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Blue Star Museums share stories and art this summer

August 12, 2010

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Contact:
Sally Gifford
202-682-5606
giffords@arts.gov
This is a photograph of artist Chiura Obata looking at one of his art works. Obata founded an art school at the Japanese-American Internment Camp in Topaz, Utah during World War II. Credit: Courtesy of Springville Museum  

Artist and Topaz Art School Founder Chiura Obata Credit: Courtesy of Springville Museum

Military families still have nearly four weeks this summer to enjoy free admission at more than 900 museums nationwide.  Blue Star Museums have opened their doors to active duty military and their families through Labor Day, September 6, 2010.

New to the honor roll of Blue Star Museums is Springville Museum, in Springville, Utah.  Utah’s oldest museum for the visual arts is located in the state’s “art city,” 45 miles south of Salt Lake City.  The museum houses a permanent collection of 1,500 works by Utah artists, a notable collection 20th-Century Russian Art, and ongoing curated and juried exhibitions and events. 

Through October 15, Springville Museum of Art presents The Art of Topaz: Beauty Inside Barbed Wire.  The exhibit features 40 works of art created by and inspired by the story of Japanese-Americans who were relocated to the Topaz, Utah, internment camp during World War II.  

This is a pen and ink landscape painting depicting a series of buildings in the desert. The title of the painting is Block 6 September 12 1943 Topaz, by Setsu Nagata Kanehara.  

Block 6 September 12 1943 Topaz, by Setsu Nagata Kanehara

One of the 11,000 people relocated to the Topaz Camp was Chiura Obata (1885-1975).  Born in Japan, he studied both Japanese and Western painting techniques.  At the time of the relocation, Obata was an art instructor at the University of California at Berkeley.  During his time at Topaz Camp, Obata organized an art school with 16 art instructors teaching 600 students.  

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, a national, non-partisan, non-profit network of military families from all ranks and services including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families. Learn more about Blue Star Museums across the country by visiting the Blue Star Museums page at www.arts.gov.

 

 

 

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