Judy Shintani's Healing Family Trees Grow on History and Hope

On June 27, 2009 the ArtXchange Gallery offered a free, hands-on "Remembrance Art Workshop" presented by Judy Shintani. The event was organized in conjunction with Legacies of War, which in turn is a project of the National Interest Project (PIP), a New York based 30-year-old nonprofit. The "Legacies of War National Traveling Exhibit" creates awareness about the bombing of Laos, and campaigns for removal of unexploded bombs that remained in the ground.

According to statistics ±10,000 Laotians make their home in Washington State, of those ±7,000 live in Seattle proper. The local chapter of "Legacies of War" received a Grant to collect the stories of Laotians here. In 2010 the resulting project "Our Shared Journey" shall be shown at the Wing Luke Museum.
Sakuna Thongchanh the Legacy of War organizer in Seattle said, "This will be an important moment in time, since no other museum so far has been willing to give the Legacies of War Exhibit a home."

Judy Shintani shared images and stories of her work as a "transformative" artist. Thus presenting the notion that turning painful memories into art is a healing action.
Nametags hanging from Shintani's "Family Tree" for instance are reminiscent of those worn by her relatives on their way to the internment camps. Adorned with portrait pictures however, those same tags are the leaves on the branches of the family tree, a way to honor her heritage.

During the June exhibit at the gallery, visitors were invited to write their thoughts on strips of rice paper that they could add to Shintani's "Remembrance Shrine". Those comments were the inspiration for the "Remembrance Tree" that Shintani created especially for the workshop on the 27th. This "extended family" tree will become part of the Legacies of War National Traveling Exhibit.

On that Saturday afternoon, the scrawny chicken wire body of the tree was dressed with memorial "leaves", created by those present. After a short meditation, everyone —outfitted with scissors, glue, markers and natural elements reminiscent of Laos, such as tamarind pods, banana leaves, flowers, medicinal bark and herbs— embarked on the art project. Memories surfaced and were put into words or visualized.

Darasavanh "Dara" Kommavongsa Craven wrote about her father's sugar cane orchard, raved about the perfume of papayas, then spoke of having been taken from her mother by her Freedom Fighter father when she was 6-months old. Mother herself of a Kindergartner she hopes to be re-united with her mom some day. She posed for the camera, holding up a picture of rice paddies and one with U.N. helmets and weapons.
"Perhaps someone will recognize my features and maiden name, and bring us together," she said with a brave smile that belied her emotions.

Khamsavart "KV" Saengthasy drew rice paddies and pole houses, and probed added an elk-like bison and a line with drying clothes. Just a three-year-old when he left Laos for a refugee camp with his parents and sister, he mostly recalled the smell of rain and mud. He grinned remembering cousins falling from the elevated floor into the muck

KV's father Khampaeng Saengthasy penned his account of fleeing his homeland, illustrating the memory with a drawing of a fort-like refugee camp and passport size pictures of his wife, himself and their two children.

"That's the prison I was in, as a small child," KV said pointing at the watchtower on a corner of the encampment. He shrugged, "I hadn't done anything wrong."

Meanwhile female relatives of the gents created artistic blossom holders and collages using banana leaves and photo copied family pictures; filling in the empty spaces on Shintani's Healing Art tree.

The aim of Legacies of War is: "to provide space for healing the wounds of war and to create greater hope for a future of peace." People such as artist Judy Shintani and gallery owner Cora Edmonds help the organization reach that goal.

Previously published in the International Examiner Volume 36, number 15, August 5-18 2009

Forecast Public Art Umbrella Benefit 2009

Yes, I am painting an umbrella for this benefit event, see for all participating artists the list below. Visit Forecast PublicArt Umbrella Site for tickets

Les Paul Made The Beatles The Beatles

A few years back someone posted a For Sale ad on Craigslist for a Gibson Les Paul studio guitar. At the time Gary was working full time for the Seattle Opera and in the middle of tech week for La Bohème I believe. Meaning there was no "after work" opportunity to drive up north to take a look at the instrument and be back in time. He'd get stuck in traffic for sure. So at lunchtime I stood waiting at the curb with our pick-up truck, the engine running. Pushing the pedal to the metal, we flew to Everett, past the Boeing factories, up a winding country road to an unassuming track house where the seller was waiting for us.

On the way there we'd discussed the situation.
Why would anyone want to sell his Gibson Les Paul? That was a question that needed to be answered. Don't go for the asking price, you need to bargain, I said. If he doesn't want to give it for the price you have in mind, ask him if he has a case and is willing to throw that in for what you're offering. Remember, don't give in too soon.

The man showed us in, he'd just returned from work and his honeymoon in Asia where he had met his bride. She, a stunning foreign beauty, was an exotic fresh flower landed in a musician's bachelor's pad. The living room was nothing more nor less than a rehearsal space; the furniture minor elements, just there to crash on between sets. I wondered how she'd add her touch, or whether she'd consent to live that way, or whether that perhaps was all beside the point.

The moment the man handed Gary the burgundy guitar, I knew he was sold on the instrument. No matter that she was beaten up, abused and in great need of loving care. I saw love in his eyes, recognized it in the sudden blush on his cheeks.
He mentioned the asked for price. The man nodded, and Gary nodded as well. He managed to ask why the owner would let go of the old guitar, with which he must have gone through a lot.
"I got it second hand myself, he said, "Got myself a new one."
He pointed at another Gibson, brand new, shiny and without a blemish.
"You want to hold it," without waiting for Gary's response he handed him the old girl.
Not that either man used the word "girl", it's what I thought. It was and still is so obvious. Hadn't Les Paul modeled his first electric guitar after the shape of a woman, breast waist and hips, just the way he liked her?

Gary held the old body, stroking the neck, strumming the strings. The way his fingers touched the missing chip, I knew our bargaining rehearsal was lost to the wind or rather to the strings.

"She needs some work," the seller said, "but other than that she's fine."
"Ehuh. Do you have a case included in the price?"
"No," the man said.
"Okay," Gary said. He leaned the guitar against the couch, pulled out his wallet and without looking at me, he handed over the cash.
"You're a pushover," I said as we drove off the lot.
"I know," he said, grinning all the way back to work.

He polished her and made her look beautiful for her agean elderly dame. Turns out he doesn't really like to play her that much, he's really become an acoustic guitar man and finds the weight of the solid body prohibitive. But, having her in his collection makes him feel good. Every once in a while he takes her off the wall and plays the songs he used to play when owning a Gibson Les Paul was still a dream.

As Paul McCartney himself told Les Paul the inventor of the electric guitar, he made The Beatles The Beatles. And of them, my Piedmont Blues picking PHD is still a great fan.
And that's that.

Thank you and R.I.P. Les Paul (1915-2009)

By the way, you don't want to miss the fantastic Last Word documentary by Matthew Orr.

Camp Korey Empowers Children

Help Camp Korey in Carnation, Washington become one of Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camps.

Fort Lawton Bus Stop

Construction of the bus stop at Fort Lawton dates back to 1949. The morning I shot this picture I got all turned around running through the damp fields with Mocha. The fog made it impossible to detect the cliff that hangs over Puget Sound, other land marks, or even the sun. Not until I ran into another wanderer near the officer's row, who pointed me in the direction of the church, was I able to find my bearings.

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

Art Connects People

café muller pina bausch rare

Rare performance of Pina Bausch and segment of interview

Remembering Icons of Arts & Entertainment

A week of public remembrance. Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Pina Bausch. The coverage of Jackson's life and death by media is as outrageous as the subject's public persona was. To Fawcett we said goodbye after watching the first few minutes of the documentary made to share her fight with cancer with the world, aired not a week before her death.

"Why did they do that to her?" PHD pointed at the cover of The Stranger, one of Seattle's free weeklies. The caricature of a female in hot pants, with Fawcett's famous hairdo to me undoubtedly sports Jackson's sorry excuse for a nose. Michael's face on Farrah's body. Ouch! Am I seeing spooks?

I'd rather keep on watching the videos that show Pina Bausch talking and performing. If dancers speak with their bodies, Bausch said it all with those incredibly articulate arms. The videos on YouTube about Pina Bausch and her Dance Theater are classy memorials to a grand lady of Modern Dance.