Dear Art Prof Family,

I think about myself as a fairly tenacious, passionate person. I've got my own share of crazy things I have done when I've been desperate to get something done.

I once convinced a student that throwing their sculpture against the wall (and thereby obliterating it) was a good idea.

However, I can say that I have never been bit by a human.

King is the museum director of Yuan Quan Museum in Anhui province in China. His stories make me feel like I am not remotely as driven as I thought I was by comparison.

Due to the Cultural Revolution in China, artifacts and relics all over the country were being destroyed. King has devoted his life to rescuing these antiquities.

"This scar on my wrist is actually from over 30 years ago, when I went up into the mountains of Huizhou to collect antiques. The roads were really rough back then, still under construction.

I was with a few artist friends and a professor when some young guys, drunk from drinking, stopped our car. They wanted us to give them a ride home, but we refused.

They got angry and picked up stones to smash our car. I grabbed one of them to stop him, and he bit down hard on my wrist. That’s why I still have this plum-blossom shaped bite mark today."

Now THAT is passion! King has gone into people's kitchens in rural China, and taken away wood sculptures that someone was about to burn for fuel.

Here is King's story about how he started collecting:

"In 1981, I rented a storefront from Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics General Store to sell electric fans. There were two elderly gentlemen working there, Mr. Ma and Mr. Chen.

Mr. Chen was a former prisoner released from Baihu Farm Prison. His family had been in the cultural relics trading business. Later, he was labeled a 'counter-revolutionary' and imprisoned.

After China's reform, he was assigned to work at Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics General Store, where he was in charge of purchasing and selling cultural relics.

He said to me: "If you have some spare money, you can start collecting these items—just for fun."

Every time I clean a piece, research its history, or simply look at it sitting on the shelf, I feel like I’m connecting with the past—with the people who made these things, with the lives they lived, and with the traditions that shaped them.

It’s not about the value; it’s about holding onto those pieces of history so they don’t get lost."

What are some of your favorite museums you have been to? Reply and tell me about one of your museum visits!

xoxo Prof Lieu

"Reading this guide, which is conversational in tone, is like learning from the experiences of a bunch of friends who are with you in your own home studio."

Fred Lynch, RISD Professor

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