by Kay Curry
Northwest Asia Weekly
Minidoka Series #2: Exodus (1978) by Roger Y. Shimomura (courtesy of SAM)
The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is undergoing changes, including a recent redesign of their American art gallery to be more culturally and racially inclusive. What is America? Who are Americans? These are the questions SAM strives to answer, incorporating Asian, Latino, Black and Indigenous works into a series of rooms previously dominated by white male artists.
“The Story We Carry” is the first major reinstallation of an American art collection in 15 years. This is also the largest collaboration SAM has ever had with community members. The redo received input from 11 local experts within 15 months.
“It was a solid investment of time to figure out the possibility of redirecting what’s known as America’s permanent collection,” said Mayumi Tsutukawa, daughter of Seattle-based artist George Tsutukawa, writer and editor, with a focus on Asian Americans.
SAM has also done community collaborations before – especially during their presentation of Edward S. Curtis’s “Double Exposure”, SAM felt that the artist in question deserved to be studied in a different context and invited a group of people to help guide them. The same applies to “the stories we carry”.
“We’re trying a lot of new things,” explains Caitlyn Fong, an intern in SAM’s conservation department, one of four interns hired by SAM to combat what Fong believes is the lack of people of color in art. Museum industry.
Early Winter, Mount Rainier (1957), George Tsutukawa (courtesy of SAM)
“People lack diverse representation, and one of the problems is that people don’t know the field, or only certain specific people know the field, which limits the type of people trying to get in,” said Fong, who was able to participate in advisory committee meetings , who helped document and restore artwork that hadn’t been moved for a long time.
Now the art will be presented thematically, talking about their “relationship”; and there are a lot of newcomers from different American communities. For example, a painting by Thomas Eakins will be placed side by side with a portrait of black artist Kehinde Wiley.
“One was a traditional white painting by a white man, and then there was Kehinde, who repurposed the genre of portraiture to accentuate the seated position and its dignity,” Fong describes. As for Asian American art, while SAM had space for this crowd before, it will now be incorporated into the American Art Gallery to “send an important signal about what is or is an American because then it will be incorporated The meaning of the rest of the show, rather than a single thing – that could be meaningful,” Fong said.
Courtesy: Sam
“The Story We Carry” will include a sculpture “Mo” or “Seaweed” by George Tsutukawa, as well as other works by Seattle-based artists such as Paul Horiuchi. Horiuchi and Tsutukawa were part of a Northwestern art school that rose to prominence in the 1930s and 1940s, but arguably started as early as 1890. The school focuses primarily on the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest, especially on the west side of Washington, synchronizing with Asian artistic aesthetics and values. The Tsutagawas worked with SAM during their lifetime, and their daughter Mayumi felt that her father received due public recognition during his lifetime. Mayumi’s brother Gerard, also a local artist, has recently highlighted in the media the rebuilding work following the theft and destruction of their father’s famous botanical garden gate.
Mayumi confirmed that SAM practiced what it preached when it remodeled American art galleries. She describes American art curators Theresa Papanikolas and Ann M. Barwick as “dyed wool anti-racists” who work with “diverse perspectives.”
“Over the course of this year and a half, the entire museum’s advisory board and leadership, especially these two curators, have really gone through a process of seeing what’s out there, what’s currently in the permanent collection, what’s possible are possible themes,” she said. The thematic concept is something that SAM’s Asian Art Museum has spearheaded as part of its reopening, with works displayed by subject rather than location, and remains a pioneering approach across the country.
The themes of “Stories We Carry” will focus on such topics as landscapes in the “Story Places” gallery or memories in the “Memory Keepers” gallery. There will also be ongoing temporary exhibitions “exploring new perspectives,” SAM explained in its press release. Revisiting how they do things is part of SAM’s overall plan to put the community at the center and revitalize its spaces. For example, SAM recently decided not to sell tickets for special exhibitions individually, to encourage visitors to walk through the entire museum, not just one section, and then leave, as often happens with special exhibitions. Several other SAM curators are now reconsidering how they might want to rearrange their galleries in the near future.
“[SAM has] It’s a good thing by including… Asian American artists as well as major categories of African American, Indigenous and Latino artists,” Tstukawa said. She noted that in the past, you’ve probably seen a lot of emphasis on people of color primarily in the education sector community attention, but now, she continues, “I think the Seattle Art Museum…did a great job, and I’m looking forward to learning more about this exhibit. “
Fong, who came to Seattle from Pennsylvania for this opportunity, added: “Museums should be places where people come to learn about the surrounding community. I hope, museums are for connecting.” By re-installing the American Art Gallery, SAM shows it agrees with Fong The point of view, he says, is that when visiting an art museum, people should be able to “see themselves and feel connected to the work being exhibited, and perhaps have more engaging conversations about their lives and reflect on where they came from.”
“The Story We Carry” opens on October 20.
Kay can reach info@nwasianweekly.com.
