A centuries-old tradition of weaving and shaping bamboo takes striking contemporary form in Twisted, Plaited, Sculpted: Collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, opening Nov. 7, 2026, and continuing through Oct. 17, 2027, at the Crow Museum of Asian Art’s Dallas Arts District location.
Marking the Crow Museum’s first collaboration with the Dallas-based Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation, Twisted, Plaited, Sculpted brings together 22 works by 17 Japanese artists, including Living National Treasures Fujinuma Noboru and Fujitsuka Shosei. Drawn from one of the foundation’s four major collecting areas, the exhibition showcases the remarkable breadth and creative possibilities of woven bamboo as artists reshape and manipulate a familiar plant material to push the boundaries of natural form.
From dream-like basketry to abstract sculpture, the works reveal how artists transform bamboo, a versatile material more commonly encountered in gardens, fields and landscapes, into intricate and unexpected forms.
Flying Dragon
Madake (Japanese timber bamboo), susutake (aged bamboo), rattan
Tanabe Kochikusai
Japanese, 1935-2021
Collection of Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
Dr. Natalia Di Pietrantonio, curator of the Crow Museum of Asian Art, organized the exhibition into four thematic sections – Baskets Reimagined, Abstract, Spiral and Verticality – that explore the fragility, resilience and versatility of bamboo while inviting new ways of considering how nature and art are intertwined.
Bamboo has a long history in Japanese culture, appearing in folklore and tradition for centuries. Its functional use stretches back even further, with bamboo utensils dating to Japan’s Jomon period (c. 13,000–300 BCE). Contemporary artists have built upon that history, reimagining bamboo beyond its utilitarian roots through technical precision and individual artistic expression.
“Carl and I have long been drawn to Japanese bamboo for the extraordinary skill and innovation artists bring to a material with such a legacy,” said Marilynn Thoma, co-founder, Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with the Crow Museum to share works from our collection with North Texas audiences and to offer a broader view of bamboo as a dynamic and evolving art form. It is especially meaningful to present this exhibition here in Dallas, deepening our collaboration with an institution that has done so much to foster an appreciation of Asian art in our community.”
Carl and Marilynn Thoma began collecting Japanese bamboo art in 2011, initially focusing on contemporary non-functional basketry. The collection has since expanded to include contemporary woven bamboo baskets and sculptural bamboo and rattan vessels by independent artists as well as artists associated with Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) and the Nihon Kogeikai (Japan Craft Arts Association), Japan’s two professional associations represented within this collecting area.
The Thoma Foundation, established in 2014, maintains its headquarters in Dallas and public exhibition space, Thoma Collection, in Santa Fe. Its collection encompasses nearly 2,000 works across four areas: Art of the Spanish Americas, Digital and Media Art, Japanese Bamboo, and Post-war Painting and Sculpture.
Bliss, 2015
Madake (Japanese timber bamboo), rattan
Kizaki Kazutoshi
Japanese, born 1976
Collection of Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
“This first collaboration brings together two institutions deeply connected to the cultural life of Dallas and creates a meaningful opportunity to share the Thoma Foundation’s Japanese bamboo collection with North Texas audiences in a new context,” said Amy Lewis Hofland, senior director of the Crow Museum of Asian Art. “We want visitors to encounter the arts of Asia in ways that feel both rooted in history and alive in the present, and this exhibition offers a window into how generations of artists have continued to reinterpret this evolving art form.”
Expanding the exhibition’s exploration of plant-based materials beyond Japan, the Crow Museum will also mark the U.S. debut of Mumbai-based artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, whose monumental Armour for the Bride sculpture will be on view alongside video and photography.
Known for her life-sized, armor-like forms woven from cane, Kulkarni transforms another common plant species into complex structures that surround and reshape the human body. Through her work, she explores gender and the freedoms and constraints experienced within public and private urban spaces. Her sculptures can suggest both protection and confinement.
Kulkarni’s work has gained international attention, including a series of commissions for Dior’s 2024 ready-to-wear collection.
“The Crow Museum is honored to partner with the Thoma Foundation to showcase the technical sophistication and expressive range of Japanese bamboo art,” said Dr. Di Pietrantonio. “Seen together, the bamboo works and Kulkarni’s sculpture reveal how artists across Asia have wielded and transformed everyday plant materials into elaborate forms that reflect both the artists' skill with these challenging media and the thoughtful conversations they provoke.”
This exhibition is supported in part by Orchid Giving Circle.
Twisted, Plaited, Sculpted: Collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation will be on view Nov. 7, 2026-Oct. 17, 2027, at the Crow Museum of Asian Art’s Dallas Arts District location, 2010 Flora St., Dallas, TX 75201. The Crow Museum’s Dallas Arts District and UT Dallas locations are open Tuesdays-Sundays from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and closed Mondays. Admission is free.
For more information, visit crowmuseum.org or call 214-979-6430.
The Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas inspires and promotes learning and dialogue about the arts and cultures of Asia through its exhibitions, the research and preservation of its collections, artistic and educational programming, and visitor experience and engagement. The museum accomplishes this in accordance with the highest professional standards and through collaboration with diverse audiences and community partners within North Texas and throughout the world. The original location in the Dallas Arts District was founded in 1998; in 2019, the Crow family gifted the collection to The University of Texas at Dallas in honor of its founders and to ensure its preservation and care in perpetuity. A second location on the UT Dallas campus in Richardson opened in fall 2024 as part of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, a multi-phase arts and performance complex designed by Morphosis Architects. Both locations are free and open to the public with an array of beautiful spaces and galleries, groundbreaking exhibitions and programs, and a commitment to enhancing the region’s artistic and cultural landscape.
The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation was founded to enhance lives and communities through access to the arts and education. The Foundation makes art collection-related grants to institutions and individuals and lends and exhibits its collection to museums and galleries worldwide. The public can also experience works from the Foundation's collection firsthand at its Dallas headquarters and exhibition space, as well as at Thoma Collection, its public art space in Santa Fe.
Feature photo:
Beppu Ocean, 2024
Madake (Japanese timber bamboo), bamboo
Endo Gen
Japanese, born 1976
Collection of Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
All images published with permission