MARCH/APRIL WASHINGTON FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER

DR. JAMES W. W ASHINGTON JR. & MRS. JANIE ROGELLA W ASHINGTON FOUNDATION CULTURAL ARTS

O O O

COMMUNITY & CREATIVITY

NEWS & INFORMATION FROM THE FOUNDATION BOARD

Volume 3

2020 Artists-in-Residence

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Issue No. 2

P March/April 2021

For Women’s National History Month, we feature and say thank you to our 2020 Artists-in-Residence and to the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Additionally, thanks to Michael Maine for the photographs of the 2020 work of the Artists-in-Residence. While the COVID-19 pandemic prevented our showing their work during 2020, The Foundation looks forward to presenting their artistic talents to you sometime in the near future.

W

e recognize Sojourner Truth (1797 - 1883), slave, abolitionist, Orator, women’s suffrage worker, and a Celebrated Colored Woman of her time and is still remembered to this very day.

There are museums in her name, sculptures, books, and the 5th & 6th generation Thomas Mccliechey families in Battle Creek Michigan that are keeping her legacy alive.

We recognize Vinnie Bagwell, New York sculptor, whose 7 foot, 1000 pound sculpture was installed in Poughkeepsie New York, August 26, 2020.

We congratulate Barbara Allen who has just authored a book about her great grandmother, Sojourner Truth; title Remembering Great Grandma Sojourner Truth.

Thomas Mccliechey in his Museum in Battle Creek Michigan.

Also,one of the many museums which carry her name is the Sojo Virtual Pop up Museum, started March29,2020.

My 2021 Director’s theme is again simply ONE. The goal is outreach to ONE Million individuals with response from ONE Million: dollars, friends, inkind, and etc. We begin 2021 by asking each of you to contribute a minimum of $1.00 or more and to invite your circle of friends to contribute $1.00 each or more. This may seem ambitious; but we believe it is achievable. We are ready to resume our ONE Campaign. EACH ONE ASK ONE REV. DR. LAVERNE C. HALL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE paypal.me/jwwjrw1816 Check/Money Order The Washington Foundation PO Box 22952 Seattle WA 98122

Greeting and Blessings to the Friends of the Dr. James W. Washington, Jr. and Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington Foundation (The Washington Foundation).

We have navigated through this very trying and challenging 2020 and are thankful to be able to tell our stories.

Kudos go to our Executive Director, Artists-in-Residence, and volunteers who continued their work during the long pandemic year. Although we are in a storm, we welcome you to continue this journey with us as we strive to keep alive the Washingtons’ dream.

Continuing their dream, we continue our ONE Million Dollar campaign. We encourage each of you to contribute to this campaign because the pandemic will affect our annual Mrs. Elma Horton Garden Party fund raiser in May. Very simply, with your help, one million people will give Board Chair $1.00 or more and then ask each of your friends to give $1.00. This can be done. Each board member has given $1.00 and will ask their friends to “Please give $1.00 to the Washington Foundation.” Of course, you may give more than A SPECIAL INVITATION . . . Please join our 2021 ONE $1.00. We just need the minimum of $1.00 from one Million Dollar Charter Contributors. Yes, your million supporters. Let us unite as ONE and fulfill the contributions are tax deductible. They will allow goal for Dr. James W. Washington, Jr. and Mrs. Janie the Washington Foundation to broaden community Rogella Washington. outreach and collaborations . . . they will help us continue our Washington Young Laureates Program, restoration of the Fountain of Triumph, expansion of the Artist in Residence Program to include writers, restoration of the backyard greenhouse and front and back landscaping, and more.

Elma Horton, Board President Board Members – Jessie Attri, Monette Hearn, Carmen Jones, Edwin Morris, Henry Smith, Jim Yearby, Rosemary Young, Glen Youngblood

Just give us a call at 206-709-4241 for more information.

Let us add your name to our ONE List.

Rev. Dr. LaVerne C. Hall, Exec, Dir. Mrs. Elma Horton, Board Chair Jessie Attri ! Monette Hearn ! Carmen Jones ! Edwin Morris ! Jim Yearby Rosemary Young ! Glen Youngblood

Join the Carousel of ONEs. . . to let us add your name . . .

Rev. Dr. LaVerne C. Hall, Exec, Dir.; Mrs. Elma Horton, Board Chair; Jessie Attri ! Gloria & Edwin Morris; Paris Williams ! Jim Yearby; Rosemary Young ! Glen Youngblood; Mr. Anon; Thomas F. Bangasser, Pastor Robert Britten, Patricia & Jerome Butler; Victor & Victoria Butler; Nancy Chang; Brenda Charles Edwards; Minnie Collins; Marjorie Cottoms; Cutie Kitten; Pastor Micah Daniel; Esther Ervin & Al Doggett; Lindsey Engh; Zane Fitch & Sharon Rose Fitch; Winston Fitch & Victor Fitch; George & Christine Foster; Kieran & Paige Foster; LaWayne Charles Foster; Dorothy Gourdine, Miriam Gourdine, Erica Hale; Sadiqua Iman; Yvonne Jenkins; Carmen Jones; Outlaw Kandyce; Rev. Dr. Victor C. Langford III; Harold Lincoln; Gail Marino; Tamika Moseley; Maura Salamah O’Brien; Sam & Sophie O’Brien; Guy Punt; Merlin Rainwater; Annie Riggins; Sara Semitic; Rev. Dr. Linda Smith; Robert Stevens; Lana Sunberg; Callie Vallall; Linda Watson; Annie Williams; Clara Williams; Freddie Williams; Gracie Williams; Lamar Williams; Gazelle Williams; Lee Wright; Virginia Wyman.

