MORIKAMI MUSEUM TO SHINE ALL SUMMER LONG
Two New Exhibitions, Bon Festival, Sushi & Stroll and More!

Delray Beach, FL – (April 5, 2010) – While ‘season’ may be winding down around Palm Beach County, the Morikami is gearing up for a summer filled with art, invigorating strolls through the magnificent gardens and one of the Museum’s most popular events, the Bon Festival in August. Below are briefs on activities and events taking place at the Morikami from May through September.

MAY 2010

May 9 • Sunday – Family Fun Program: Mother’s Day Origami Card
(All ages)
Cost: $2 with paid museum admission
Time: 11am – 3pm
Location: Classroom A
Reservations are not required
For more information, please call 561-495-0233 ext. 237.
Family Fun Programs are for those who want to explore and learn about Japanese culture through hands-on arts and crafts projects designed for the whole family. Families can create projects in an open workshop.

May 14 • Friday - Sushi & Stroll Summer Walk Series
Cost: $7 adults, $5 children (4-17) (Museum members and children 3 and under FREE), $2 for taiko performance (optional)
Time: 5:30 - 8:30pm
Reservations are not required.
Summer nights in South Florida are something special, especially when they are augmented with taiko drums and a cultural backdrop that can't be beat! Add a cold drink, a breathtaking sunset and a walking path through a tranquil garden, and you've got Sushi & Stroll Summer Walks! Stroll the gardens at your own pace and take advantage of our self-guided audio tour. Excite your palette with something delicious from our own Cornell Café, indulge in some shopping at the Museum Store or tantalize your senses with a drumming performance by Fushu Daiko. Please note that the museum galleries are closed for these special nights.

May 15 • Saturday – Demonstrations of Sado, The Way of Tea
Cost:  $5 (with paid museum admission)
Time:  Noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Location:  The Morikami Museum Seishin-an Tea House
Individual reservations are not necessary – Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more.
For group reservations and additional information, please call 561-495-0233.
Experience sado in the tranquil setting of the Seishin-an, The Morikami’s authentic teahouse. Observe Japanese sado by the Omote Senke tea group, an ever-changing tea ceremony demonstration rich in sensational subtleties. Involvement in the true spirit of sado – harmony (wa), reverence (kei), purity (sei), tranquility (jaku) – along with a sip of green tea and a sweet, will help bring a calm perspective into one’s busy life.

JUNE 2010

June 1 – October 17, 2010 – NEW EXHIBITION!
Kaiju! Monster Invasion!
Monsters invade the Morikami Museum this summer as vintage toys from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, inspired by Japanese tokusatsu films and TV shows go on display in the exhibition, Kaiju! Monster Invasion! Classic Japanese tokusatsu eiga, or special effects films, typically utilized an fx technique called sutsumeishon (suitmation) in which monsters of colossal size, termed Kaiju, were portrayed by stuntmen in rubber suits moving about on sets of miniatures. Beginning with the release of the film Gojira (Godzilla) in 1954, kaiju of all types have captured the imagination of legions of fans worldwide and have spawned a lucrative toy industry that endures to this day.  The Morikami’s exhibition displays over 100 figures from an extensive private collection. Some kaiju are dinosaurian in appearance; others are based vaguely on insects, sea creatures, or plants; still others combine characteristics of all of these and more. All are included in the exhibition, seeming to give form to humankind’s deepest anxieties in an age dominated by nuclear, biological, and environmental peril.

June 11 • Friday -- Sushi & Stroll Summer Walk Series
Cost: $7 adults, $5 children (4-17) (Museum members and children 3 and under FREE), $2 for taiko performance (optional)
Time: 5:30 - 8:30pm
Reservations are not required.
Summer nights in South Florida are something special, especially when they are augmented with taiko drums and a cultural backdrop that can't be beat! Add a cold drink, a breathtaking sunset and a walking path through a tranquil garden, and you've got Sushi & Stroll Summer Walks! Stroll the gardens at your own pace and take advantage of our self-guided audio tour. Excite your palette with something delicious from our own Cornell Café, indulge in some shopping at the Museum Store or tantalize your senses with a drumming performance by Fushu Daiko. Please note that the museum galleries are closed for these special nights.

June 12 • Saturday – Demonstrations of Sado, The Way of Tea
Cost:  $5 (with paid museum admission)
Time:  Noon, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm
Location:  The Morikami Museum Seishin-an Tea House
Individual reservations are not necessary – Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more.
For group reservations and additional information, please call 561-495-0233.
Experience sado in the tranquil setting of the Seishin-an, The Morikami’s authentic teahouse. Observe Japanese sado by the Omote Senke tea group, an ever-changing tea ceremony demonstration rich in sensational subtleties. Involvement in the true spirit of sado – harmony (wa), reverence (kei), purity (sei), tranquility (jaku) – along with a sip of green tea and a sweet, will help bring a calm perspective into one’s busy life.

June 20 • Sunday – Family Fun Program: Wind Chime Making
(All ages)
Cost: $2 with paid museum admission
Time: 11am – 3pm
Location: Classroom A
Reservations are not required
For more information, please call 561-495-0233 x 237.
Family Fun Programs are for those who want to explore and learn about Japanese culture through hands-on arts and crafts projects designed for the whole family. Families can create projects in an open workshop.
 
