2002-2004
East Meets West Joint Print Exhibition

I was the exhibition coordinator as well as participating artist for this Tokyo/Kalamazoo print exchange. My accomplishments include: developing the prospectus and catalog, applying for and receiving grant support, writing an article for national journal (Graphic Impressions), and presenting and promoting this 120 piece print show. Exhibition sites include:
Little Cities Gallery, Kalamazoo, MI (July 2004)
Towa Gallery, Ginza, Tokyo, Japan (Sept. 2003)

2004 Press Release
Fostering Knowledge and Understanding Between Cultures

A joint exhibition entitled East Meets West will showcase 120 prints by artists from Kalamazoo, Michigan and Tokyo. The exhibit opens July 9 and runs through August 31 at Little Cities Gallery, located at 232 North Kalamazoo Mall, in Kalamazoo. This will be the second showing of this joint international exchange — the first took place in Tokyo in September 2003.

The East Meets West exhibition will feature woodblock prints made in the Japanese tradition. This grassroots project was in development for two years, headed by Kalamazoo artist Mary Brodbeck, who also taught courses in traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts as an outreach component of this exhibit. In 1998, Brodbeck studied traditional woodblock printmaking with master Yoshisuke Funasaka in Tokyo, through the auspices of a Japanese BUNCA-CHO Fellowship. The fellowship was established to enable foreign artists to learn traditional Japanese arts and to foster knowledge and understanding between cultures. In this spirit, Brodbeck and her mentor Funasaka were the organizers of this international exchange.

The forty Japanese participants showcasing their woodblock prints are all students or followers of Mr. Funasaka. Many of them will also make the trek across the globe to Kalamazoo to attend the opening reception to be held on Friday, July 9. From the twenty Kalamazoo area participants, many are graduates from the print department at Western Michigan University. Other community participants have associations with the print department at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts or Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids.

The Japanese artists include: Hiroko Akatsu, Eishi Asami, Etsuko Abe, Choko Amma, Mariko Ishiguro, Mayuna Ishijima, Masaomi Utsunomiya, Shunzo Endo, Ikuko Ono, Shotaro Kasahara, Akira Kawanabe, Tsuneo Kitamura, Yuko Kimura, Yomeko Koike,Yasuko Koseki, Mitsuko Sakurauchi, Masaka Sato, Norko Shimada, Lois Johnson, Chihaya Sugitani, Mototsugu Suguyama, Hiroshi Suzuki, Toshio Takama, Masko Takiuchi, Yae Tsukada, Sakae Tsuneoka, Sayoko Tsunematu, Shinichi Nunomura, Kanako Hamaguchi, Toshihiko Hosoda, Tsuneko Makishima, Mamoru Makino, Chizuko Matsumura, Kenji Yamaguchi, Hideo Yamamoto, Hajime Yamato, Hiroshi Yokoyama, Shiho Wadabayshi and Yoshisuke Funasaka.

The Kalamazoo area artists include: Ellen Armstrong, Julian Cox, Kate Demke, Michael Dunn, Cindi Ford, Donna Groot, Ladislav Hanka, Jerry Harty, Bev Hundley, Debbi Hands Kreps, Alexandrea Lau, Deborah Mattson, Carol Maus, Garrylee McCormick, Thomas Mills, Christine Olson, Sydnee Peters, Nancy Stroupe, Vicki VanAmeyden, Lynita Shimizu and Mary Brodbeck.

This exhibition was funded in part through the Arts Funds Grant facilitated by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.