Roamings of a Leo: Bellevue, Washington Arts Museum on July 15, 2014

My friend Chris introduced me to the Bellevue Arts Museum last Tuesday. Together we explored the creative works on display.

We were greeted in the lobby with two sculptures by Erich Woll seen below:

This sculpture by Erich Woll entitled "Mistakes Will Be Made" loaned from the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.

The artist worked for Dale Chihuly for six years and learned his skills of glass sculpture. This sculpture by Erich Woll is entitled "In My Neck of the Woods." 2014 made of glass with acrylic

The other sculpture in the lobby is called "The Tag Project" made of 120,000 replicas of the paper identification tags that Japanese-American internees were forced to wear when they were being relocated to camps during World War II. The ten relocated centers were located throughout the West and in Arkansas. The artist is Wendy Maruyama, a third generation Japanese-American from San Diego.

The Art of Gaman, arts and crafts from the Japanese American internment camps, 1942-1946 was also on display including some of the bird sculptures Jim and I had seen at an exhibit in Pasadena.

An exhibit entitled "Folding Paper, the Infinite Possibilities of Origami" displayed over 140 works by 45 master folders from around the world including Japan, U.S., Uruguay, and Russia.

Here are some of my favorites:

The most famous origami form is the crane and has been a popular form for more than 400 years. Since the 1950's the crane has been linked with the struggle of Sadako Sasaki, 1943-1955, a young Hiroshima girl who was two when the atomic bomb was dropped by the Americans. When she was twelve, she was hospitalized with leukemia cased by the bomb's radiation. A friend told Sadako that anyone who folds one thousand cranes would be granted a wish, so she began folding cranes with the hope of recovering from her disease. Sadly, although she was able to fold more than one thousand cranes, she died in October of 1855.
A monument to her was erected to her in the Hiroshima Peace Park and permanently embellished with garlands of colorful cranes folded in her memory by school children from around the world, now placed in glass cases around the statue. The origami crane is now a symbol of world peace.

Akira Yoshizawa, (1911-2005), Japanese with one of his original origami designs.

"Prayer," and "Buddha," 2010 by Giang Dinh (b. 1966) Vietnamese American made with watercolor paper.

"Cyrus" by Joel Cooper (b. 1970 American) made with Elephant hide paper, "Mask" by Joel Cooper, "Characters from the Kubuki Play "Renjishi" by Makoto Yamaguchi (b. 1944, Japanese) made from Yuzen paper, "Mask" by Eric Joisel (1956-2010 French).

"Cardinal" and "Crane" by Roman Diaz (b. 1968 Uruguay) and "Coral Sponge," by Vincent Fioderer (b. 1981, France).

"Out on a Limb" by Bernie Peyton (b. 1950, American)

"Summer Ikebana," 2010 by John Blackman (b. 1955, American) of colored and textured paper.

"The Plague," by Sipho Mabona (b. 1980, Swiss South African) 2012 made of uncut square of US currency sheets.

"Double Wave," 2007 by Goran Konjevod (b. 1973, Croation American) made of one 24 inch square of elephant hide paper.

Below is a photo of a sculpture in an exhibit called "At Your Service" made from plates.

Items made from an Delft Blue earthenware plate by Gesine Hackenberg, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The next exhibit, "Under Pressure," traces printmaking's rise to prominence in postwar American art.

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