SCULPTURE

AS RITUAL

In the ancient Egyptian language, the words for “sculpture” and “sculptor” emphasize that images are alive. They come to life through ritual: the word for “sculpture” means literally, “a thing that is caused to live,” while a sculptor is “one who brings (it) to life.”

Quoted from a essay from archaeologist Edward Bleiberg JAMES W. WASHINGTON, JR. # ARTIST, SCULPTOR, POET, SEEKER OF TRUTH # 1909 - 2000 Visionary artist James Winston Washington, Jr. is one of the most celebrated sculptors from the Northwest. Washington’s close friends remember him as an orator, an educator, a poet, and an artist who tried to make visible the connection between spirituality and creativity.

OF

ONE OF THE IMPERATIVES FROM THE LAST WILL & TESTAMENT Dr. James W. Washington Jr. & Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington

We leave you a mandate to encourage others to explore their creativity AUGUST 2020 The Dr. James W. Washington Jr & Mrs. Janie Rogella Wasington Foundation Board accepted with much thanks, funding from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture for funding The Foundation’s 2020 Artistin-residence Program. Five artists were selected for individual works and one collaborative using the theme Revisioning - What color is COLOR. The selected artists along with their works are shown on the following pages Esther Ervin

Christina Reed

Eve Sanford

Erin Shigaki

Carol Williams

We thank the artists for contributing their time and talents and most of all, their patience last year. Here they are in alpha-order:

ESTHER ERVIN # THE COLOR OF DISCRIMINATION dis•crim•i•na•tion d0-skr0m¢c-nā shcn n. n. n.

The act of discriminating.

The ability or power to see or make fine distinctions; discernment.

Treatment or consideration based on class or category, such as race or gender, rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice.

This collection of work examines seven of the numerous different stereotyped racial or ethnic groups that have been, or still are targets of discrimination.

The ways in which they differ from the oppressor class make them targets for ridicule. Many of the offensive representations of these so-called minority groups are based upon gross exaggeration of their physical characteristics, culinary preferences or supposed temperament.

The concept of race, based largely on skin color, was invented by society to justify injustice and discrimination. Perhaps some viewers will be inspired to research and/or reflect upon the concept of race and how it colors our world view.

CHRISTINA REED ARTIST Revision: What Color is Color?

Color is pigment, spectrum, hue, shade, tint, tone, rainbow, diversity, variety, scope.

Color is power. Used in this country as a racialized construct whose history includes genocide, terrorism, murder and discrimination.

And color is relationship.#### I came to know James Washington, Jr. through his home library. I was granted access to conduct research on the history of race and social justice, in Seattle specifically and in the US in general. On many occasions, as I opened a book, one of Mr. Washington’s hand-written notes would fall to the floor: Buy nails; Trim roses for the house; Psalm 118:24, This is the day the Lord hath made …. Captured by the Washington’s spirit, I began volunteering for the Washington Foundation to organize material that illustrated Mr. Washington’s legacy as a brilliant artist and responsible citizen. I learned that in addition to being a celebrated artist, he was a remarkable man of vision and purpose, a consummate humanitarian and to his core, a highly spiritual being. Mr. Washington actively lived his principles in his community and church and spoke to the eternal spiritual connection of all things – god, plants, minerals and creatures.

James and Janie Washington’s home is a historical treasure and the garden a spiritual environment.

One feels their presence still. This spirit guided my artwork, as represented in the collaborative sculptural piece, and in a series of unique prints. For the sculptural piece, I chose to honor the Washington’s legacy using the symbol of roses. He cultivated roses and several of these rosebushes continue to thrive in the Foundation’s gardens. Through the ages, in all religions, roses are a symbol of miraculous love at work in the world. They symbolize god’s love and our communal connection to him and to each other.

The series of prints is titled, Witness. Silk-screened images taken from my photographs of the Washington’s garden (rose bushes, front stairway to the house, foliage-covered stones, fishpond, light and shadow on exterior studio walls) form the base layer. Superimposed are intaglio prints with wording from hymns and spirituals. I use text that has double meanings to highlight both the experience of racism and work that needs to be done to end it (i.e., Let Me Stand from under the yoke of racial oppression; Let Me Stand for racial justice.)

