Arts & Culture in LA Survey

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

Thank you to everyone who came & supported Drawing the Line: Japanese American Art, Design & Activism in Post-War Los Angeles by visiting the exhibition and attending the related public programs.

Drawing the Line was our participation in the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980 project, a collaboration of more than fifty cultural institutions across Southern California, which came together for six months beginning October 2011 to tell the story of the birth of the Los Angeles art scene and how it became a major new force in the art world.

All of the partners in this ground-breaking collaboration have been asked to issue a survey to its members and supporters to close out the project. The survey will collect general responses on attitudes about arts and culture in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California and is a follow-up to one conducted prior to the project launch.

Could you help us again with this follow-up survey?

Please take this brief survey to help the Japanese American National Museum and other arts institutions across Southern California plan events and exhibitions.

The survey is anonymous and takes just a few minutes. Your responses will help us understand how to improve experiences for our visitors and foster collaboration among arts organizations.

Take me to the survey >>

Thank you for your help!

New Hours for Museum Store

Maria Kwong Leave a comment

As of this week, the Museum Store is OPEN on Tuesdays again! Due to staffing concerns, for the past two and a half years we cut our open hours by one day during the non-holiday season. But we are very pleased to announce that we are back to being open the same days that the Museum is open!

This will be good news to all the school groups who come for tours during the week, as well as the many visitors who are coming to see the Folding Paper show.

To reiterate: Museum Store Hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 11:00AM-5:00PM. Thursdays 12:00-8:00PM.

Google’s Origami Logo

Guest Blogger 4 Comments

Today, March 14, 2012 the internet search engine Google is celebrating the life and work of Japanese origami Master Akira Yoshizawa by spelling out its banner logo in origami letters.

Google Origami Logo designed by Robert J. Lang

Such a move is a testament to Yoshizawa’s contribution to the worldwide phenomenon that origami has become. It’s timing is also wonderful as we celebrate the opening this week of the exhibition Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami at the Japanese American National Museum.

Had Yoshizawa lived another seven years—he was born on March 14, 1911 and died in 2005—today would have been Yoshizawa’s 101st birthday. Yoshizawa was the world’s first full-time origami artist. In his twenties, he gave up his job in a factory to devote his life to origami. Over the course of his long life, he created numerous new origami designed, including rabbits, gorillas, pandas, and the pelican featured in the Folding Paper exhibition at JANM.

Akira Yoshizawa, photo courtesy of Mrs. Kiyo Yoshizawa

Yoshizawa also invented a new folding technique called wet folding, which enables folders to smooth down points and angles to create more naturalistic figures. This technique revolutionized origami, transforming it into a medium that is now used by artists all over the world to create exquisitely modeled folded paper sculptures.

In addition, he developed a system of notation for origami designs made up of arrows and lines to indicate the types and directions of folds. A version of this system, which helps people who don’t read Japanese to understand origami instructions, has essentially become the written language of origami instruction. In acknowledgement of his contributions to the evolution and spread of origami worldwide, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun in 1983

Now, back to Google’s logo. It might be surprising to some that the playful origami letters were not generated by a computer. They were folded by renowned American origami artist Robert J. Lang. Lang, a laser physicist with a Ph.D. from CalTech, like Yoshizawa, left his job at JPL in Pasadena to become a full-time origami artist, and he now designs a wide range of origami forms, writes and lectures all around the world about origami (watch Robert Lang’s TED talk >>).

Lang’s approach to origami is highly mathematical, as can be seen in his super-complex insects and animals like the Emperor Scorpion on view in the Folding Paper exhibition. He is also regularly asked to apply his profound understanding of the mathematical origami to projects in the realms of space exploration, medicine, car air bag design, television commercials and now search engine logo design.

Scorpion HP, opus 593 by Robert J. Lang, 2011, folded from one uncut square of Hanji paper

Lang was my advisor for the exhibition since its conception in early 2010. I had thought I couldn’t be more impressed by Robert than I already was. He epitomizes the spirit of contemporary origami in his brilliance, artistry and generosity of spirit. Today he told me that when he was hired by Google to design its origami logo, he was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.  He had to keep the project a secret. Now he’s being hired to do top secret origami assignments! Can he get any more awesome?!

