Japan Envisions the West: 16th-19th Century Japanese Art from Kobe City Museum

Japan Envisions the West:
16th-19th Century Japanese Art from Kobe City Museum
October 11, 2007–January 6, 2008
SAM Simonyi Special Exhibition Galleries

Organized by the Seattle Art Museum in collaboration with Kobe City Museum, this international exhibition explores how the Japanese saw Westerners and how Japanese artists responded to and interpreted Western art and culture from the 16th to the 19th century. Japan Envisions the West features 140 objects from Kobe City Museum, including paintings, prints, maps, ceramics, lacquerware, metalware, glassware and textiles, along with 20 objects from SAM's collection. This exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Kobe and Seattle.

Leavenworth, Washinton - Bavaria of the Pacific Northwest

Leavenworth’s history does not begin with the alpine tradition it knows today, but with the proud heritage of the Yakima, Chinook and Wenatchi tribes. The Native American tribes lived by hunting the land for deer and elk, as well as fishing Icicle Creek for salmon. Surrounded by some of the most beautiful and bountiful lands in North America, the three tribes co-existed from Lake Wenatchee to the Icicle and beyond.

The area was eventually settled by pioneers in search of gold, furs and fertile farmland. Stakes were claimed, land was tracked, and the Leavenworth area was soon bustling with settlers. By 1890, the original town was built on the Icicle Flats.

It was the end of the century when the town began to blossom with the arrival of the rail line. The Great Northern Railway Company’s tracks through Leavenworth brought with them opportunities for work, commerce and a new economy.

A sawmill and a healthy logging industry eventually fell apart, however, when the Great Northern Railway Company pulled out of Leavenworth. The re-routing of the railroad and the subsequent closure of the sawmill, sadly converted the town from a bustling, thriving hub of commerce into a hollow, empty community. For more than thirty years, Leavenworth lived on the brink of extinction.

But in the early 1960’s, everything changed. In a last-chance effort to turn their precarious situation around, the leaders of the community decided to change Leavenworth’s appearance, hoping to bring tourism into the area. Using the beautiful backdrop of the surrounding Alpine hills to their advantage, the town agreed to remodel their hamlet in the form of a Bavarian village.

Hoping to create more than a mere facelift, the entire community rallied to create the illusion of Bavaria in the middle of Washington state. Besides the complete renovation of the downtown area, community members worked to begin a series of festivals. The Autumn Leaf Festival, Maifest and the extremely popular Christmas Lighting Ceremony were the first of many attractions Leavenworth offered to passers-by.

It worked. Since the change to a Bavarian motif, Leavenworth has become a pillar of the tourism industry in the Pacific Northwest. Today, close to two million tourists come to Leavenworth each year, each visitor finding their own individual love affair with the community.

Photo by: Peggy Daczewitz-Hamlin

Grays Harbor Conty - Washington

Grays Harbor County has the best of both worlds . . . breathtaking space and all the amenities of an urban area along with a bountiful natural environment, a growing economy, and managed population growth! The stunning beauty of the Olympic Peninsula affects people in ways unlike any other place on earth. People who live here are within comfortable range of the northern Cascades and Olympics, Pacific beaches, awe-inspiring rain forests and pristine waterways. Sheltered by the mountains, Grays Harbor enjoys moderate marine temperatures throughout the year, including warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters.