Three Cheers for the Tacoma Art Commission!

Having served as a volunteer on a smaller but similar body many years ago in a nearby city, I'm well aware that individuals putting in their time on organizations like the Tacoma Art Commission do not always enjoy the kind of widespread thanks and good publicity that is their due.

Having attended this year's simply superlative Art Symposium at University of Puget Sound the weekend of November 15 -16 as part of the annual ART AT WORK month celebration, I believe it would be simply another injustice to let the 2008 year conclude without calling for a round of applause to all members of the board listed at www.tacomaculture.org.

They include: Phillip Hill, chairman; Margaret Payne, vice chair; Jan F. Brazzell, Richard Cardwell, Robin Echtle, Sarah Idstrom, Jan Karroll, Traci Kelly, Don Lacky, Bill La Vergne, Janet Matzke, Kristi Nebel, Jacqueline Peterson, Michael Reynolds, Julie Anderson (City Council Liason) and Jake Fey (City Council Liason Alternate).

Similar kudos should also extended to the commission's able and talented administrator Amy McBride and cultural arts specialist Naomi Strom-Avila.

In a perfect world, all cities and towns would have the pleasure of watching what and how groups such as the commission and for that matter a number of others arts organizations in the area model the kind of thinking and engage opportunities for both citizenry and the arts which can easily provide the kind of textbook study future generations will pour over for years to come.

Therefore for the irreplaceable inspiration they have offered through such programs as Art at Work Month and the aforementioned Art Symposium - 2008 members and staff ought to be encouraged to please, please take another bow!

Upcoming Art Exhibition in Federal Way Seeks Entrants

South King County artists planning to compete in the City of Federal Way Arts Commission's annual show Arts Alive Juried Exhibition should mark their calendars!

Local artists are invited to enter up to two pieces of work. All media will be considered with the exception of video and wearable art. There will be a fee of $5.00 for each piece of art submitted. Checks should be made payable to the City of Federal Way.

Entries will be accepted for consideration on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at Federal Way City Hall, 33325 8th Avenue South, between 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Work selected for the show will be hung in the City Hall Art Gallery which is equipped with track lighting.

All entries must be original, recent work not completed under an instructor's guidance, previously exhibited at Federal Way City Hall or appeared in more than two juried shows within the boundaries set forth in exhibition rules.

Paintings and two-dimensional work must be dry and suitably wired for hanging. Flat artwork must not exceed 36" x 30" (which includes frame). Three dimensional artwork may not exceed 35 pounds and may not measure more than 9.5" in height and 9.5 " in width.

Three awards will be given during this year's show. They are the Juror's Choice ($200 cash and a one-person exhibition at City Hall in 2009), Commissioner's Choice ($150) and the People's Choice ($100).

City Hall Gallery is located on the second floor of a complex that houses all 7 city departments in addition to the Federal Way Municipal Court. Regular gallery hours are Monday - Friday, from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Accepted work will be available for public viewing beginning Thursday, September 25, and must remain until the show closes on Monday, January 6, 2009. However a special reception for artists appearing in the show is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 7, at City Hall where both the Juror's and Commissioner's Choice awards will be presented.

Established in 1991, the City of Federal Way Arts Commission, established is a nine-member volunteer body that advises and recommends to the Federal Way City Council activities related to all aspects of the arts - visual, performing, literary and cultural.

For more details including a list of extensive zip codes which entrants may be drawn, contact the City of Federal Way Arts Commission by calling (253) 835-6901.

Introduce Yourself to the Civil Rights History of Tacoma's African American Community

If there's one museum exhibit that's on my upcoming calendar of things to do it is "Tacoma's Civil Rights Struggle: African Americans Leading The Way" which recently opened at the Washington State History Museum (WSHM) 1911 Pacific Avenue, in Tacoma.

This is a fascinating multi-media view into what issues and concerns members of the local African American community faced in securing a more equitable footing in the area against the backdrop of civil rights activity in other parts of the nation during the 50's and 60's.

As I did most of my growing up in the mid 50's to mid 70's to the north in Seattle (which included noting the crowd of police cars surrounding my junior high school on all sides the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed) the story which is being told at the WSHS through December 7, will be my first introduction to what went on in the South Sound.

Since the closure of an African American oriented museum in Tacoma (which I had the pleasure of making a brief visit some years back) it may well be the kind of educational opportunity those of us who are not fully familiar with this history or blessed with personal friends, family and acquaintances in the community can take advantage of and share.

