Bowers Museum

CONTEXT: This is my second time visiting Bowers, and the first time writing a review. I attended the opening for the FRIDA KAHLO: HER PHOTOS exhibit. I purchased my tickets beforehand on the museum's website. The process itself was easy, but the website was a little difficult to navigate. I also was planning on attending the featured speaker presentation at the opening, but the option was on a whole separate page, and you were not able to add any additional 'specialty' items in your cart unless you're adding them from the page, and you have to do it in two separate transactions. I showed up to the opening, the presentation was sold out, but luckily was able to buy a ticket off someone who had an extra one.

TICKETS: I recommend buying tickets online (just make sure you spend some time figuring out the website) for popular events.

PARKING: Is available right next to the museum for $6, but there's a free public parking lot across the street for free. It is off Main Street, close to the freeway entrance. There's plenty of free parking there!

AUDITORIUM PRESENTATIONS: The presentation I attended was publicized to be in Spanish, but ended up being bilingual. It detracted a little from the message of the presenter (would have preferred it in Spanish to flow better), but the organizers made it work.

Would definitely recommend this museum! They're a smaller museum, so you really feel taken care of and like the curators and staff really care about the art and their unique events.

No no no - this is not "Bowser" museum and it has nothing to do with Super Mario Bros. Bowers Museum is a pretty small museum (approximately 10 different exhibitions) that mainly focuses on Asian, Pacific Island, and California cultures (those three themes cover about 75% of exhibitions). In addition to exhibitions, you'll also find a small courtyard (called the Key Courtyard) located at the South Entrance and the Sculpture Garden located at the North Entrance.

*** Ticket Information ****

* Weekend Ticket - $15 for adult and $12 for student (12+) & senior (62+).

* Santa Ana residents (with proof of residency) get free general admission every Sunday,

* ALL visitors get free general admission on 1st Sunday of each month (Target Free First Sundays). Tickets are first-come, first-served and limit up to 1500 tickets per day.

*** Highlights ***

Qi Baishi (齊白石): China's Modern Master (April 11th, 2015 to July 11th, 2015): The 1st Qi Baishi exhibition in America. Qi Baishi is a legendary artist and a household name in China. His crab and shrimp drawings (what he is known for) are worth up to million and million of dollars (only if you can prove its legitimacy). One of his drawing (Eagle Standing on Pine Tree) was sold for $65.4 million in 2011 (http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/china-art-fraud/).

Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year Legacy (Ongoing): This exhibition will take you through various Chinese arts associated with each Chinese dynasty. You'll find jades, ceramics, Chinese bronzes, etc.

Sacred Realms: Temple Murals by Shashi Dhoj Tulachan From the Gayle and Edward P. Roski Collection (Ongoing): Once you've realized how much work and details it would take to create these thangkas (basically embroidered linen banners), you will be pretty amazed.

Spirits and Headhunters: Art of the Pacific Islands (Ongoing): Pictures of native Pacific Islanders on the wall were very visually stimulating and I was thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition. You'll find various artifacts such as arrows, shields, etc.

First Californians (Ongoing): Various potteries and personally nothing too exciting here.

California Legacies: Missions and Ranchos (1768-1848) (Ongoing): Definitely the emptiest exhibition for this museum. It might has to do with its location (the most remote, cornered, and isolated exhibition in.Bowers Museum).

***

Looking for European arts? Sorry this place ain't for you. Looking for giant Sculpture Garden or garden? Sorry, you should go visit the Getty Center instead. If you would like to learn more about Asian cultures and early California history, then this is definitely the museum for you.

P.S. - Free Wi-Fi available!

We had our wedding reception in the Margaret & Cleo Key Courtyard in August 2016 and the day couldn't have been more perfect! We primarily worked with Judy (Events) and Dominique (Tangata/Patina group) to plan our reception and both were professional, flexible, and accommodating to any special requests. Growing up in Orange County, I fell in love with the beautiful Spanish style courtyard, large open space, orange trees, and lavish staircase. Bowers Museum created the perfect romantic, California summer evening, outdoor reception.

My husband and I live in the bay area, so we planned our wedding from afar. Judy was always willing to help meet my parents when they had something to drop off from us and Dominique scheduled our tasting for one of the weekends we were in town. Our food tasting in itself was an experience and we had the most wonderful time sampling Tangata Restaurant's delicious cuisine. The chef worked to customize our final dish selections and ensured us that they always have other options for those guests with food allergies (we had a few severe peanut allergies). Dominique worked with us and our planner to arrange the final floor plan for our reception and even ordered tablecloth linen samples for me to look at.

