Join us for a special planetarium show and craft session celebrating the Japanese festival of Tanabata. Tanabata celebrates the mythical meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, represented by the stars Vega and Altair. According to Japanese legend, the two lovers are separated by the milky way and can only meet once a year, on the seventh (… continued)
Join us for a special version of our traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony to celebrate Tanabata! Celebrated in Japan since the 700s, Tanabata is a Japanese star festival that tells the story of the celestial lovers Orihime and Hikoboshi. Enjoy exploring the themes of Tanabata with your host Yukie Williams and Yukie Scott as you learn (… continued)
This summer holiday we are opening our doors on Mondays for a special MEAA kids’ takeover! Feel free to be as loud as you like while exploring the exhibitions, playing traditional games, and discovering new things. With toys, trails, riddles, and more, come to MEAA for plenty of kid-friendly activities. There will be a range (… continued)
Take some time to slow down at the Museum with our summer Calm Morning sessions. We are opening an hour early every Wednesday to give you the chance to engage in some slow looking in the quiet of the morning. Deepen your connection with a piece of art using our slow looking prompts and find (… continued)
Join us at MEAA to celebrate all things nature! Be inspired by the woodblock works included in our In Bloom exhibition and create your own work of art. Use our petal-shaped ink print stamps to create patterns and designs on craft paper.
Join us at the Museum and explore a selection of teas from across East and Southeast Asia provided by our long-time partner, Comins Tea. The team from Comins will explain where each tea comes from, what gives them their distinctive flavours, and how best to enjoy them. For this event, we will have a limited (… continued)
Learn about traditional Japanese tea culture through this Tea Ceremony hosted in our museum galleries on 24 April, 22 May, and 19 June 2025. Try ceremonial grade matcha tea prepared for you by your host, Yukie Williams. With over a decade’s experience in practising tea ceremonies, known as sadō (茶道), Yukie Williams draws inspiration from (… continued)
Learn the techniques of making and decorating your own Nerikiri sweets with a hands-on workshop led by Japanese confectionary artist Ryoko. Nerikiri is a traditional Japanese sweet that is highly decorative, often representing the beauty of the four seasons. Kneaded from mix of sweet bean paste, glutinous rice flour, and natural food colouring, they are (… continued)
Join us to celebrate spring at MEAA! How many of the origami cranes hidden in our top floor can you find? Visit the Museum this half term to find out! Explore the Museum to spot cranes on our objects and to learn more about these beautiful birds, where they come from in East Asia, and (… continued)
This March, Curious Minds Festival is bringing you Movie at the Museum, a brand-new film series where cinema meets Bath’s most iconic historic spaces! FilmBath and Archaeo-Heritage Film will screen five incredible films as part of Curious Minds, each shown in a museum that brings its themes to life. This screening of Yasujirō Ozu’s Late (… continued)
Join us at MEAA to welcome spring! Make cherry blossoms, cranes, and other symbols of spring using the Japanese art of origami. See butterflies and praying mantises come to life in your hands as you make a piece of paper turn into art. Learn about what these symbols mean in East and Southeast Asia while (… continued)
Discover how flowers have inspired generations of artists across East and Southeast Asia through a display of floral-themed objects from the Museum’s collection, shown alongside the work of contemporary artists and makers. Experience Hiroko Imada’s cherry blossom forest installation Sakura Saku 桜咲く. Discover Wen-Hsi Harman’s ceramic sculpture Rose Petals, a reflection on the distance between (… continued)
Dragons, Dragons, Dragons is a family-focused exhibition, showcasing over 50 dragon-themed objects from the Museum’s collection. Explore the stories and symbolism of dragons across China, Japan, and Korea through our family-friendly activities. Design your own dragon to hang in our ‘Dragon Gallery’; write your own dragon myth; and learn more about their history through our (… continued)
This 30th anniversary exhibition pays tribute to Brian Shane McElney OBE, who founded the Museum of East Asian Art in 1993, and who passed away on 26 April 2023 at the age of 90. Through a series of rare historical photographs, and a display of 30 treasures from the collection, this exhibition uncovers hidden stories (… continued)
The Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA) in Bath is delighted to present an exciting new exhibition Connecting Threads: Fashion Inspired by the MEAA Collection which opens on 28 June and runs until 20 December 2023. Working in partnership with the Museum, and taking inspiration from objects in the Museum’s collection, students from the Art (… continued)
The exhibition showcases a series of prints selected from Muban Educational Trust’s collection of over 6,000 and tells the story of China’s twentieth-century wars, revolution and rejuvenation. The exhibition explores artistic trends, political movements and technical developments in modern Chinese printmaking. The works presented mark several significant anniversaries in China’s modern history, including the May (… continued)
This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view the work by Hong Kong photographer, Nancy Sheung. This is only the second time that Nancy’s work has been shown in the UK. Nancy’s work is often focused on the female and has a strong emphasis on patterns and lines. It stands out from her contemporaries in (… continued)
Book your timed ticket Judo was devised by Jigorō Kanō (1860-1938) in the 1880s derived from more ancient forms of the Japanese martial arts known as jūjutsu. He described judo as ‘not a mere sport or game. I regard it as a principle of life, art and science. In fact, it is a means for (… continued)