As a descendant of Japanese immigrant grandparents who arrived in the Pacific Northwest from Shizuoka and Kumamoto-ken over a hundred years ago, I have been more than thankful of the existence and availability of South Sound resources such as the WSHM, Asia Pacific Cultural Center along with Seattle's Wing Luke Asian Museum to share with my own family, friends and my fellow citizens the history and culture that links me with my parents and grandparents.

It is the kind of opportunity that was highly desired and sorely lacking in my childhood and unfortunately the type of project that often has required some initiative from within those very communities to make such a program a reality, as often many but not all movers and shakers in the mainstream during years past have easily overlooked or not found such projects to be of sufficent and pressing priority.

Coincidentally, it was only at WSHM where I saw for the first time in my life as a fully-grown adult an exhibit in a mainstream institution on the World War II internment of my family which was artfully constructed to flow within the other major exhibits in the museum and did not come with the emotional feeling of having been added (as in other places years past) somewhat belatedly in an awkward corner, put-up in a last minute, make-do fashion as space is made for an unwanted or barely remembered relative.

On a personal note I'm also curious as to if any ties were able to be forged between various communities or individuals in this area such as ones between King County Executive Ron Sims and his childhood Japanese-American buddies whose long friendship (as he shared at a program I attended at the University of Washington in 2006) helped form the kind of ties that would allow this African American leader to extend the hand of bold, pioneering friendship while an aide to State Senator George Fleming, UW Husky football legend and the first African American to sit in the Washington State Senate, to support persons in my ethnic community pursuing efforts to obtain monetary redress in the late 70's and 80's at a local, state and national levels in regards to leftover issues related to the World War wartime incarceration.

While such bonds and connections are certainly not a requirement of any individual or community - the past existence of such warm connections gives some hint or promise that similar connections might be forged today or in the future of the kind which we can all try and anchor a few of our own hopes.

Thankfully, unlike in the days of my youth there are resources and opportunities such as my spouse and I enjoyed on a trip to Naselle, WA that I blogged about last month to see the Finnish American Folk Festival in Naselle, WA and this exemplary exhibit at WSHM to learn about, support and celebrate the hard work, effort, struggles and accomplishments of an increasingly longer list of our neighbors belonging to other racial, social, cultural and ethnic communities whose collective gifts irregardless of our present state of awareness - have and continue to make the Pacific Northwest the real home it is for all of us.

I would highly recommend a well-written article in the August 21, 2008 issue of The Tacoma Weekly by Matt Nagle on the new exhibit at WSHM. Here is the link.

Keep Your Hook Baited When Fishing For A Dream Says Federal Way Artist

Above (from left to right) Mizu Sugimura and Romson Regarde Busillo at Wing Luke Asian Museum. Photo copyright 2008 by Mizu Sugimura.

Let your hook always be cast in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish. - Ovid

Who knows when you can plant the seeds of creativity in a child, or for that matter an adult? Opportunities like Family Day at the WING a monthly event sponsored by Seattle's Wing Luke Asian Museum (WLAM) in the Chinatown/International District offer a chance for the public to meet artists and artists to share what they do with the community.

I should know as just over a decade ago as a younger mother of a elementary school child, I was looking for events like this to supplement what I considered to be the lack of a good arts orientation in my local school district. When I read of a weekend collage workshop for families at WLAM by Filipino-American artist Romson Regade Bustillo, I jumped at the chance to take my son.

For whatever reason, my boy had other plans. Yes, he accompanied me to the program but while his mother's agenda could be entitled: Earnest, his could be described as: Looking for a good time. At the workshop I ended up plugged away at completing the project Busillo introduced while my son creatively found a way to carve out his own path.

At some interval in the program Romson came by, looked over my shoulder and basically indicated to me that I should give serious thought to completing a few more collages. As a working artist, his nod in my direction was the encouragement I needed to start thinking and believing that I might be able to tell the outside world that I was an artist!

So it is with great pleasure that last month I attended Romson's latest appearance at Family Day at the Wing to thank him in person for the first time since that fateful Cinderella-like weekend over ten years ago when he gave me the creative go-ahead I needed to launch my own career, which eventually completed a full circle with my own appearance as an presenting artist at the WLAM in 2004 in a ground breaking show entitled: Beyond Talk: Redrawing Racism. I will also be following Romson, as the next artist to present a free program at the Family Day at the Wing on August 16, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, Bustillo, who is now based in New York, is touring the area making a number of appearances such as the WLAM and a stint as artist in residence at the Seattle foundation created to honor the life and work of African-American artist James W. Washington, Jr. If you are interested in reading more about Romson click here.

