RECENT WORKS IN PAINTING AND GLASSS
Keiko Hara
08.04.17 - 10.22.17
WALLA WALLA
ABOUT THE SHOW
Foundry Vineyards is pleased to announce “Recent Works in Painting, Print, and Glass” by Keiko Hara. The
exhibition will be run from August 4 – October 22, 2017. The opening reception will be held August 4 from 5-8 pm with a gallery talk at 7pm. Foundry Vineyards is pleased to be able to share, and celebrate, Hara’s art and talent with the community in which she lives.
Keiko Hara has been a Walla Walla resident since 1985. She is Professor Emeritus at Whitman College, where she taught
art for 21 years. Hara has had a prolific and successful art career, including over 50 solo shows throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan. This exhibition features Hara’s most recent works, and is a dynamic representation of the artist’s oeuvre, showcasing prints, paintings, and glass. Her use of un-traditional methods and combinations of mediums adds a sense of depth
to the work.
The central four-canvas piece “Verse Ma and Ki Memory 1, 2, 3, and 4” was painted using both water- and oil-based paint
with collage elements including paper, cloth, rope, and staples. Hara’s use of the word “verse” in the title refers to an extensive investigation of a particular subject using different mediums and technique. In this case, the subject is the study of space and the spirit/invisible energy (Ma and Ki). When a “verse” has been fully explored (usually through many different artworks)
they are exhibited together to create one large installation. The glass work was created in June 2017 at the Pilchuck Glass School, where she was Artist in Resident. Hara welcomed the
opportunity to explore a new medium. Instead of choosing to work with one process, she worked with both kilns and the hot shop. The result was an unlikely combination; Hara fused the blown glass with the kiln work creating an impressively large, colorful, multi-paneled installation.
ABOUT THE ARTIST(S)
Keiko Hara (b. 1942) is a native of Japan and moved to the U.S. in 1971. She attended Mississippi State University where
she received her BFA in Painting and an MFA in Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art. In 1985, Hara accepted a professorship at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where she taught until 2006. Hara lives and works in Walla Walla while exhibiting her work around the world. Hara’s art is featured in numerous public collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Museum of Art, Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, Portland Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Washington State Art Commission’s Public Art
Collection, Whitman College, Yale New Haven Hospital, among others.
About Whitman College Mokuhanga Center
This exhibition is funded by the Anderson Foundation for the Arts and coincides with the Mokuhanga Center’s 2017 Print Studio Program (July 30- August 5). The Mokuhanga Center was established in 2015 by Keiko Hara and Akira R. Takemoto as a way to promote and explore the Japanese woodblock print tradition and traditional Japanese culture through workshops, demonstrations, and community events. The 2017 Print Studio Program attracted ten woodblock print artists to Whitman College for a week-long residency. These artists will work alongside Shōichi Kitamura, a professional woodblock print carver from Kyoto, who will be working on images by printmaker and artist Pat Clark, founder of A-6 Studio in Bend, Oregon.
Master carver Kitamura will give a public demonstration of various woodblock print carving techniques on August 5, 2017 from 10am-11:30am at the Whitman College Tea Room (Olin Hall 157). The Mokuhanga Center also invites the community on Wednesday, August 2 from 7:00 to 8:30pm to visit the Chikurakken tea room, see meet Shōichi Kitamura, and to learn
more about this year’s Studio Print Program. For more information, please contact Professor Akira R. Takemoto at takemoto@whitman.edu.
