The Crow Museum of Asian Art at The University of Texas at Dallas  

By Caroline Kim, Development Director 

A MUSEUM FOR THE COMMUNITY  

On September 24, 2024, The University of Texas at Dallas cut the ribbon to the long-anticipated first building of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, a multi-phase arts and performance complex for the UT Dallas campus. Since opening just a few short months ago, the museum building has welcomed more than 10,000 visitors from the UTD campus, the community, and beyond to visit the galleries, participate in tours and programs, and attend events. Dubbed the “Phase I Building” of the O’Donnell Athenaeum, it houses the second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art (its original flagship location in the Dallas Arts District remains open and active), the Brettell Reading Room, a seminar room, conservation studio, and f ive additional galleries dedicated to the University’s growing art collection and interactive partnerships.  

WHY UT DALLAS?

 Though primarily known for its stellar academics in STEM-related fields and research, UT Dallas has a long history of supporting and nurturing the arts. It was this demonstrated commitment that attracted the Crow family when considering its long-term plans for the collection. In 2019, the Crow family donated its entire collection of more than 1,100 objects to the university for its continued care, preservation, research, and engagement. In the same spirit of their original gift to the Dallas metroplex with the opening of the free downtown museum in 1998, the Crow family began a new chapter of their legacy with gifts of objects and support toward building the first phase of the O’Donnell Athenaeum. To ensure as much access as possible, the University followed the family’s lead by also making the campus museum free to all visitors. Programs, art workshops, artist lectures, community events, and more are in the works for neighborhood engagement. K-12 school tours for Richardson ISD and neighboring districts are led by university student docents who have undergone more than 50 hours of training. The membership program offers more enhanced and deeper access and connection. Plus, community ideas and partnerships are always welcome.  

Pelican World, 2024, archival pigment print. Carolyn Brown, American, born 1936. Courtesy of the artist, L2024.2.5

ON VIEW NOW  

SAYA WOOLFALK: FLOATING WORLD OF THE CLOUD QUILT  

The Crow Museum is pleased to present Brooklyn-based artist Saya Woolfalk’s first Dallas exhibition in the multimedia gallery. Over the span of twenty years, Woolfalk has undertaken the project of world-building she has named the Empathic Universe. Through this techno-genetic perspective, visitors engage in an alternative mode of “being” in which the Empathics, as a lived-in community, invite visitors to center the emotions of compassion, empathy, and love. For this immersive installation of Cloud Quilt, Woolfalk created a dynamic interplay of symbols and imagery by drawing on her vast analog and digital archives of past projects, in a manner similar to collage or quilting. According to Woolfalk, “a quilt is an object of comfort, warmth, and protection, and it is also a space for dreaming. With this work, I took a number of historical elements from the Empathic Universe that resonate specifically with the Crow Museum’s collection and quilted them together so the audience can experience what being immersed in that world feels like.” As visitors enter the space, soft ambient music and gently swirling visuals interplay with patterned floor graphics. In the center of the room is an overhead projection illuminating several f loor cushions for contemplation and meditation. The music and visuals play in an infinite loop, suspending a sense of time for guests.  

ECHO MORGAN: BE THE INSIDE OF THE VASE  

Challenging and thought-provoking dialogue are key to the Museum’s mission in presenting art. With Be the Inside of the Vase, the Crow again offers an inaugural showing to Dallas with British-based artist Echo Morgan. This video installation explores the artist’s complicated relationship with her father, touching on subjects of identity, isolation, and family dynamics. The title of the piece derives from her father’s comment to her as a young girl, “Women should be like a vase, decorative on the outside and empty on the inside.” Defying the family patriarch’s misogyny, Morgan’s mother countered back a strong rebuttal: “Be the inside of the base. Be the quality.”  

UN/POPULAR ART: REDEFINING A LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN TRADITION 

 Un/Popular Art features an array of sculptures, paintings, textiles, toys, and ceramics produced in Latin America drawing on her vast analog and digital archives of past projects, in a manner similar to collage or quilting. According to Woolfalk, “a quilt is an object of comfort, warmth, and protection, and it is also a space for dreaming. With this work, I took a number of historical elements from the Empathic Universe that resonate specifically with the Crow Museum’s collection and quilted them together so the audience can experience what being immersed in that world feels like.” As visitors enter the space, soft ambient music and gently swirling visuals interplay with patterned floor graphics. In the center of the room is an overhead projection illuminating several f loor cushions for contemplation and meditation. The music and visuals play in an infinite loop, suspending a sense of time for guests. 

Three friends of winter, 19th century. Jadeite. Chinese, Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Crow Museum of Asian Art, 1988.33

IN FINE FEATHER: NEW WORKS BY CAROLYN BROWN  

Local photographer Carolyn Brown has spent decades traveling around the world to capture rare and hard-to-access cultural sites, though she is mostly known for photographing iconic regional visuals such as the ever-changing Dallas skyline. This new exhibition of Brown’s works features a new experiment in medium – a collection of digital collages involving the cropping and manipulation of hundreds of images through computer software, which are then pieced together to create each singular artwork. The wildlife and plants that comprise the works in this exhibition are lifted from Brown’s still life images of flowers that she photographed in her studio as well as from her photographs of Caddo Lake, Atchafalaya Basin, Marfa, and even the artist’s own backyard in Dallas. and the Caribbean that have historically been understood within the realm of “folk art,” or arte popular. The artworks range from the quotidian to the spectacular, including toy truck rattles and tiny figurines of food vendors as well as large-scale wedding tapestries and intricate yarn paintings depicting the cosmological forces of nature. Frequently relegated to the categories of “folk,” “naive,” “kitsch,” or artesanía, the artworks in this exhibition defy these limiting labels. All objects are part of donations to the University from two Dallas collecting families in anticipation of the construction of the O’Donnell Athenaeum.  

FROM TEXAS TO THE WORLD: COMMON GROUND AT UT DALLAS AND THE DALLAS MUSEUM OF ART  

From Texas to the World chronicles the philanthropic and creative spirit of the individuals who have left enduring impressions on both UT Dallas and the Dallas Museum of Art. Focusing on the prominent legacies of the McDermott, Green, and Jonsson families as well as visionary leaders Bonnie Pitman and the late Dr. Richard Brettell, who all have major ties to both the university and the museum, the exhibition allows the campus and community to experience DMA highlights. Visitors can view masterpieces from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and beyond, offering a truly global perspective on art and culture. This multi-year partnership allows the North Texas community to experience the DMA’s expansive encyclopedic collection in a new context, a first for many UT Dallas students.  

ART FOR THE COMMUNITY  

The University’s relationship with the Richardson community is robust and meaningful, extending beyond the city’s borders and strengthening the North Texas region as an ideal place to live, work, and contribute. Year-round access to world-class art exhibitions, performances and place-making for new works await!