It's an opportunity that I had thought years ago was completely lost to me when I got cold feet at the time I was required to declare a major in college and choose the more practical, marketable and family approved field of journalism rather than entertain my childhood dream of becoming an artist.

Within a few years of graduation I soon came to regret the choice. But I was married, working at my first real full time job and my immigrant spouse was taking more than the expected time to complete his university studies. I was afraid I was too old as I approached thirty to change the course of my life once it had been set.

From my present vantage point, those fears are quite amusing now as real life is not cast in stone. But as it happened then my concerns only increased when I quit my job so we could start a family. There were times when I was so depressed I couldn't do any art!

To top it off on our family budget extra money for art supplies much less art instruction was hard to come by, so while I began painting on the kitchen table and supplementing a basically twenty plus year program of self-taught instruction with one or two evening community college classes it was hard, very hard to feel I was legitimate! The words I received from Bustillo were the seeds I was able to employ as a middle-aged woman to open up my horizons and transform my life.

In today's world, young adults including my son are coming of age and being told in schools and other venues that because of lower performance or less than perfect personal choices in middle school and high school that they are at risk of falling off the boat or should resign themselves to a lifetime of scolding by persons older and presumably wiser than themselves.

Assuming they actually listen and take such words like this to their hearts, what values are we as a society actually trying actually to communicate to them? I count myself fortunate that I was able to grow up in a different time, and attend however slowly to the little voice in my heart until a individual like Romson came along.

For those of you out there with incomplete visions of your own - from youth on up people the hope Ovid's quote a particular favorite of mine which begins this blog expresses the belief that no matter how long you stay out looking for a fish that they are always there.

So it is with dreams. Take my advice. Keep that hook baited.

Shown below: Front side (left) and back side (right) of a sample mock-up of a tagboard fan featuring the image of a Japanese daruma doll that attendees at Mizu Sugimura's presentation at Family Day at the WING on Saturday, August 16, from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. will actually make. Photos copyright 2008 by Mizu Sugimura.

Daruma have come to be known as folk figures that represent persistence, perseverance and resilience. In Japan, it is said that you can knock a daruma doll down seven times, but it will right itself eight times. Sugimura is adapting the image of the daruma in a craft project to celebrate Grandparents Day (first Sunday in September after Labor Day) and an attempt to merge the idea of combining the those positive qualities of daruma dolls with the image of older family members and the elderly in today's society.

Seattle Bon Odori Continues To Make Memories

Above center: Crowds of all ages gather on both sides of the street by the Seattle Buddhist Church to get good views of the dancers at the 2oo8 Seattle Bon Odori. Photo copyright 2008 by Mizu Sugimura.

Like many residents of the greater Seattle area, my family and I mark the arrival of mid-summer with the arrival of a handful of our most favorite area festivals, one of them being the Seattle Bon Odori.

My father, Frank Aoyama, was a native of the Emerald City having arrived as the last of four children born to my immigrant grandparents, Koichi and Chiyo Aoyama, when they were living in a rental home at 10th Avenue S. and S. Main Street above Seattle's International District about fourteen years prior to the beginning of World War II.

Left: My dad, Frank Aoyama, as a boy.






This house was located across the street from the Seattle Buddhist Temple where the Seattle Bon Odori became a custom in the local Nikkei (Japanese-American) community since August 15, 1932, according to an article by Shihou Sasaki writing for The North American Post (Summer Memories of the Seattle Bon Odori, July 9, 2008.) In 1934, the festival moved four blocks away to what was then the heart of pre-war Nihonmachi or Japantown where it continued to attract yet more attention, but still in very close proximity to my father's house for the rest of his formative years. And while his family was not of the Buddhist faith, memories of the Bon Odori were among those Dad was most fond.
Left: Seattle rental house where my dad was born on 10th Avenue S. and Main Street.



I have been attending the Bon Odori off and on since my parents owned a home on Beacon Hill in the mid-fifties to late sixties, just a few blocks south of Holly Park. After my son was born in the mid-eighties, my husband and I would always consider a possible trip to the Seattle Bon Odori, now a part of Seafair (or one of two others in nearby Auburn or Tacoma) when booking our summer family plans.

