The exhibition was funded in part by The City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and The County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program.
An exhibition of fifty-six Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) hatboxes created to hold officials’ hats was on view in the gallery next to TRANSFORMED BY FIRE. Made of wood, lacquer, paper and leather, all were nineteenth or twentieth century, and each one was different. Mostly round in shape or many-sided, there was still among them a great diversity of form — a marvelous example of variation on sameness. Theodore Cohen, designer of both TRANSFORMED BY FIRE and this exhibition, donated this unusual collection, gathered by him over a number of years, to the Museum in 2008.
Accompanying the hatboxes was one summer hat.
In conjunction with this exhibition, a CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL to celebrate the New Year was held on Saturday February 27, 2010.