: Nature's Therapy
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 10 a.m.
VIRTUAL: REGISTER HERE
$20 regular price, $15 AA&CC members
Reconnect with nature and your mind, body, and spirit from your own yard, nearby park,
or even your house! Naturalist and Forest Therapy Guide, Ana Ka’ahanui, guides you
through the experience of shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing”), a recent Japanese practice invented in the 1980s and based on
Shinto and Buddhist reverence for nature. Adapted for our new world of social-distancing,
this session will help you decompress and prepare you to adapt to and even thrive
in an ambiguous and ever-changing world.
Wishes in the Wind - Korean Kite Kit
Kits starting at $20 donation
ORDER ONLINE
Are you a parent or caregiver looking for a creative and challenging STEAM* activity
to engage kids at home? Are you a teacher in search of a project to teach remotely
that integrates art, social studies, and engineering? Order our Wishes in the Wind
Korean Kite Kits. Each kit contains kite paper, bamboo kite spars, kite string and
spool, illustrated instructions, STEAM info, and more. Contribute to building bridges
across cultures with your purchase.
*Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math
Storytelling Festival | Our Stories Virtual Festival
Thursdays, OCTOber 1 - November 5, 7 P.M.
VIRTUAL: Click on dates below to register
Celebrate our common humanity and the unique beauty of diverse experiences during
this 6 week international community festival. 27 individuals from Baltimore to Bengaluru
share their personal and cultural stories about life in quarantine, racism, relationships,
social justice, empowerment, persistence, mortality, immigration, identity, courage,
loneliness, and sustainable living through narrative, music, art, animation/video/short
film, and more.
If you require captioning during the event, please submit your request to asianarts AT_TOWSON at least 48 hours before the event.
- Jen Rolnick (Baltimore, MD) “I’m the Coronavirus”
- Ikennah Umeh (Baltimore, MD) “The Towers”
- Yuqi Wang (New York, NY) “Relationship”
- Shanthi & Aishwariya Chandrasekar (Montgomery County, MD) “Kolam”
- Martin Lamar (Lusaka, Zambia) “Lamar’s Graffiti”
- Jena Burchick (Baltimore, MD) “Dear Country”
- Marina Jansen (Frederick, MD) “The Dark Side of the Performing Arts”
|
Introductory Remarks by Special Guest, Dr. Eric Miller. Director, World Storytelling
Institute and Co-facilitator, Indian Storytelling Network.
- M Pandiarajan (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) “Hard to Escape”
- Priti Sudarsan (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) “Funny Folk Story”
- Fathima Zarin (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) “The Elephant Chaser’s Daughter”
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- Sushmita Mazumdar (Arlington, VA) “Sing to Me, Mr. Shuffle”
- Charley Jo Raine (Towson, MD) “Fortress”
- Sookyung Park (Laurel, MD) “Sookkyung’s Art”
- Henry Chen (Towson, MD) “From Shanghai to Towson: One Immigrant’s Story”
|
- Renu Naryan (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) “Nonnie’s Big Adventure”
- Pretigaya Haran (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) “Naarangi Bai, The Brave Teenager”
- Sonia Bareja Punhani (Delhi, India) “The Story of Selfless Love-Mirabai”
- Priyanka Chatterjee (Kolkata, India) “A Story and a Song”
|
- Caroline Maya (England) “Home”
- Adrianna Morgan (Baltimore, MD) “Confusion, Comfort, and Clarity: Identity as Explored
by a Caribbean-American Artist”
- Meera (Bethesda, MD) “My Father’s Prayer Ritual”
- Geethanjali Javed (India) “Three Religions”
|
- Lopamudra Mohanty (Mumbai, India) “God’s Own Carpenter”
- Goutam Bansantani (India) “Mysterious Room”
- Lavanya Prasad (Bengaluru, Karnataka, India) “The Maharaja’s Whim”
- Shreya Biswas (India) “Devotion of Salabeg”
|
Asia North 2020 Art & Music Exchange: A Celebration of Art, Culture & Community
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 7 p.m.
VIRTUAL: REGISTER HERE
This livestream event will feature art talks and performances by multidisciplinary
artist Marlo De Lara (a.k.a. marlo egglant), hip-hop duo S.N.R.G. (Some Never Really
Get), and visual artists Andersen Woof and Vidya Vijayasekharan. Asia North is a collaborative
community celebration that recognizes, showcases, and honors the art, culture and
the Asian heritage of Greater Baltimore, especially the Korean history of Baltimore’s
Charles North community. Asia North 2020 features an online art exhibition, Tradition - Memory - Transformation, which showcases the works of 25 regional Asian and Asian American artists, and a brief
history of Koreatown. Co-presented with Central Baltimore Partnership.
If you require captioning during the event, please submit your request to asianarts AT_TOWSON by Oct. 13.