Come and celebrate Akira Yoshizawa, Robert J. Lang and other outstanding origami artists at JANM! If you need to find the museum’s address, just google it!

Robert J. Lang will give a lecture at JANM entitled From Flapping Birds to Space Telescopes: The Modern Science of Origami
on Saturday May 26 at 2pm.

Posted by Meher McArthur, Curator of Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami

Folding Paper opens Saturday!

Vicky Murakami-Tsuda Leave a comment

The exhibition opening is almost here! Folding Paper: The Infinite Possibilities of Origami opens this Saturday with a big day of origami activities at our March Target Free Family Saturday event.

It’s a FREE day full of activities, a gallery tour of Folding Paper with curator Meher McArthur, a talk and book signing with Takayuki Ishii, author of One Thousand Paper Cranes: The Story of Sadako and the Children’s Peace Statue.

Check out the full schedule >>

 

For Museum Members, we hope you can join us for the special Members’ Preview on Friday night. The program will include curator Meher McArthur and our new President & CEO G.W. Kimura.

 

To learn more about Folding Paper, visit janm.org for information about the exhibition, a list of related public programs, artist bios, and photos. You can also download an origami resources list from the Activities page.

Folding Paper exhibition site >>

NEW! Just in! Hinamatsuri Blend Tea

Maria Kwong Leave a comment

I wanted to post this yesterday for the actual Hinamatsuri Day, but in our family Hinamatsuri lasts all of March, so this is as good a time as any! We are proud to be offering another tea collaboartion with Chado, this time a very light and Spring-y offering of green bancha tea with safflowers, marigolds and peach pieces.

The signature flower for Hinamatsuri is the peach blossom. In fact the celebration is also know as Momo no Sekku (Peach Blossom Festival–For a beautiful vision of this, check out Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams” movie.)

One whiff of this tea and you will want to picnic under a flowering peach tree! (This item will be online in about 24 hours!)

Welcome Dr. G.W. Kimura!

Maria Kwong Leave a comment

Tried postinbg this earlier on the JANM FB page, but it seems to have disappeared. Just wanted to give a shout out to our new CEO who we officially welcomed at an All Staff meeting yesterday. He was given the grand tour of our messy office (we are working on tidying it up, really…) and has been chatting with staff here and there. Hope he is finding all the cool places to eat downtown and isn’t too homesick for Alaskan cuisine.

First 2-Day Shibori Workshop – FANTASTIC!

Keiko Doi 1 Comment

Last month, JANM held its first two-day shibori workshop with Shibori Girl that focused on indigo dyeing. Students had unlimited access to vats of both natural and synthetic indigo for two days of intense shibori immersion. A dream come true for some of us. Glennis Dolce, Shibori Girl herself, provided each student with an assortment of natural fabrics for experimentation and taught both basic and intermediate shibori techniques.

On the first day, students were a bit timid about trying the different shibori techniques and the dyeing process. But by the second day, students had transformed into passionate avant-garde artists dyeing everything from pieces of leftover string to their own clothing while experimenting with the various stitching, tying and clamping techniques.

Bounty from the Two-Day Workshop

 

 

 

 

 

There’s this wonderful aspect of shibori – you really don’t know what your piece will look like after all that stitching, binding, clamping, and dyeing. The process of unwrapping your fabric and seeing the finished piece is magical. Whether hours were spent hand-stitching an intricate pattern or the fabric was quickly folded and clamped, each project seemed to turn out beautifully.

Thank you Glennis for a fantastic weekend workshop! And thanks to the shibori classmates who were not only inspirational but really fun. More fun please.

♦ ♦ ◊ ♦ ♦

ABOUT OUR WORKSHOPS
Our cultural art and cooking workshops feature excellent instructors like shibori artist Glennis Dolce and food writer Sonoko Sakai and attract a wonderfully eclectic group of students – and the most devoted – some traveling from Northern California, Palm Springs and even Michigan!

