Welcome to part two of our museum series, where we will be looking at various art galleries and museums from around the Asia Pacific region. Our first post was on Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art and today we're off to Shanghai.

The Shanghai Museum of Glass was established by a the Shanghai Glass Company, a privately owned company that was inspired to create the museum after witnessing the industrial development of glass in Shanghai and preserving and recording 100 years of glass history and culture. The Museum building was in fact originally a glass factory, transformed to suit its new identity by the creative team Coordination Asia. The brief for the building was to juxtapose the past and present and their striking realisation of this is made of glass itself, integrating the original structure and character of the factory within the new functional contemporary space.

(above) The Shanghai Museum of Glass exterior interior

The museum only opened in June last year and is drawing crowds with its ancient and contemporary permanent collections as well as an ever changing program of contemporary exhibitions. The hot glass demonstration hall, where visitors experience first hand the art of creating glass is very popular and also providing a space for glass artists to experiment creatively. Long term there are further plans to develop a glass theme park, sculpture yard and science and business parks to the museum. 

The Museum seeks to bridge communication between Chinese and Western cultures and celebrate the rich history, culture and art of glass. It's certainly one museum worth bookmarking for your next trip to Shanghai.

if you'd like to learn more, there's a great article with some fantastic images of the museum over at the coolhunter blog we can highly recommend.

Posted by Lauren Evans

(above) Two of the exhibits from the Ancient Collection

(above) A piece from the upcoming exhibition by Zhuang Xiaowei

We like the concept of the website Slashies, a web series of videos devoted to telling the stories of passionate creative Australians who have the courage to follow their dreams. The name derives from the multiple careers/creative avenues each person pursues in the making of their dream. So you will find the fabulous graphic designer/paper engineer Benja Harney (below) and his wonderful paper creations, the intricate and colourful murals and artworks of fashion designer/street artist Shannon Crees (above) and the stunning surf photography of graphic designer/surfer/photographer Eugene Tan, with more people being added all the time. Each video offers a glimpse into each creatives life and how they juggled their various roles to triumph in ultimately pursuing the one they love the most. Inspiring stuff indeed for anyone who's ever aspired to be a slashie themselves, a common theme amongst creatives. We'll aim to bring you a little more on some of the people we admired most... stay tuned.

Posted by Lauren Evans

We have always admired the work of Australian artist Christina Waterson, whose sculptural pieces reflect her background in architecture and design. So naturally we are very keen to get to her latest exhibition Trace which opens in Melbourne's Pin-Up Gallery this week (15 March - 12 May, 2012). Waterson has recently completed a Winston Churchill Fellowship exploring the origins of patterns and their connection to traditional craft, design and architecture whilst travelling throughout Japan, China and Turkey. This latest exhibition is a response to her research experience and features pieces in rubber, leather and felt that embody "a 3-dimensional ‘trace’, sketch or echo of past trajectories." A preview of two pieces to be exhibited, above and below.

If you're not familiar with Waterson's work check out her website and her tracepattern blog, which lovingly documents her fellowship research.

Posted by Lauren Evans

Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art compliments the Queensland Art Gallery building and opened in 2006 to architectural acclaim, it really is quite a magnificent building as you can see from the exterior photo above. The Gallery of Modern Art exhibits art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and it's flagship project is the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. It is the only major series of exhibitions in the world to focus exclusively on the contemporary art of Asia, the Pacific and Australia and the 2012/13 Triennial will mark the 20th anniversary, being the seventh Asia Pacific Trieinnial the gallery has held. This has led to the establishment of The Australian Centre of Asia Pacific Art (ACAPA) which is the research base of the triennial and an invaluable resource for scholars and artists interested in studying Asian Pacific art.

The gallery has a vast collection of Australian, International and Asian works which are continually updated. They run a fantastic Children's Art Centre and Cinémathèque that shows the work of significant international, Asian, Pacific, Australian and Indigenous Australian artists. See their website for more details.  

(above) Zhu Weibing, Ji Wenyu | People holding flowers (installation detail) 2007 | The Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art.

Those of you in Singapore might like to check out the international art fair Art Stage Singapore on now until the 15 January at the Marina Bay Sands Convention and Exhibition Center. Over 100 galleries  are exhibiting and there is also a lecture series, various fringe programs and art related activities over the four fair days. Art Stage Singapore prides itself on its strong Asian identity and support of the best emerging Asia Pacific galleries, that show alongside a select few Western galleries that compliment the Asian context. It should be a fabulous show and on a side note, we must say we like their ad campaign featuring a series of colourful art world identities - two of which we've shown here.

Jack Wang is a member of the Herman Miller Asia team. As a Product Development Engineer in the Research and Development department, he has been instrumental in developing new products for the Asia market, including the award winning and beautiful Arras product (which has become the most popular Herman Miller desking product in our region since its introduction, just over 12 months ago). But we recently discovered that Jack is also a very talented artist outside of his work with us and has created a website to showcase his latest series of paintings and drawings. It's always an inspiration to learn of someone fulfilling their passion and finding the space for it in the busy lives we all lead. We hope you enjoy our interview with Jack below.

