GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN - A Tribute Exhibition - Opening Reception - Kaimuki

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Kaimuki, Hawaii
Event Calendar Item
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN - A Tribute Exhibition - Opening Reception
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Type: Exhibition - Special Walkthrough
Date: Saturday - 5/20/2006
Time: 1pm
Location:
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i
JCCH Community Gallery
2454 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96826

For more information call (808) 945-7633
Cost: Free Admission

Special walkthrough with Tom Okimoto,
exhibition co-curator, on Saturday, May 20 at 1 p.m
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Sponsored by Servco Foundation, Tom Daniel & Miki Okumura
and the Yamada Scott Family Fund
JCCH Community Gallery -- FREE ADMISSION

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
In one sense artists never die; when they pass away they leave, to the living, an oeuvre--their work--a part of themselves that remain paradoxically beyond their demise, according to Tom and Mildred Okimoto, co-curators of the posthumous tribute exhibition, Gone�But Not Forgotten, opening at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i (JCCH) Community Gallery on Friday, May 19, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. Featuring the works of late artists: Harry Baldwin II, Conrad Craven, Ione Haney, Stanley Hayase, Shugen Inouye, Emi Dorothy Obara, Wyatt Osato and Isami Shimabukuro, the exhibition is open until July 7, 2006. Admission is free. For more information, call the JCCH at (808) 945-7633.

Tom Okimoto will give an exhibition walk-through on Saturday, May 20 at 1 p.m. at the JCCH Community Gallery. Admission is free. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This exhibition is sponsored by Tom Daniel & Miki Okumura, the Servco Foundation and Yamada Scott Family Fund.

"These artists share a common history--they each died at a relatively young age and their works received only minimal exposure during their lifetime--and, in some cases, their very existence as artists escaped notice from the community at large," said Tom Okimoto, a noted Japanese American artist and retired instructor of arts and crafts in the Occupational Therapy Department at the Hawai'i State Hospital. "It remained for a living advocate to intervene in their behalf by initiating this exhibit. We hope to introduce these artists through the creative works they have left behind."

As a posthumous tribute, the exhibit provides insight into the lives of little known men and women whose legitimacy in the art universe equals that of those perhaps more recognized and familiar--they lived and died as artists, Okimoto explained.

"Fittingly, the show takes as its thematic phrase, Gone...But Not Forgotten," Okimoto said. "There are other similarly dedicated artists who have not received deserved public recognition. The eight artists portrayed in this exhibit should be viewed as representatives of a large community of little known artists."

Okimoto said this presentation disposes with qualitative judgments of the displayed works because some were completed before the artist had reached optimum development and maturity. It also avoids attempts to evaluate the artists' lives in terms of success or failure. "The exhibition's purpose is to recognize them as heroic beings dedicated to art as an icon," said Okimoto.

These eight artists shared an academic kinship as students in the art department of the University of Hawai'i at Ma¯noa. Six of them earned bachelor's degrees, and five continued on to earn a master's of fine arts degrees. One student, who had an outstanding academic record, steadfastly pursued her studies and studio work even though she was terminally ill with cancer. She died before completing her course work, some of which will be featured in the exhibit.

Because most of these artists died many years ago, including one who passed on in l964 at age 29, preparing for this show presented a challenge--the curators needed first to identify and locate relatives, friends and collectors who owned the works being displayed. The exhibit was also contingent on the availability of art works as they varied in number--some more, some less--among the eight artists.

By featuring these works, Okimoto believes visitors can come to know these eight artists who have since passed away.

"As curator of this event, I stand between the artist and the visitor to this exhibit," Okimoto said. "I see art as a personal and private experience between the artist and his work--progressing eventually to a personal and private experience between the work of art and its perceiver. As John Ruskin, the renowned art critic, said, '... art is the expression of one soul talking to another.'"

Okimoto explained that though the works of art shown in Gone...But Not Forgotten were done by men and women who were isolated from one another during the creative process, perhaps because they shared a common path as individual artists during their lives, it may be appropriate to envision their coming together for this show as a spiritual camaraderie.

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i (JCCH), a non-profit organization, strives to strengthen our diverse community by educating present and future generations in the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai'i. Located in Mo¯'ili'ili, the Center features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts do¯jo¯, Seiko¯an Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop. For more information call (808) 945-7633, email info@jcch.com or visit the website at www.jcch.com.

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Kaimuki, Hawaii Event Calendar Item

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN - A Tribute Exhibition - Opening Reception

Kaimuki, Hawaii
Event Calendar Item