As far as the actual wedding day goes, it was perfect. Everything was setup on time, the staff was courteous, and the food was delicious! Our guests continue to rave about how stunning the reception was and how it was some of the best food they have ever had at a wedding.

If having an event at Bowers Museum, you do have to go with their catering (Patina group) and have liability insurance for your vendors. You will though, need to order your cake from an outside vendor. The price of the catering was a decent amount of money, but the quality of venue and food you are getting will be much worth it! The Key Courtyard at the Bowers Museum is BY FAR one of the most beautiful wedding venues in Southern California!

Another fine exhibition from Bowers. Well displayed, plenty of relative information. Mummies of the World is educational and exhibited with respect and dignity. The advantage of handheld walking tour devices should not be over looked and supplied at no extra charge.

An extra benefit are the volunteers that add insight and personal knowledge about the rest of the museum. The ones I encountered were passionate and truly helpful to enhance the museum experience. Well worth visiting.

I was blown away by the depth and variety of exhibits here. We didn't get tickets to the Frida Kahlo exhibition, but we enjoyed the museum nonetheless. You could easily spend half a day here in order to get the most out of the experience.

My favorite exhibits were the Chinese Art and California Bounty exhibits. I didn't spend nearly as much time in the Chinese exhibit as I would have liked, and I easily could have taken an hour to go through 5000 years of art and artifacts. The California Bounty exhibits told a compelling tale of California's development, focusing on Southern California. From the ancient peoples to the missions to the ranchos to the modern sprawl of Southern California, the exhibit told the story of the people and culture of California through many forms of media.

Overall, the plates were descriptive and well-crafted for the majority of the pieces. Staff were also very helpful in answering questions about the exhibits and the museum itself. I just wish I had brought my headphones with me to do the audio tour. This is definitely a must-do for anyone in the Orange County area!

It's a wonderful museum! So close and convenient in Santa Ana. They have amazing year-round exhibits we love to see again and again. But we also love all the special exhibits of African Art, handicrafts and photographs as well as the exhibit of knights, arms and armor. We love this museum and the grounds. It's a lovely way to spend the day.

Not sure if they have free parking, I parked at the back parking lot, charged $6, and the adults tickets is $15 at weekend .little kid is free. Maybe it's a really interesting place, the little boy said :I love this museum, too many things to see, I want bring dad to here...

Gorgeous museum filled with versatile exhibits and pieces of art. I highly recommend the special exhibits. At the moment there is a "African Twilight" exhibit that captures the vanishing ceremonies and rituals of various African tribes. This was definitely my favorite, and it included a culmination of African tribes across a wide array of areas. This exhibit had spectacular candid photos of each tribe engaging in various practices (some enlightening and others heartbreaking/eye-opening). There was also a Native American exhibit which highlighted the art of Native American tribes. It was incredible to see the stark contrast between tribes, depending on their location.

Overall, I love this museum and I hope to return for the special exhibits that are to come!!!

Great museum with wonderful staff and some really beautiful displays. The jade and gold room is a must see. Such dainty and skillfully made work

This is a cultural museum, not an art museum, so you'll find artifacts, not portraiture.

$15 per adult weekends.
$12 per adult weekdays.
$6 parking.

The Bowers is not by any means a sprawling establishment, so if you're looking for something comparable to the MOMA or the Getty, then calm your horses. You will need roughly 2-3 hours to completely explore the different wings in the Bowers, and the rooms are filled with empty space. This isn't to say there isn't anything to look at because there is, though not as much as one would hope given the square footage.

The Chinese wing has artifacts set up chronologically going clockwise once your enter the room. Panels explaining the dynasties take you around the exhibit which explores daily life, death, and rituals.

The Headhunter exhibit was interesting and had far more to look at than the Chinese exhibit. Morbid curiosity also played a role in my increased interest I'm sure, but the exhibit itself is interesting with great variety ranging from ceremonial tools to headdresses to hunting tools.

The mummy "exhibit" was severely disappointing. It was once small room with one mask and a few notes on the walls.

The California room was fairly plain and uninteresting, though I'm not particularly interested in California history so that's just my take.

The temporary exhibit on the Popol Vuh caught my eye since I spent two years studying the myth and culture of Mesoamerica. Unfortunately, it was nothing more than a book report set up as an exhibit. It was nice and I enjoyed the retelling of the story, but I was hoping for more.

The courtyard is small with astroturf.
The restaurant is empty and expensive and part of the Patina group which is well known for its well-placed, high-priced, horrible tasting restaurants.
The staff are friendly and genuinely enjoy speaking with you about the exhibits.

All in all, I am happy with the Bowers and it was nice to see how the expansion added to the property. I'm looking forward to future exhibits traveling through.