Contact: Brenda Maysonet
CKPR
(407) 541-0807
bmaysone@ckpr.biz

or
Nancy Knight
Peabody Place Museum
(901) 523-ARTS

PEABODY PLACE MUSEUM CELEBRATES CHINESE NEW YEAR 2005
Month of New Year's Festivities Comes to Peabody Place Museum Feb.1

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Jan. 19, 2005) - Peabody Place Museum welcomes the year of the Rooster with its fourth annual Chinese New Year's celebration. The Museum will celebrate Chinese New Year's throughout the month of February with special events that include: a children's art exhibit and contest, a family day celebration, martial arts demonstrations and musical performances.

"Peabody Place Museum is proud to support the artistic growth of the Memphis community," said Nancy Knight, director of the Peabody Place Museum. "The Museum, as well as its events and exhibits promote education and cultural enrichment through interaction, entertainment and beauty."

Peabody Place Museum's Chinese New Year's celebration will begin with a special art exhibit as Shelby County school children display artworks submitted for the Museum's Chinese New Year's art contest. Starting Tuesday, Feb.1 through Friday, Feb. 11 museum patrons will receive a ballot with the price of admission to vote on their favorite children's artwork(s). Contest winners will be announced during a private award ceremony for the participants on Saturday, Feb. 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Children's artworks will continue to be displayed at the Museum until Feb. 23.

Peabody Place Museum also will host a special Family Day New Year's celebration on Friday, Feb. 12 with hands-on arts and crafts for children less than 10 years of age. Festivities also will include martial arts demonstrations, Chinese musical performances and displays of Chinese art forms that include calligraphy, paper cutting and paper folding. To commemorate the occasion, The Museum will offer free admission to the public from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.

As the longest chronological record in history, the Chinese Lunar New Year holds great significance for Chinese and Asian communities. The Chinese calendar began in 2697 BC when the Yellow King was crowned. This year, the year of the Rooster, is the 4,702nd Chinese Year, which begins on Feb. 9, 2005.

About Peabody Place Museum
Opened in 1998, the Museum is home to one of the largest collections of 19th century Chinese art. The permanent exhibit at the Museum includes objects created for Chinese nobility during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The collections include intricately carved jade sculptures, crafted enamelware pieces and rare objects carved in ivory. The Museum also has smaller collections of fossils and minerals, contemporary European art glass, Russian lacquer boxes, Judaica art and more. Additionally, the Museum recently added an interpretive jade exhibit to its permanent collection of Chinese art and Judaica. Consisting of five permanent "information stations," the exhibit can help visitors gain a greater understanding and appreciation of jade's material and symbolic significance in Chinese culture.

Peabody Place Museum is open from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from noon until 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For information on special group rates, guided tours, educational programs, teachers' packets and special event room rental, contact the Museum at (901) 523-ARTS.