(NAME-MCE) The Art of Gaman at the Benton

[Bill Howe]

 Note: The Benton presentation is made possible with the support of the
Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Nathan Hale Inn and
Conference Center, and in partnership with the University of Connecticut
Asian American Cultural Center, Asian American Studies Institute, and the
Foundations of Humanitarianism program.
The Art of Gaman at the Benton Benton Museum of Art

The Benton Museum of Art invites one and all to the new spring semester
exhibit "The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American
Internment Camps 1942-1946." The Art of Gaman opened January 22 and will be
on display until March 30, 2008. Gallery Hours: Tue-Fri: 10-4:30, Sa-Su:
1-4:30. Closed 3/8-16 & 3/22-23. This event is free and open to the public.
In Japanese, the word *gaman* means, "enduring the seemingly unbearable with
patience and dignity."
This exhibition is based upon a ground-breaking book (*The Art of Gaman*,
Ten Speed Press, 2005) by Delphine Hirasuna, who is the exhibition's guest
curator. It presents arts and crafts made by Japanese and Japanese Americans
who were interned in concentration camps in California, Wyoming, Arizona,
Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Arkansas during World War II. The exhibition
features nearly 200 objects made primarily from scrap and found materials by
those detained in the camps and gives a sense of the full range of artistic
activities that existed within the internment camps that saw the forced
relocation of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans. The exhibition also
demonstrates the resiliency of the creative spirit—how human beings are able
to create objects of beauty and meaning with humble materials and under the
most difficult circumstances.
This exhibition is based upon the book *The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts
from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942–1946* by Delphine Hirasuna
(Ten Speed Press, 2005) and was first held at the San Francisco Museum of
Craft and Folk Art. The touring exhibition has been organized by the William
Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, and the Oregon Historical
Society in collaboration with the National Japanese American Historical
Society. The Benton presentation is made possible with the support of the
Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Nathan Hale Inn and
Conference Center, and in partnership with the University of Connecticut
Asian American Cultural Center, Asian American Studies Institute, and the
Foundations of Humanitarianism program.

more at ...... http://www.thebenton.org/




-- 
Bill Howe
Web - http://www.billhowe.org
Blog - Travel - http://billhowe.org/BillBlog/
Blog - Multicultural Education - http://billhowe.org/MCE/

**Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) - http://apaact.com/