The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center has announced an exhibition titled “Women Printmakers,” opening Sunday, June 26, and running through Sunday, July 17, at the George J. Doizaki Gallery.
Featured artists are Tomie Arai, June August, Kimiko Miyoshi, and Seiko Tachibana.
A native New Yorker, Arai has exhibited nationally and is in the collections of the Library of Congress. This year she received a National Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts from the Women’s’ Caucus on Art.
August’s work is largely informed by working as a visiting artist in Europe and Asia, particularly time spent in Japan.
Miyoshi uses both traditional and non-traditional printmaking processes, and among other projects, built scientific exhibitions for Explora Science Center, a children’s science museum in Albuquerque, N.M.
One of Tachibana’s central themes is the way in which many small pieces come together to make up a larger whole.
The exhibition focuses on exceptional contemporary women printmakers whose works are diverse from traditional stylistic approaches to printmaking to contemporary installations; explores the nuanced influences of Japanese printmaking interwoven with the shaping of each artist’s individual expression and experiences within her work; and examines the medium’s intersections with culture, ethnicity and gender.
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 underrepresented in the contemporary arts. These artists explore how technology is shifting the way work is made and exhibited.
In conjunction with “Women Printmakers,” special guest artist Hisako Terasaki and her 18 etching prints will document decades of world travel. The exhibition will be shown in the Tea Room gallery and will focus on the memories of her visits to various countries with her late husband, Dr. Paul Terasaki, between 1973 and 1984.
Early prints of the ancient Japanese capitals of Nara and Kyoto are exquisite examples of asymmetrical sensitivities. Her European prints have more of a “mingei” Japanese folk art movement influence from the late 1920s and 1930s.
The George J. Doizaki Gallery is located inside the JACCC, 244 S. San Pedro St. in Little Tokyo. Hours:?Wednesday to Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m.; closed Monday, Tuesday and holidays.
Sunday’s opening reception is from 1 to 3 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, call (213) 628-2725 or visit www.JACCC.org.
