April School Vacation Week
Celebrating Yin Yu Tang
Friday, April 19, 2024 from 10 am—5 pm
Know before you go
In person event
Location: Create Space Studios, Morse Auditorium
All events are included with admission. Children ages 16 and under always receive free admission!
Same-day ticketing required for the paper cutting workshop.
Join us as we continue to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the cultural exchange project that brought Yin Yu Tang to PEM! For this school vacation week, travel across the world without leaving Salem by learning traditional Chinese paper cutting with local guest artist Zhonghe (Elena) Li on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. Join us for film screenings in Morse Auditorium on Friday, and challenge yourself all three days with a museum-wide dragon scavenger hunt!
Check out our full week of programming below:
Monday, April 15
10 am–5 pm
Dragon Quest
10 am–5 pm
Available all day
Learn about dragons in art and tradition around the world in a scavenger hunt that takes you across the museum. See if you can find all nine dragons — if you find them, a prize awaits you! Stop by the Information desk to pick up your dragon activity booklet.
Drop-in Art Making: Animal Tracks Stamps
1–3 pm | Create Space Studios
Explore the fascinating world of animal tracks while learning about New England’s diverse wildlife. Uncover clues about an animal’s size, movement and identity through its distinct footprint. Join us in crafting eco-friendly animal-print stamps using recycled materials and make your own tracks!
Thursday, April 18
10 am–5 pm
Dragon Quest
10 am–5 pm
Learn about dragons in art and tradition around the world in a scavenger hunt that takes you across the museum. See if you can find all nine dragons — if you find them, a prize awaits you! Stop by the Information desk to pick up your dragon activity booklet.
Traditional Chinese Paper Cutting with Zhonghe (Elena) Li
1 pm and 2 pm | Create Space Studios
Same-day tickets are required for this timed workshop; capacity is limited. Tickets are available at the Information desk.
Spring has arrived! Frogs and ducks are appearing in neighborhood ponds. Chipmunks and rabbits are peeking out of their burrows and birds are building nests. Join artist Zhonghe (Elena) Li for a spring-themed lesson in Chinese paper cutting. She will show you basic skills using scissors, and you will create along with her and tell your own stories!
Friday, April 19
10 am–5 pm
Dragon Quest
10 am–5 pm
Learn about dragons in art and tradition around the world in a scavenger hunt that takes you across the museum. See if you can find all nine dragons — if you find them, a prize awaits you! Stop by the Information desk to pick up your dragon activity booklet.
Yin Yu Tang Film Screenings
12–4 pm | Morse Auditorium
Learn about the Yin Yu Tang home as well as daily life and celebrations in rural China through this series of documentary shorts.
- “One Day in Ping Wei”
Follow a little girl as she goes about her day in a town in Anhui Province, the home region of Yin Yu Tang, and learn about life in rural China through her eyes. (Pearl River Productions. Mandarin and English, with subtitles. Runtime: 30 mins.) - “Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home”
Experience the journey of this 200-year old Chinese house as it is dismantled in its village, shipped to America and re-erected at the Peabody Essex Museum. The significance of homes and the families they shelter in Chinese culture is presented through vivid images of construction techniques and ceremonies and through interviews with Huang family members and participants in the Yin Yu Tang project. (Runtime: about 17 minutes.) - “Guo Nian: Passage into a New Year”
Lunar New Year festivities in China often last two weeks and entail days of preparation. This film documents contemporary celebrations in the Huizhou region (the original home of Yin Yu Tang) and records reminiscences of New Years past. (Runtime: about 17 minutes.) - “Guomen: A Village Wedding”
A young woman and her family prepare for her wedding in a village near Huang Cun, the original home of Yin Yu Tang. In the groom's household, they are readying the new couple's bedroom and a grand wedding feast. The bride, her father, and others describe the traditional rituals and emotional stress, while elders – some of them former residents of Yin Yu Tang – recall their own weddings. (Runtime: about 17 minutes.)
Traditional Chinese Paper Cutting with Zhonghe (Elena) Li
1 pm and 2 pm | Create Space Studios
Same-day tickets are required for this timed workshop; capacity is limited. Tickets are available at the Information desk.
Spring has arrived! Frogs and ducks are appearing in neighborhood ponds. Chipmunks and rabbits are peeking out of their burrows and birds are building nests. Join artist Zhonghe (Elena) Li for a spring-themed lesson in Chinese paper cutting. She will show you basic skills using scissors, and you will create along with her and tell your own stories!
About our collaborator
Zhonghe (Elena) Li is a multimedia artist based in Cambridge, MA, who specializes in the traditional Chinese art of paper cutting. Over the past decade, she has passionately embraced this ancient craft, using scissors as her primary tool. Li's work seeks to bridge the gap between traditional papercutting and contemporary art, addressing issues such as species extinction, climate change and their impact on humanity's future.
Motivated by her love for nature, Li's art is deeply rooted in the Taoist philosophy of interconnectivity and balance among all beings. She has received numerous grants and awards for her work, including a 2021 grant from Mount Auburn Cemetary's Artist-in-Residence program, four grants from the Cambridge Arts Council, a 2022 Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) Traditional Art Fellowship and an MCC Traditional Arts Apprenticeship for 2023-24. Li also collaborates with local communities through Mass Audubon's Nature in the City Program. You can find more of her work at hehe.li@instagram.
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