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
The next Shibori Girl workshop will be held on Saturday, March 3 featuring silk and color dyes. The next soba making workshop will be on Sunday, March 11 with Ms. Sakai. Reserve a spot by calling (213) 625-0414.

Upcoming Color Shibori Class!

 

Fighting for Democracy is in Michigan!

Lynn Yamasaki Leave a comment

Whew!  I can’t believe it’s already been a week since I was in Michigan celebrating the opening of our exhibition Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We the People?” at the Arab American National Museum.  Not only did the Great Lakes State welcome me with surprisingly warm weather (a very important detail for this Southern Californian) but, the warm welcome and generous hospitality from the fantastic staff at the AANM made it a great trip. 

It’s always interesting to see this exhibit installed in the various cities to which it’s traveled.  Whether it is displayed in Philadelphia where the Constitution was signed, steps away from the actual Constitution on the National Mall, or in Hawai‘i where we joined Domingo Los Baños (one of the individuals featured in the exhibit) in his home state, each place adds different meaning and significance to the exhibit.  The Arab American National Museum is the 8th stop on Fighting for Democracy’s tour and it is an institution that we, at JANM feel a special connection with.  Not only do we share the commonality of being culturally specific museums that promote the appreciation of our country’s diversity; but, we also have common histories and stories that are particularly important to share as we consider parallels between the Japanese American World War II experience and the treatment of Arab Americans following the events of September 11, 2001.

What is great about Fighting for Democracy traveling to AANM right now is that is goes along so well with their current exhibition Patriots & Peacemakers: Arab Americans in Service to our Country.  Linking the past to the present, both exhibitions focus on individual personal stories as a way to think about broader stories and the bigger picture.  I think that’s a great way to make meaning.        

Many thanks to the wonderful people at the Arab American National Museum for being so welcoming and for working so hard to get the exhibition up.  If you’re in the area, be sure to go see our friends in Dearborn.  It is a great museum and definitely worth a stop!

Happy birthday, Fred Korematsu!

Allyson Nakamoto Leave a comment

January 30 is Fred T. Korematsu’s birthday! He would have been 93 years old.

Gift of Tsuyako “Sox” Kitashima, Japanese American National Museum (98.152.1).

In 2010 Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 1775, calling for all Californians to annually recognize January 30 as “Fred T. Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution.” This is the first and only “day” named for an Asian American anywhere in the nation.

This day commemorates a young man who disobeyed the government’s 1942 order that excluded all people of Japanese ancestry, without due process, from the West Coast. Korematsu was arrested and eventually removed to a Japanese American concentration camp in Utah. He appealed his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in 1944 the Court ruled against him, declaring that the exclusion and confinement of people of Japanese descent was justified.

[He didn’t mention any of this to his daughter, Karen. She only found out about it in high school when her classmate was assigned to read a book about a man named Fred Korematsu. She thought, “That can’t be my father!”]

In 1983 and with the efforts of a very sharp, pro bono legal team, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction. Though relieved, it concerned Korematsu that the decision Korematsu v. United States remains on the books. He continued to vigilantly fight for the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, filing two amicus briefs following 9/11.

Korematsu Institute’s Fred Korematsu Day Logo

Fred Korematsu passed away in 2005, at age 86. Karen continues her father’s legacy. She co-founded the Korematsu Institute and goes to schools to share her father’s story with young people.

This is just a brief post about Fred Korematsu. There are many ways to learn more. The Los Angeles County Office of Education‘s video from a recent student program featuring Karen Korematsu will soon be available on-line. (See Christy’s re-cap of the program here.) JANM has a high school mock trial lesson plan created by Texas teacher, Mark Hansen. On February 2, Korematsu will become the first Asian American to have his portrait included in the Struggle for Justice exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. And the Korematsu Institute is aggregating activities taking place around the nation to celebrate Korematsu Day 2012.

We hope that you, too, will celebrate the legacy of Fred Korematsu, a man who fought for our civil rights.