Left: Taiko drummers lend their skills at the 2008 Seattle Bon Odori. Photo copyright 2008 by Mizu Sugimura.

Now that our son has become an adult, it has been a few years since my husband and I made the trip to town to visit the Seattle Bon Odori. The pictures included with this blog were taken during at this year's festivities held Saturday and Sunday, July 19 and 20th.

For those who may be interested The North American Post, is no newcomer to the ethnic community newspaper scene having served as its masthead declares proudly as "your voice of the Nikkei community since 1902."

Below center: Colorfully dressed dancers from the community carrying fans participated in one group number at the Seattle Bon Odori. Photo copyright 2008 by Mizu Sugimura.

Portraits And Poetry At Tacoma's Impromptu Gallery

Above: Tacoma artist Becky Frehse (left) poses with friend and collaborator Judith van Praag of Seattle (right) and her canine companion, in front of their joint installation at Tacoma's Impromptu Gallery last night during the Tacoma Third Thursday Art Walk. Photo copyright 2008 by Mizu Sugimura.

By the end of the afternoon yesterday the good weather the television forecaster's promised for May's Third Thursday Art Walk in Tacoma had most definitely arrived and light filled the space occupied by the Impromptu Gallery at 608 Fawcett, which bills itself as a contemporary cooperative.

My art minded girlfriend from Federal Way and I once again headed toward the same little oasis of culture that I described in my TNT posting of last month. The reward we get for saving the date is easily becoming a regular habit, and this won't be the last third Thursday that we'll be spending in the South Sound destination that aptly declares itself to be the place where art and nature meet!

Among the featured artists whose work was displayed at the gallery last night included Tacoma's Becky Frehse whose portraits occupied a section of the gallery walls with descriptive poetry written by her friend and collaborator Judith van Praag of Seattle.

Other cooperative members listed at the gallery's online website include: Bill Colby, Bea Geller, Trinda Love, Dorothy McCuistion, Dane Gregory Meyer, Susan Paredes, LeeAnn Perry, Betty Sapp Ragan and Chip Van Gilder.

General viewing hours are from 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., Thursday - Saturday. More information on the current show can be obtained by calling (253) 572-9232 or at this link.

Annual Washington Cultural Congress April 28-30 Builds on Thirty-Year Bonding, Alliance of State Arts Advocacy

Almost thirty years ago between 1978-79 supporters of the arts from all around the State of Washington came together to found The Arts Alliance of Washington State as a non-profit organization with a mission, according to its website to provide service and advocacy to all the arts, with emphasis on quality and accessibility to all citizens.

During the late seventies and early eighties the alliance separated its charitable and educational programming thus creating the Washington State Arts Alliance Foundation a (501) (c) (3), and its advocacy efforts giving birth to the Washington State Arts Alliance a (501) (c) (4).

Since then the Washington State Arts Alliance has become increasingly active in the halls of the legislature, to increase funding to the Washington State Arts Commission, honoring advocates at the state level and bringing the organization into its now national recognized leadership position in the area of arts advocacy.

In 2001, the Arts Alliance reached out to join the Arts Network of Washington State in taking on the task of producing the only statewide multi-disciplinary arts conference, the annual Washington Cultural Congress which is slated to take place April 28-30, 2008 at Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat in Leavenworth, WA.

The 2008 theme is Art Every Day - (Connect, Create, Exchange). This year's special speakers and guests will include a keynote addresses by Ellen Dissanayake, "The Deep Structures of the Arts"; Andrea Peterson, National Teacher of the Year, "Learning, Exploring, Interacting , Serving - Connections that Matter"; and readings by Washington State Poet Laureate Samuel Green. For full conference details and sign-up information click here.

According to their website, since 1997 the Washington State Arts Alliance has grown from a group of 49 organizations and individuals to a membership linking artists, arts educators, administrators, patrons, volunteers, students, parents, media and policy makers from Eastern and Western parts of the state which both enforces and underlines one of their main organizational tenets that no matter size, shape, color, or fabric of our urban, suburban or rural communities arts advocacy and education is something in which we all have a lasting stake.

Arts Corps Offers Tips For Teachers To Incorporate Art In Core Subject Areas

(My earlier blog "Utilizing Art Resources To Build A Strong Future " introduced the Seattle based community organization Arts Corps as a resource to parents, educators and community members interested in promoting a higher level of arts education experiences in the public schools. -MS )

Local teachers who are interested in staying creative and incorporating the arts into core subject areas are invited to attend the workshop series entitled Creative Habits for the Classroom conducted by the Seattle based organization Arts Corps during April and May 2008.