Panel Discussion | Gardening for the Future
Tuesday, OCTOBER 20, 7 P.M.
VIRTUAL: REGISTER HERE
Join artist, Phaan Howng; scholar, Natasha Myers; botanical garden planner, Nicole
DeFeo; and Herring Run Nursery assistant manager, Mary Lewis; as they deconstruct
how ideal aestheticized gardens reflect power relations between humans and nature.
Rethink how gardening practices can be mobilized to create more environmentally sustainable
futures.
If you require captioning during the event, please submit your request to asianarts AT_TOWSON.edu by Oct. 16.
Workshop | Pollinator Gardening: Designing Sustainable Habitats
Saturday, November 14, 11 a.m.
VIRTUAL: REGISTER HERE
1st hour presentation: Free
2nd Hour interactive Workshop:
$15 regular price, $10 AA&CC members
Join Blue Water Baltimore and Phaan Howng to learn how you can help restore habitats
for struggling pollinators by strategically planting native plants. Discover the how
and why of pollinator gardening and its connection to watershed health. Learn how
to design your own pollinator garden and digitally share your design with other workshop
participants.
Past Events
Exhibition | The Women of Shahnahmeh: The Women of Afarin Rahmanifar
SPRING 2020
ASIAN ARTS GALLERY, CA 2037
CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Savor Afarin Rahmanifar’s arresting, large-scale mixed media paintings which showcase
the compassionate, brave, loyal, and sensuous female characters of the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. Fusing her skills as a miniature painter with bold colors, spontaneous strokes,
and natural poses, the artist captures the dreamscape and surreal world of the Shahnameh, evoking a fantasy of literature for a new and contemporary audience.
Gallery Talk & Opening Reception | Meet the Artist: Afarin Rahmanifar
FEBRUARY 13, 2020, 6:30 P.M.
ASIAN ARTS GALLERY AND ATRIUM
CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Celebrate the opening of The Women of Shahnameh, The Women of Afarin Rahmanifar with an opening reception and listen to a talk by the artist. Born in Tehran, Afarin
Rahmanifar’s artworks have been featured in galleries and University Museums across
the US including at Yale University, in New York City (Columbia University), Berkeley,
San Francisco (University of California), Carbondale (University of Illinois), and
at Boston University.
Continuing Programs

Family Arts Days
The AA&CC collaborates every semester with TU’s Community Art Center to engage families
in experiencing and making art through drop-in art activities, performances, interactive
gallery experiences, and story time.

TU Pin Peat Ensemble (Cambodian Classical Music)
The AA&CC and TU Department of Music teamed up to offer the TU Pin Peat (Khmer classical
music) Ensemble led by master Cambodian musician, Chum Ngek. Through this course,
which was established in spring 2017, TU students expand their artistic and cultural
horizons while contributing to the preservation and longevity of a tradition that
was nearly decimated during the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia.
Special thanks to the Maryland State Arts Council, Citizens of Baltimore County, and
AA&CC members for making this initiative possible.
Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural Connection
This ongoing project highlights exhibitions, performances, workshops, artist residencies,
and online resources featuring local Asian arts and culture in Maryland communities
. It also incorporates The Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural History Project, an interdisciplinary
studies course combining ethnography and oral history to explore, understand and document
Asian arts and culture in Maryland. Student research informs Center programming. In
fall 2015, we initiated the “Connection” with an exhibition, performances, workshops
and family days introducing local audiences to the living Khmer art and culture in
the Mid-Atlantic region.

Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural History Project
The Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural History Project (IDFA 480/580 Interdisciplinary
Fine Arts Special Topics Seminar) is an interdisciplinary studies course in Towson
University’s College of Fine Arts & Communication. This course combines ethnography
and oral history to explore, understand and document Asian arts and culture in Maryland.
Students identify their own research topic and conduct independent research with guidance
from the instructors throughout the semester. Topics can include art, music, dance,
theater, foodways, costumes, healing arts, martial arts and more. Students create
a portfolio of their research as a culminating project at the end of the semester.
Student projects will be used in programs at the Asian Arts & Culture Center.
Read about the topics OUR students researched...