BBHC exhibit of arts & crafts from Heart Mtn. Internment Camp opens June 1

View of Heart Mountain Relocation Center barracks, 1942. Photo by Jack Richard. Jack Richard Collection. 

Beauty Behind Barbed Wire: Arts and Crafts from the  Heart Mountain Internment Camp

June 1-September 6, 2011, Cody Firearms Museum Breezeway, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody

A small exhibit showcasing the craftsmanship of the Japanese-American internees confined at the Heart Mountain Internment Camp during the years 1942-1945 will be on display at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center during this 2011 summer. The exhibit will feature twenty-four arts and crafts objects on loan to the Historical Center from the Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation along with another three items from other lenders. Wood carvings, jewelry, needlework, oil paintings, and a doll are among the artifacts in the exhibit.

Through this exhibit the Historical Center aims to call the attention of its visitors to the opening of the Interpretive Learning Center at Heart Mountain on August 20, as well as to honor the artisans who made these incredible pieces. The skill and artistry involved in crafting these objects is outstanding, and the exhibit is certain to be informative and enlightening.

Japan-America Society of Wyoming sponsors Children's Day Celebration April 30 in Laramie

The Japan-America Society of Wyoming announces its fourth annual Children’s Day Celebration on Saturday, April 30, 2-3:30 p.m. at the Albany County Public Library, 310 S. Eighth St., Laramie. Free admission.

Featuring Japanese folk tales, Japanese songs, Origami (paper folding of a Kabuto (helmet), Shodo (Japanese calligraphy), and tasting Japanese foods (cookies and nori, etc).

For more information click here or call 307-721-2580.

UPDATE: Handmade for Japan eBay auction

Wyomingarts has been tracking arts-oriented fund-raisers for the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan. One Cheyenne artist and teacher, Connie Kazuko Norman, will be part of a Handmade for Japan auction on eBay. Here is the most recent information from Connie:

I sure many of have already heard of Handmade For Japan.  It is the brainchild of Ayumi Horie, and her friends, Ai Kanazawa Cheung and Kathryn Pombriant Manzella.  Handmade For Japan is an on-line benefit auction for the Japanese victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.  I am honored to be one of the artists that are contributing to the cause.  As many of you know that I am half Japanese and I have many relatives that live in Tokyo.  I have been lucky enough to have study ceramics in Japan as well.  My Japanese heritage has always very important to me. The people of Japan really need help with disaster relief.

The auction will be held next Thursday, March 24th, 8pm EST to Sunday, March 27th, 8pm EST on eBay and they will have assured bids so check in early. Right now Handmade For Japan has a public Facebook page where a previewing of items before the auction. Even if you're not on Facebook, you can see the items. Please help us get the word out so that we can reach our goal of raising more than $25,000. 100% of the proceeds will be given to Global Giving’s Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund.

The collection has grown to over 90 artists, many with well-known and respected names, and you will be astonished how many wonderful pieces of art that has been donated for the cause. 

Ayumi and her friends have been working tirelessly toward this event.  I have been amazed at every update.  Thank you guys for all your hard work!

Here are some of the media coverage we got in the last week, The New York Times, and American Craft Magazine.

"Festival of Japan" Oct. 9 in Laramie

The Japan-America Society of Wyoming (JASWY) will present its fifth annual “Festival of Japan” from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 9, 2010, in the cafeteria (from noon to 1:50 p.m.) and in the auditorium (from 2-4:30 p.m.) of Laramie High School, 1275 N 11th St., Laramie. Admission is free.

FMI: 307-721-4420.

Performing on stage will be Bunraku, a traditional Japanese puppet theater from Missouri, and Mirai Daiko, a taiko drumming group from Denver.

Roripaughs lead session about Heart Mountain during Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference

Lee Ann Roripaugh

At the Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference June 4-6 in Cody, there will be a session about the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. During World War II, the camp was home to more than 10,000 Japanese-Americans relocated from the West Coast. The camp is now a National Historical Site and an interpretive center is under construction.

The Heart Mountain session will be conducted by Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus Robert Roripaugh, his wife Yoshiko and their daughter, Lee Ann, a Laramie native who now teaches creative writing at the University of South Dakota. Lee Ann will read selections from her award-winning poetry book, "Beyond Heart Mountain."

This presentation will be held on Friday, June 4, 7-8 p.m., at the Holiday Inn at the Buffalo Bill Resort in Cody. A book signing will follow. Both events are free and open to the public.

FMI: http://www.wyowriters.org/; http://www.heartmountain.us/

Award-winning filmmaker creating short film for Heart Mountain Interpretive Center

The Heart Mountain Internment Camp between Cody and Powell will be the among the first of these World War II sites to have its own interpretive center. Construction on the exterior is nearing completion. Work during the next year will focus on the interior.

The Heart Mountain Foundation has received a series of grants ever since the camps were designated National Historic Sites by the National Park Service. Wyoming Writers, Inc., will conduct a session about Heart Mountain as part of its annual conference June 4-6 in Cody. It will feature Laramie native Lee Ann Roripaugh, author of the award-winning book of poetry "Beyond Heart Mountain;" her father, Bob Roripaugh, poet, novelist and Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus; and his wife Yoshiko, a native of Japan. The presentation will be held 7-8 p.m. on Friday, June 4, at the Cody Holiday Inn. This session is free and open to the public (find info on conference registration at WWInc web site).

