Buddhist Sculpture Insights

Thursday, July 30 1:00–3:00 p.m. PT Speaker: Ginna Olsen and Heather Simmerman, Asian art scholars and SDMA Docents Virtual Event Join the Asian Arts Council in exploring the history of two important Buddhist sculptures in the SDMA collection. Ginna Olsen will discuss the 6th century Chinese Bodhisattva stone sculpture and Heather Simmerman will present the 17th century Japanese Amida Buddha wood sculpture, all currently on view in the SDMA Asian Gallery 7. They will contextualize the sculptures to position them within the history of Chinese and Japanese Buddhist art, respectively. The religious, political, and social messages that were conveyed through their creation and iconography will also be explained. Speaker Bios: Ginna Olsen graduated from the University of Redlands with a B.A. in Art History, then earned her M.A. in Art History with an emphasis on Asian Art at USC. She retired in 2019 from a career in business and has been a docent at SDMA since 2021. Heather Simmerman… View Source