How Do I Look? Coffee and Conversation with the Curator

Sunday, May 17 | 1:00–2:15 p.m. | GlasSalon

Spend a relaxed Sunday afternoon in conversation with Christine D. Starkman, consulting curator of Asian art, and discover new ways of looking at Asian art.

In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, this intimate, seated program offers a welcoming introduction to the materials, meanings, and traditions behind works of Asian art, from bronze and painting to sculpture and textiles. Through stories, close-looking strategies, and behind-the-scenes insights, Starkman will share how museums build collections, how to recognize quality and authenticity, and how to begin thinking about collecting.

Along the way, build skills for appreciating Asian art through examples in bronze, painting, sculpture, and textiles, with insights drawn from Chinese, Japanese, and Cambodian works spanning ancient dynasties to the early modern period. Explore themes of nature, poetry, and cultural exchange, and consider how these works connect across time and place.

No prior experience is needed, just curiosity. Coffee and tea will be provided.

You may leave the program asking yourself, How do I look? Very good, we must say. We’re amazed.

About the Curator:
Christine D. Starkman is the Toledo Museum of Art’s consulting curator of Asian art and a recipient of the Fulbright Scholar Korea 2022-2023. She is an Asian and contemporary art curator whose work explores global, transnational, and transcultural connections between Asia, North America, and Europe.

Starkman has held research and curatorial positions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She has organized and contributed to numerous exhibitions, including Kim Beom How To Become A Rock, Leeum Museum, Seoul, Korea 2023. Her recent projects also include Measure Your Existence at the Rubin Museum of Art and Kimono Couture: The Beauty of Chiso at the Worcester Art Museum.

Registration is required and space is limited.