Meanwhile, good news keeps coming in for the Heart Mountain Foundation. Here's a Billings Gazette story by Ruffin Prevost:

An award-winning filmmaker with a personal connection to Heart Mountain is creating a short film to be shown at a new museum that will open next year at the site of the historic internment camp.

Steven Okazaki (shown in photo), 58, whose father was among the 11,000 internees at Heart Mountain, won an Academy Award for his 1990 documentary, “Days of Waiting.”

The film tells the story of Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian woman who voluntarily joined her Japanese-American husband, Arthur Ishigo, in a detention camp in California and, later, at Heart Mountain. Ishigo, an artist, documented camp life in drawings and photographs, many of which Okazaki used in “Days of Waiting.”

“We’re very excited about his creativity and ability to take this subject, which is quite complex, and bring it to life for visitors,” said Dave Reetz, executive director of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.

The nonprofit group has raised $3.5 million toward a goal of $5.3 million for an 11,000-square-foot interpretive learning center under construction at the site of the former camp.

Heart Mountain was one of 10 camps across the country where 110,000 Japanese-Americans were held during World War II. It will be the second site with a museum. The National Park Service manages an interpretive site at Manzanar, on the eastern side of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Born in Los Angeles, Okazaki now lives in San Francisco. He won an Emmy award in 2008 for “White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” He also has earned Oscar nominations for three other films, including “Unfinished Business.” That documentary tells the stories of three men seeking to overturn their convictions 40 years after they refused a government order to enter internment camps like Heart Mountain.

Okazaki’s new film will be about 10 minutes long, and will introduce visitors to the broad range of social issues and historical background covered at the Heart Mountain center, Reetz said.

Reetz and other foundation members have been working with Okazaki to develop key points to be covered in the film, and to integrate it with exhibits being designed by Split Rock Studios. The Minnesota-based firm has developed installations for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Los Angeles, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Visitor Center in Missoula and more than 100 other sites.

Renwick exhibits arts & crafts from Heart Mountain and other WWII internment camps

This painting was by an unidentified artist interned at Heart Mountain Internment Camp in Park County, Wyoming, during World War II. "Camp Scene," wood and paint (note Heart Mountain in background). Collection of the Japanese American Museum of San José, From "Art of Gaman" by Delphine Hirasuna, ©2005, Ten Speed Press. Terry Heffernan photo.

It is one of the works in "The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japane-American Internment Camps, 1942-1946," showing now at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. The exhibit runs through Jan. 30, 2011.

From the Smithsonian American Art Museum catalog:

Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. These objects—tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays—are physical manifestations of the art of gaman, a Japanese word that means "to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience."

The exhibition is organized by San Francisco-based author and guest curator Delphine Hirasuna, and is based on her 2005 book The Art of Gaman, published by Ten Speed Press.

The exhibition is presented under the honorary patronage of The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta. Mr. Mineta, a former Congressman, Secretary of Transportation, and Regent of the Smithsonian, was interned as a child at Heart Mountain.

FMI: Read recent posts on the museum’s blog, Eye Level

Japan Arts Day in Casper features Akemi Iwase

"Japan Arts Day" features Akemi Iwase on Saturday, Sept. 19, 7:30 p.m., in the John F. Welsh Auditorium at Natrona County High School in Casper. This event is free and open to the public.

Here's more info from the ARTCORE web site:

Akemi began composing music at age 12, and at age 16, she created many original songs with Shuji Someno, a poet. During a folk song boom, she performed the original songs, and when she was 18, she formed a jazz band and performed at a nightclub in Ginza, Tokyo and in jazz cafes.


She formed a rock'n'roll Band, the Foxy Lady, with Keiko Watanabe. At age 20, Akemi moved to the U.S.A. with great aspirations. She lived in New York and Hawaii and got married. She performed piano and sang in the Queen Kapiolani Hotel. In 1974, she moved to California where she accompanied a magician and gave concerts. Inspired by traditional Nairobi music by Hamza El Din, she started arranging Japanese traditional folk songs, Minyo. While raising two children, she held many concerts with Shakuhachi, Koto, Cello, Tabla, and Sitar players in Northern California, as well as with members of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1981, she composed and performed "Peace Song" for the event of the "Peace Day" arranged by Governor Brown. This song was often heard on KPFK Radio. She performed Jazzy Japanese Minyo and Latin music regularly at the "Comeback Inn," a Jazz Live Club.
In 1992, she moved to Colorado and managed the Westminster Dinner Theater and acted as a stage producer, while she held her own concerts.

She founded Moon Blossom Records and formed a music band, the Tokyo Tribe.Presented by The Consulate General of Japan in Denver in collaboration with Honorary Consul General Mariko T. Miller, ARTCORE and Natrona County School District No. 1

Heart Mountain Interpretive Center collects art and artifacts from former internees

From an article by Ruffin Prevost in the Billings Gazette (via the Casper Star-Tribune): A piece of scrap wood has been burned in fine detail to depict a scene of camp barracks and the Heart Mountain in the background. The artwork, created by a former internee, is one of many artifacts donated Saturday by volunteers working to expand the historical archives for a museum being built at the site of the former internment camp in Park County, Wyo. (Ruffin Prevost/The Billings Gazette). Read entire story in Sunday's Casper S-T at http://www.casperstartribune.com/articles/2009/08/17/news/wyoming/01209af2958932c98725761400007f95.txt