We recently interviewed artist Patrick Nagatani and his upcoming retrospective exhibition opening at JANM next weekend. Check out the article on our Discover Nikkei website:
Seeing Beauty Through a Magic Lens: Patrick Nagatani and 35 Years of Art
By Darryl Mori Read the interview >>
We also just launched the exhibition site which includes more information, including:
– short blurbs about the various series included in the exhibition
– prompts for the upcoming Guide by Cell audio guide that is being prepared with Patrick Nagatani
– an article about the exhibition by Lisa Sasaki who coordinated the travel of the show from the University of New Mexico’s University Art Museum. This is my favorite quote from the artist about why Nagatani feels that JANM is a perfect venue for the exhibition:
“This is the place that my parents will come to see my work. This is the place where it belongs.”
For those who can’t make it down to see the exhibition or prefer to watch it from the comfort of your own home, we will be sharing them online over the next few months.
The first video up is about Gidra, the seminal magazine of the Asian American movement published from April 1969 to April 1974.
Stan Sakai will be at the Museum for a book signing on Sunday, October 30 from 12-1:30pm!
Photo by Nobuyuki Okada
Next Sunday will also be your last chance to see the Year of the Rabbit: Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo exhibition before it closes.
Due to time constraints, Stan will only be signing books. Only 3 books per person at a time (depending on how crowded it is, you could get back in line if you have more books you want signed).
Avoid the lines & buy your books from the Museum Store early! Don’t forget, Museum Members get a 10% discount at the Store…and signed books make great gifts!
Kids! Check out the “Fun Stuff” page on the exhibition site to download a special Usagi Yojimbo coloring sheet. Color it in and bring it to the museum to receive one free Youth admission! Offer expires 10/30/11.
Growing up, I used to put together jigsaw puzzles together with my family. In some ways, working at the museum reminds me of that.
One of the things I enjoy most about working at the museum is getting to learn new stories. The diversity of these stories and the individuals and topics covered keeps my interest continually piqued whether it’s community history, individual stories, cultural traditions, or art. All of these diverse stories are like pieces of the puzzle that make up the Japanese American experience.
Now that Drawing the Line has opened, it’s time to add the next piece of the puzzle. Desire for Magic: Patrick Nagatani 1978-2008 opens at the museum on November 19th!
Image from "Japanese Children’s Day Carp Banners, Paguate Village, Jackpile Mine Uranium Tailings, Laguna Pueblo Reservation, New Mexico," 1990, Chromogenic print
Created by the University of New Mexico’s University Art Museum, the exhibition is the first comprehensive look at the many and varied projects artist Patrick Nagatani has worked on since 1978.
As I’ve learned more about Nagatani and his process for creating his pieces, I’ve become more interested in seeing them in person and am eagerly awaiting their arrival from New Mexico.
Gallery Walk Through & Book Signing with Patrick Nagatani
Saturday, December 10 from 2-4pm
December 10th is one of our Target FREE Family Saturdays, so it’s a great day to visit with free crafts & workshops, plus free admission to check out all of our exhibitions!
The opening celebration for Drawing the Line: Japanese American Art, Design & Activism in Post-War Los Angeles is just a couple of hours away!
Join us tonight from 5:30 to 8pm to celebrate the opening members, many of the artists and their families & friends, and special guests. There’ll be a special performance by Nobuko Miyamoto with Benny Yee & Atomic Nancy!
Our staff & volunteers have been working hard to get the show ready to open. Along with the artwork & artifacts, our Watase Media Arts Center has developed new video segments about each of the featured artists. You’ll be able to view them in the exhibition, but will also be available for sale on a DVD through the Museum Store. There’s also a Guide by Cell audio guide with audio clips from the interview.
Check out the updated exhibition site for more info on the Guide by Cell, to see the bios for the featured artists, plus links to full scans from 4 issues of Gidra magazine on Discover Nikkei! There’s also more exhibition-related public programs added (more to come!).
Back home the Museum is on Pacific Standard Time with our Drawing the Line exhibition opening on October 15th but we also have some very exciting news to report from the Eastern Time Zone. Fighting for Democracy: Who is the “We” in “We the People?”is now at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and I’m thrilled to report that it looks fantastic in such a wonderful institution. With Fighting for Democracy’s stop in Philadelphia, this project of JANM’s National Center for the Preservation of Democracy has now traveled to seven cities across the country. There’s something significant about seeing this exhibition just a short walk from Independence Hall, where the Constitution was signed in 1787. I think its presence in this location and in this city will have visitors reflecting a lot about the “Who is the “We” in We the People?” question. Hmmmm… who was that “We” back in 1787? Who has it been over the course of history? Who it is now?
Theatrical performance in the Fighting for Democracy exhibition
Our friends at the National Constitution Center have done such impressive things with the exhibition. In addition to a fantastic display, they have also created an incredible theatrical performance to go along with the show.
I’ve had the privilege of spending a lot of time with this exhibition at JANM over the years and yet, the actors portraying Bill, Carl, Domingo, Frances, George, Hazel, and Hector moved me to tears as they made me see these extraordinary lives in an entirely new way. It is so exciting to know that school groups and visitors in Philadelphia will be able to enhance their experience of Fighting for Democracy with these performances.
