Opening Reception and Closing Reception Event

The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts & Happy Valley Cultural Center is pleased to present Mottainai, an exhibition of work by Kathy Yoshihara, an artist working in ceramics and mixed media. The exhibition will be presented July 27 – September 14, 2024, with an Opening Reception on Saturday, July 27th, 2 – 4 pm. The public is invited to attend.

A Southern California Native, Kathy Yoshihara received her BA in painting, sculpture and graphicarts from the University of California, Los Angeles. She combines her computer graphic knowledge to produce multimedia work in glass, ceramics, and found/recycled objects.

Yoshihara’s work is guided and inspired by her Japanese American heritage and practice of Mottainai – finding value in re-purposing, reusing, and recycling. Her sculptural ceramics arepersonal tributes to her ancestors and the many forgotten Executive Order 9066 prisoners,addressing the Japanese American imprisonment and its effect on future generations.

As Yoshihara explains: “Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and illegally imprisoned. Their crime – looking like the enemy. They were given a week to prepare and could only take what they could carry. They survived by practicing ‘gaman’ – accepting hardships/adversity with patience, dignity, and perseverance. They buried their memories, anger,and feelings of shame as they became ‘model Americans’. Most were silent, never speaking about their experiences and feeling.”

What began as memorials to departed relatives, has evolved into an examination of racism, social injustice, and generational identity of Japanese Americans pre and post WWII.

“I reveal the story from a personal perspective, by combining traditional Japanese objects, historical content, and memorabilia,” Yoshihara says. “My ceramic/multi-media dioramas question attitudes that are still prevalent today.

I want future generations to experience the hardships they endured as their rights as Americans were denied. By making an emotional connection, I want the viewer to recognize, question, and actupon injustices based on race, nationality, language, or any other differences.”

“This exhibition is an excellent example of how we are both an art center and a cultural center,” notes Kevin Wallace, Founding Director. “It’s my hope that people will not only experience what a talented artist Kathy Yoshihara is, but that her works will allow viewers to better understand the Japanese-American experience and, by extension, the larger expanse of humanity and history.”

The Center will also have the Closing Reception celebrating the exhibition The Missing and the Found: The Art of Ray Gabaldon & Tona Wakefield as part of the event.

The public is invited to attend.