Saturday workshops have been scheduled for the following: primary elementary school teachers (April 19); intermediate elementary school teachers (April 26) and all elementary school teachers (May 10) from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at Seattle's Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, located at 4408 Delridge Way, SW. Free parking is available.

To inquire about classes or to register contact Arts Corps at 206-722-545, by e-mail at info@artscorps.org or go to their website at http://www.artscorp.org/

Utilizing Arts Education Resources To Build A Strong Future

I'm delighted to report that Arts Education has taken a turn for the positive in the decade or so that has passed since my grown son passed through the doors of his elementary school for the last time.

In those days, I was distressed to discover as a fledgling parent, that at his school classroom experiences in the arts were not a mandated part of the overall curriculum but largely and simply a function of the time, energy and degree of comfort that his individual teachers were with the subject.

One of the first steps I took as a parent was to check-out the resources of the school which included a stop with the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in order to network with other parents. Parent volunteers there assured me I was not alone in my concern about the lack of a strong intentional priority in the area of arts education. Unfortunately, the group as a whole had other more pressing pre-WASL era issues on their agenda which I was welcome to join a committee.

To be fair, I cannot leave this issue and era without adding I was directed to the possibility of making a small volunteer contribution to the arts in my son's class by signing up to be the Art Cart mom or dad.

The original thinking behind the Art Cart was commendable. If memory serves it included cards on famous art subjects of note with associated material on the artist who created them. Over the years some of these items had been lost and could be supplemented by a short trip to the local library, etc.

I served as the Art Cart mom for one year, but still despaired of the lack of available resources at my son's school particularly because it was for the most part, essentially a passive experience, and not designed to actively engage the minds, attentions and more importantly hands its audiences!

Local parents with children going through local public schools today have much more hope despite years of in my personal opinion longstanding and knee-jerk cuts, slashes and gouges in funds earmarked for arts education and experiences in area schools on the mistaken impression that arts are a frill which in tight economic times that we cannot afford.

This very idea can largely be traced to a lack of creative thinking in the areas of those who make and administer public policy on the subject which may well directly lead upon closer analysis to the sorry truth that the state of arts education during the time they grew up and came of age was also deficient.

While I do not hold a degree in elementary, secondary or post-secondary education and would not ordinarily presume to supplant experts in the field, as a layperson my own beliefs encircle the general concept that arts education ought to be mandatory in the public schools from the elementary level upwards because exercising art skills builds the potential for future creativity in the citizenry as surely as repetitious exercises in the gym build physical musculature and increase overall health and stamina.

So I took my concerns over and above my local PTA and shared opinions and concerns as listed above as a member and citizen appointee of the City of Federal Way Arts Commission in the mid-nineties. Unfortunately during this period what time and effort could be spared by the hard-working and otherwise able members of this body and similar resources in the community did not appear to have reached the critical levels upon which changes along the magnitude I would hope for could realistically happen.

So it is with special pleasure that I pleased to witness and pass-on to fellow parents and community citizens of like-mind interests a resource such as the Seattle-based organization Arts Corps at http://www.artscorps.org/ whose vision is to provide the young with "Freedom to imagine, courage to be." and whose stated mission is to " provide and inspire art education programs that develop creative habits of the mind to enable young people to realize their full potential."

Charles Hoff, local citizen and retired member of the community who recently stepped down the Federal Way School Board of Education has begun a column in one of the two weeklies serving the area to begin a series outlining in perhaps more thoughtful detail his take and concerns about the state of public education.

I mention his efforts because while I've found my own conclusions on the topic to often be on the opposite side of the floor than Hoff in the past, he reminds me once again that it is important to persevere if time and opportunity permit, in championing those values and developments in the community that we hold dear even if these interests should require far more years than we'd originally imagined.

There will always be room for discussion and disagreement in the areas of educational policy and priorities in the school system. However, the birth of an organization such as Arts Corps gives yet more more resource for those who would seek to improve the overall depth of understanding in the arts and humanities among the generations who will come after us.

I invite interested parents, teachers and community members to take the time to go to and check-out this exciting and innovative group of people whose ideas and accomplishments since work began in 2002 have begun to transform both horizons and lives.