2016 / Japanese American Cultural and Community Center “Women Printmakers” June 26 – July 17

Japanese American Cultural and Community Center

244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

“Women Printmakers”

June 26 – July 17, 2016

George J. Doizaki Gallery

Featured artists are Tomie Arai, June August, Kimiko Miyoshi, and Seiko Tchibana. The exhibition focuses on exceptional contemporary women printmakers whose works are diverse from traditional stylistic approaches to printmaking to contemporary installations.

This exhibition explores the nuanced influences of Japanese printmaking interwoven with the shaping of each artist’s individual expression and experiences within her work.

Printmaking, today, holds a unique place in the artistic world, once being on the forefront of technology and as a means to democratize art, today it is often viewed as a traditional medium that is under-represented in the contemporary arts.

These artists explore the way technology is shifting the way work is made and exhibited.  This exhibition examines contemporary women artists and their use and explorations of printmaking and the medium’s intersections with culture, ethnicity and gender.

In conjunction with this “Women Printmakers” exhibition in the George J. Doizaki Gallery, special guest artist, Hisako Terasaki and her eighteen etching prints documents decades of world travel.

The exhibition will be exhibited in the Tea Room gallery and will focus on the memories of her world travels with her late husband, Dr. Paul Terasaki between 1973 and 1984.

Early prints of the ancient capital of Nara and Kyoto, Japan are exquisite examples of asymmetrical sensitivities. The European prints have more of “Mingei” Japanese folk art movement influence from the late 1920s and 1930s.

Opening reception will be held on Sunday, June 26, 1 pm – 3 pm. Admission free. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center is located at 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 628-2725 www.jaccc.org

+

About Artists

Tomie Arai

Tomie’s public commissions include permanent public works of art for the NYC Percent for Art Program, the Cambridge Arts Council, The San Francisco Arts Commission, the MTA Arts for Transit Program, the NYC Board of Education and the US General Services Administration Art in Architecture Program.

In February of 2016, Tomie was awarded a National Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts from the Women’s’ Caucus on Art.  She is currently a recipient of A Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art and a LMCC Social Engagement grant for her collaborative project “Here to Stay”.

June August (Artist statement excerpt)

I started working on Warhol imagery after seeing a show at the Jewish Museum, New York.  My colors, drawings, patterns could apply to Murakami, Warhol, Ingres, Renaissance art, Greek art, in a playful way.

I started making silkscreens in Ireland, Visiting Artists Grant.  An Irish artist printing in Cork, suggested switching to silkscreen. This path-changing encounter with a European artist while I was working on Asian imagery is truly emblematic of the international connections of my work.

 

Kimiko Miyoshi (Artist statement excerpt)

Some recent focuses of my work are to transform insignificant and trivial objects into something visually striking and to invoke a renewed curiosity in the viewer, and thus providing a perpetual amusement in their life. I don’t really pursue a style or mannerism, but the visual characteristic or a particular process is utilized to best convey the content.

 

Seiko Tachibana (Artist statement excerpt)

Water is an essential element of living things, and a circle represents infinity, harmony, and unity. When a droplet of water falls on a flat surface, it creates a circle.

I often use circular elements as a metaphor for cells. In “Locus of Water,” I have used circles in a way such that they seem to be drawn together into clusters by some unifying force exerted by a condition of belonging.