FALL STUDIO: “STREET LEVEL”
October 20 – December 18, 2010
Wednesdays & Fridays, 3:30-5PM, Frank Fuji Youth Space
Artist mentor: Jonathan Wakuda Fischer

In "Street Level," the fall session of The Wing Luke Museum's YouthCAN program, we will further our understanding of style by investigating the grey area where art intersects/conflicts with societal issues. When is art deemed vandalism, and when is it acceptable in a public environment? How can art help or hurt the community it exists in? And how does society affect the nature of personal style? To explore these questions, we will be combining art and altruism in Seattle's International District: In addition to exploring community legal issues, we will also be working with the Storefronts Seattle project to create an art installation that captures this dialogue. 

Please contact Joshua Heim for more information
(206) 623-5124 x115
jheim (at) wingluke (dot) org

SUMMER STUDIO ON STYLE
July 6 – August 14, 2010
Artist mentor: Jonathan Wakuda Fischer

ONE DAY YOU’RE IN, the next day you’re out. Where are you?

JOIN JONATHAN and other artists, designers, museum professionals and youth leaders for the
2010 YouthCAN Summer Studio at The WING. We will explore this and other questions about how style is used by, for and against Asian Pacific American people. What does it mean to have style, and what can we do with it once we get it?

YOUTH AGES 15 – 20 will learn about the different styles that make up the fabric of the Asian Pacific American community. We will also create art like Hokasai’s Great Wave! that speak to the new styles of the next generation. Our challenge is to creatively weave these new threads into a cohesive whole.

APPLY BY MAY 21st, 2010! Please contact Josh Heim at (206) 623-5124 x115 or jheim@wingluke.org with questions or to pick up an application.

About the Artist Mentor: Jonathan Wakuda Fischer
Wakuda is my mother's Japanese family name, and I have chosen it as a way to honor my past. After efforts as an artist in a variety of mediums, I can truly say I have finally found my calling. Exploring the nature of Ukiyo-e and the interplay between Japan and America has given me the opportunity to better understand both cultures, as well as honor my past and create something for the future.

I am fascinated with the role technology plays in the creation of art, as well as its obsolescence in the wake of human progress. This relationship between art and its process is well illustrated by the history of traditional Japanese woodblock; the printing technology integral to the popular rise of Ukiyo-e also contributed to its downfall. Coming from the cultures of both East and West, my life has revolved around the possibilities of creating something new from different origins. I've found the woodblock art form thematically appropriate to pair with the aesthetic of similarly outdated 20th century culture. By combining antiquity with technology and past with (near) present, I try to create a new context for the art that is seemingly transcendent of history.