June 29 – October 17, 2010 – NEW EXHIBITION!
Kyoto: A Place in Art
Founded at the end of the 8th century, the city of Kyoto served as Japan’s imperial capital for centuries, and continues to be regarded as its cultural capital today. This exhibition explores why this magical city remains the center of Japanese traditional culture. Works by painters representing art movements closely associated with Kyoto, Kyoto textiles, photographs of Kyoto gardens by one of Japan’s best known photographers, woodblock prints, ceramics, and more make up this exhibition, which includes a pair of 18th century folding screens depicting in fascinating detail the lives of the city’s inhabitants from all parts of the social spectrum. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, Champion Solutions Group and the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation.
 
JULY 2010

July 7 • Wednesday thru Wednesday July 14 – Tanabata
Cost: Free with museum admission
Time: 10am – 5pm
Reservations are not required
For more information, please call 561-495-0233 x 237.
Tanabata traces its origins to a legend about the Cowherd Star (Altair) and the Weaver Star (Vega), lovers separated by the Milky Way, that are allowed to meet just once a year -- on the seventh day of the seventh month. In Japan, children and adults write their wishes on narrow strips of colored paper known as tanzaku, and hang them - along with other paper ornaments, on bamboo branches placed in the backyards or entrances of their homes. Mirroring that tradition, visitors to the museum can write their own special wishes for the future and place them on Tanabata bamboo in the museum lobby.

July 9 • Friday -- Sushi & Stroll Summer Walk Series
Cost: $7 adults, $5 children (4-17) (Museum members and children 3 and under FREE), $2 for taiko performance (optional)
Time: 5:30 - 8:30pm
Reservations are not required.
Summer nights in South Florida are something special, especially when they are augmented with taiko drums and a cultural backdrop that can't be beat! Add a cold drink, a breathtaking sunset and a walking path through a tranquil garden, and you've got Sushi & Stroll Summer Walks! Stroll the gardens at your own pace and take advantage of our self-guided audio tour. Excite your palette with something delicious from our own Cornell Café, indulge in some shopping at the Museum Store or tantalize your senses with a drumming performance by Fushu Daiko. Please note that the museum galleries are closed for these special nights.

July 10 • Saturday – Family Fun Program: Fan Making
(All ages)
Cost: $2 with paid museum admission
Time: 11am – 3pm
Location: Classroom A
Reservations are not required
For more information, please call 561-495-0233 X 237.
Family Fun Programs are for those who want to explore and learn about Japanese culture through hands-on arts and crafts projects designed for the whole family. Families can create projects in an open workshop.

AUGUST 2010

BON FESTIVAL – DETAILS TBA – STAY TUNED
 
August 20 • Friday -- Sushi & Stroll Summer Walk Series
Cost: $7 adults, $5 children (4-17) (Museum members and children 3 and under FREE), $2 for taiko performance (optional)
Time: 5:30 - 8:30pm
Reservations are not required.
Summer nights in South Florida are something special, especially when they are augmented with taiko drums and a cultural backdrop that can't be beat! Add a cold drink, a breathtaking sunset and a walking path through a tranquil garden, and you've got Sushi & Stroll Summer Walks! Stroll the gardens at your own pace and take advantage of our self-guided audio tour. Excite your palette with something delicious from our own Cornell Café, indulge in some shopping at the Museum Store or tantalize your senses with a drumming performance by Fushu Daiko. Please note that the museum galleries are closed for these special nights.

SEPTEMBER 2010

September 10 • Friday -- Sushi & Stroll Summer Walk Series
Cost: $7 adults, $5 children (4-17) (Museum members and children 3 and under FREE), $2 for taiko performance (optional)
Time: 5:30 - 8:30pm
Reservations are not required.
Summer nights in South Florida are something special, especially when they are augmented with taiko drums and a cultural backdrop that can't be beat! Add a cold drink, a breathtaking sunset and a walking path through a tranquil garden, and you've got Sushi & Stroll Summer Walks! Stroll the gardens at your own pace and take advantage of our self-guided audio tour. Excite your palette with something delicious from our own Cornell Café, indulge in some shopping at the Museum Store or tantalize your senses with a drumming performance by Fushu Daiko. Please note that the museum galleries are closed for these special nights.

September 11 • Saturday – Family Fun Program: Origami for the Peace
(All ages)
Cost: $2 with paid museum admission
Time: 11am – 3pm
Location: Classroom A
Reservations are not required
For more information, please call 561-495-0233 x 237.
Family Fun Programs are for those who want to explore and learn about Japanese culture through hands-on arts and crafts projects designed for the whole family. Families can create projects in an open workshop.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens has been a center for Japanese arts and culture in South Florida since its opening in 1977. The Morikami invites guests to discover South Florida’s heritage and its connection with Japan, and explore a series of six diverse gardens inspired by a different historical period and style of Japanese gardening. Experience traditional and contemporary Japanese culture through world-class exhibits, varied educational programs and seasonal events, bonsai display, pan-Asian cuisine and a distinctive museum store.
 
The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is $12 for adults (18 – 64), $11 for seniors (65+), $7 for children and college students with identification. The Morikami is located at 4000 Morikami Park Road in Delray Beach, Florida. For more information about the Morikami, its exhibitions, programs and events, visit www.morikami.org or call 561-495-0233.