How long have you been creating art?
It started when I was a kid. I focused a lot on Chinese calligraphy in my early years, but I found painting helps to express myself better. I use pencil to record whatever I am thinking or feeling.

How do you balance your artistic work with your paid employment, it must be challenging at times.
It is always challenging, but both of them satisfy my different needs, and they are still in balance now.

Could you tell us a little about your creative process, for example do you keep a journal or begin with rough sketches?
I always keep an eye on the objects or ideas I am interested in and, therefore I collect photos of people, color patterns, and some other art or design which inspires me. I will create random sketches to compose the idea if it’s hard to visualize in my mind. I also pour oil on a raw canvas directly to experiment with color combination.

Has your style evolved since you began?
No, not at all. Like some of the young artists, I was very bewildered at the beginning, and especially since I mostly educated myself around painting skills. It is very easy to be lured into a direction by thinking “style” is the most important thing for an artist, which is not what I believe.
Despite the fact that everyone has certain preference of how they tend to show their art, such as photography, printing, oil, acrylic, digital painting and so forth, what I believe matters more is what they tend to show in their art and the story behind all the brush strokes. Repetition of such behavior in a consistent line will form and naturally evolve the “style”.

What inspires you?
Mainly people, color, geometry, light and music.

Who has influenced you?
This will be a long list: Rembrant, Vermeer, Degas, Monet, Rodin, Kandinsky, Frank Frazetta, David A. leffel, Morgan Weistling, Ai Xuan, Hu Jundi, Xia Xiaofang, and the list goes on … …

What have been your most rewarding achievements?
If you visit my website: http://jackliangwang.wordpress.com, you will see some collections that I am working on and hopefully will be able to hang in a gallery soon. That day will be a huge achievement and most rewarding.
There’s a collection of random people portraits, projecting my understanding on their personality and style; another collection called “Morning”, exploring a sense of emotional fragility immediately after waking up every morning; also a collection called “Bali Sensation”, showing the journey of finding inner peace in an exotic region … … and the list will go on. I will continue to work on a range of topics I am exploring because I find it too difficult to elaborate on a story via only one painting … … certain ideas need repetition and emphasis to fully explore the context … …

What are your goals for the future?
Continue to explore my boundaries, and keep telling my stories via art. It is a life-long task and I may never have a break or finish the journey. If my mind stops spinning, I stop being an artist.

How do you want your work to be remembered?
Right now, I would like inspire people when looking at my work, so that it will create avenues of thought or a journey of feeling for them, that they may look at my work and pose questions that the art would later inspire answers.
To be honest, this is a difficult question to answer now as I am still exploring my own boundaries, and therefore it is hard to totally encompass how I would like the journey of my work to be remembered … … ask me again in another 10 years … 

Visit Jack's website for more information.

Check out the spectacular installation at the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation in Sydney at the moment by Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka. Waterfall comprises of two exquisite tables made from optical glass and approximately 500,000 translucent drinking straws all of which draw on light to complete the installation. Yoshioka established his design studio in 2000 after a ten year working relationship with Issey Miyake. His client list includes names such as Kartell, Moroso and Swarovski. Waterfall runs until December 17th, 2011.

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An interesting exhibition is currently showing at CarriageWorks in Sydney. Urbanition is a collaboration between the San Francisco Art Commission and CarriageWorks which asks selected artists from both cities to create works addressed to the Mayors of San Francisco and Sydney, that propose visionary solutions to making each city more humane, green and livable. The artists’ proposals range in subject matter from improving immigrant rights to commuting by jetpack, and are presented across a wide variety of media including video, sculpture, drawing and performance. It runs until September 3rd.

It's hard to believe Sydney's home of contemporary Chinese art, the White Rabbit Gallery turned ten years old this year - quite fittingly as 2011 is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. In celebration, their latest exhibition 'Decade of the Rabbit' features the work of 30 contemporary Chinese artists, confirming their reputation for holding one of the largest and most significant collections of Chinese contemporary art. If you can't make it to the gallery itself their website is a wonderful way to explore the 200+ artists they represent. Below are a few pieces featured in the current exhibition.

(above) He An’s illuminated-sign installation, which reflects on multiple meanings of love

(above) an exquisite painted seascape by Shi Zhinying

(above) a detail from Zhou Jie’s porcelain city, in which the buildings resemble organic growths

We are big fans of Benja Harney, Sydney's paper sculptor extraordinaire. You may not have heard of him, but have possibly admired his work with clients such as Hermes, Harpers Bazaar, Topshop and Kylie Minogue gracing his resume (a few examples below). From 30 July - 25 September you can visit Benja Harney's very own 'Paper Attic' at Sydney's Object Gallery. It's Benja's first solo exhibition in a design gallery format and for it he has created a paper world of the discarded and forgotten - old records, toys, letters, photographs and crazy half-made inventions. It is sure to be fascinating, if you're in Sydney, squeeze in a visit.

For more on Benja's work, check out his blog Paperform and a fantastic interview at The Design Files.

(above) Birds of Tokyo promotional poster

(above) Hermes Christmas windows 2009/2010

(above) Red or Dead Pop-Up Book

(above) 'Paperfood' Editorial for Women's Health Magazine