Domingo Los Banos
This week’s opening events have been extra special for everyone because Domingo Los Banos, who is featured in the exhibition flew out to Philadelphia all the way from Hawai’i to be at the opening. Domingo is an inspiration to many and it is always so wonderful to see him and witness his energy and spirited storytelling.
If you find yourself anywhere near Philadelphia between now and January 16, 2012, don’t miss the chance to visit the National Constitution Center and see JANM on the road! (Of course, we always welcome school groups to make an appointment to visit the exhibition at the Museum in Los Angeles too!)
Drawing the Line: Japanese American Art, Design & Activism in Post-War Los Angeles…the title says it all. But what can you really expect to see?
Here's a few quick shots taken on my phone. Just a few teasers from the in-progress installation of "Drawing the Line"
Paintings, sketches, photographs, video clips, historic documents, a trophy, a guitar, and a Corvette!
In-progress installation shot of Ben Sakoguchi paintings in "Drawing the Line"
Curious? Intrigued?
Then make plans to join us for the exhibition opening on Saturday, October 15 at 5:30pm. Some light refreshments, hear from curator Kris Kuramitsu, check out the exhibition, meet some of the artists, and take in a special performance by Nobuko Miyamoto with Benny Yee and Atomic Nancy!
In-progress installation shot of Qris Yamashita's works
For more information about the exhibition, check out the link below.
This is part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time project, so we hope to have a good turn-out for this event!
DRAWING THE LINE: Japanese American Art, Design & Activism in Post-War Los Angeles
October 15, 2011 through February 19, 2012 janm.org/exhibits/drawingtheline
Thanks to Tom Schay, we'll have a 1963 Corvette Sting Ray in the exhibition. This iconic car and many others were designed by Larry Shinoda.
Our volunteers are amazing. They continually inspire us with their dedication and enthusiasm. They are even willing to step outside their comfort zones if it means helping the museum to share the important stories of the Japanese American experience.
Since last summer, staff at our Watase Media Arts Center along with interns and volunteers have been working on a series of digital shorts that record many of our docents and other volunteers. The videos share the volunteer’s personal stories related to artifacts from our core Common Ground: The Heart of Community exhibition.
We’re collecting them together for easy access on our Discover Nikkei website. There are already 15 of the videos online, with more being added almost weekly.
Check out the volunteer videos on Discover Nikkei:
The 21st Century Museum: Significant artifacts selected by Japanese American National Museum Volunteers http://5dn.org/janm-vols
Volunteers featured so far: Bob Uragami, Babe Karasawa, Yae Aihara, Richard Murakami, Yoko Horimoto, Jim Tanaka, Tohru Isobe, Mas Yamashita, Robert Moriguchi, Kathryn Madara, Kent Hori, May Porter, Eileen Sakamoto, Lee Hayashi, and Roy Sakamoto.
And it starts in just a few minutes. I have to stay online long enough to have it go live so I can post the links. Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo Labbit made an appearance on the back cover of Stan’s 199th comic book issue, so I imagine the bidding will be fierce for this piece. The Year of the Labbit show is over but Stan’s Labbit is still on view in the Museum Store.
Parkview High School (Little Rock) Student Mural, 2005. Photo by Richard M. Murakami.
It’s football season and the team that I follow is the University of Arkansas. No, I didn’t go to school there, but I am a huge fan. (Shall we call the hogs now?)
Why Arkansas?
Oddly enough, because Arkansas was the site for two government-run WWII concentration camps that unlawfully held 16,000 Japanese Americans. It was a virtually unknown story in the state for six decades. But thanks to a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, and JANM, a multi-year project called Life Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas culminated in 2004 with a number of exhibitions, educational programs, and a national conference. We hope that we might have collectively learned a little bit more about the Japanese American experience in the state, and specifically more about Rohwer and Jerome. Definitely, JANM staff and volunteers learned lots from Arkansans of all ages.
Detail of quilt created by elementary school students at Little Rock’s Gibbs Magnet School of International Studies and Foreign Languages, 2004. Photo by Richard M. Murakami.
You might be interested in a seven minute video of Arkansas students talking about what they learned. While you’re watching it, keep in mind that we arrived at these schools with a video camera and very little warning: major kudos go to these poised young people and their outstanding teachers!
Speaking of which, UALR’s Web site has all of the project’s teacher-created curriculum available for download–for free.
JANM, in 2005, followed up on the Life Interrupted project with an exhibition of murals made at Rohwer High School, Lasting Beauty: Miss Jamison and the Student Muralists. The murals on display here were just the tip of the iceberg of JANM’s holdings from the collection of student artwork and other camp-related memorabilia donated by former Rohwer art teacher, Mabel Rose Jamison Vogel–known to her students as Miss Jamison. This exhibition also proudly featured a new student mural, pictured at the top of this blog post. This beautiful mural was created by the students (shown below) at Little Rock’s Parkview High School as a modern-day response to the WWII-era murals. Painters of all ages pitched in to help, too.
Parkview HS students with their mural at JANM. Photo by Richard M. Murakami.
And now we are excited to announce that more Rohwer artwork and memorabilia are on exhibit! The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies–the institution that holds the other part of the Vogel Collection–has created an exhibition called The Art of Living: Japanese American Creative Experience at Rohwer. We hope you can get to Little Rock before November 26 to see it!