EVE SANFORD MULTI-DISCIPLINE ARTIST ARTS EDUCATOR Eve is a transplant from Chicago where she has worked over the past 19 years teaching art for Chicago public and charter schools and various community centers, museums, and programs throughout the city.

Eve’s educational philosophy moves her to facilitate creative experiences that engage students in the exploration of self, community, and purpose.

As an artist, often her work takes form in jewelry, photographs, paintings, and installations. She explores identity, vacancy, and healing through a primarily autobiographical lens.

Eve is an alumna of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in Arts Education and an MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University. She currently serves as the Director of Programs for Pratt Fine Arts Center.

ERIN SHIGAKI SHORT BIO Erin Shigaki creates work that is community-based and focused on BIPOC experiences, often the WWII incarceration of her Japanese American community. Erin is passionate about highlighting similarities between that history and systemic injustices Black and Brown people continue to face. She is keen to understand intergenerational trauma and to explore the emergence of beauty and intimacy despite unspeakably harsh circumstances. Erin believes that using art to tell these stories can educate, redress, and incrementally heal. She is also a community activist with the Minidoka Pilgrimage, Tsuru for Solidarity, and serves on the board of the TV program Look Listen + Learn. (on collaborative piece) Kumo, 2020 Ceramic, acrylic paint, red thread, community-sourced fabrics Kumo or clouds are ever-changing, life-giving, and grace us and the skies with their infinite shapes and shifting. The mysterious power of clouds led my Japanese ancestors to believe that gods and spirits dwelled upon and within them. This golden cloud offers tanzaku or slips of paper containing wishes and poems. While usually reserved for the summer Star Festival, I bring these tanzaku into permanent residence in our collaboration at the Washington Foundation. The fabrics include part of an old yukata (cotton kimono) belonging to my late grandmother Yasuko, pieces that my friend Keisha had from living in Senegal, and Mexican oilcloth. May our communities continue the work of flourishing together.

One Day in Idaho 2, 2018-2020 Cast bronze, red thread, cloth, ikebana stones, and stand In my work I frequently summon the concept of akai ito or red thread. In Japanese lore, the invisible and unbreakable red thread links you to your destined soulmate.

Throughout my work and here, I prefer to think of red threads and ropes as the blood and lifelines that run through our communities, connecting us all and reminding us that the divisions that white supremacy upholds are lies. When I use red knotted rope in my work, it is also to lift up the segregated 442nd Army Regiment that served in World War II which was composed of Japanese American volunteers and draftees from the ten concentration camps in the United States. Incarcerated Japanese American women followed an old Shinto tradition and organized to sew 1,000 red French knots onto individual belts and garments as amulets for their sons and husbands departing for war.

In this piece, the threads mingle with a path of stones from my Grandmother Yasuko Shigaki’s ikebana (flower arrangement) practice and cast bronze geta or wooden flip flops made for a child. The geta straps appear as barbed wire, to signify the imprisonment of my community in the Minidoka concentration camp during World War II. Once people arrived in the desert prison camps, they realized that the hot dust of summer turned into wicked mud during the wet season. The tall sandals fashioned from scrap lumber were a practical solution to the muddy terrain and the unsanitary conditions of the group toilets and shower rooms. This work honors the resilience of my family and all Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

CAROL WILLIAMS A Seattle-based, interdisciplinary artist who makes work that engages audiences in conversations about social, environmental and racial justice. Throughout her practice, Williams contends that the only way to shift race relations and understand climate change is through collective imaginings and re-imaginings of equitable relationships to the land, animals and resources. Williams’ aesthetic forms fall, swim, fly, drip and grow through various layers of reality, spirituality and data analysis. Her narrative installations reject the tidy, toxic logic of scarcity models, suggesting powerful alternatives in collective storytelling, collective ownership, collective re-valuing of biospecies and collective commitments to sustainable environmental practices over time.

While in residence at Seattle University Williams that created 2 dynamic art installations that included prints, paintings and sculptures made of primarily recycled or reused materials. These participatory exhibitions were free and open to the public. exhibitions were free and open to the public.

- Seattle University, Hedreen Gallery 2019

Dr. James W. Washington Jr & Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington Foundation for National Women’s History Month acknowledges . . . .

Anne Gould Hauberg

Anne Gould Hauberg played a role in the creation of many local institutions such as: Pilchuck Glass School, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the Experimental Education Unit at the University of Washington, and more.

She was a founding board member of the Dr. James W. Washington Jr & Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington Foundation, but was a personal friend of the Washingtons. She served on the board until her health dictated her resignation. Even though she had to resign from active participation, she continued to serve the Washington Foundation financially and otherwise.

Mrs. Hauberg died April 11, 2016 of natural causes at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. She was 98.

The Washington Foundation • PO Box 22952 • Seattle WA 98122

James Washington with friend Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Circa late 1950s California

VISION OF THE WASHINGTONS’ Through the art, philosophy, and life stories of Dr. and Mrs. Washington, the Foundation endeavors to illuminate the bond between creativity and spirituality by emphasizing the universal wholeness seeking expression through everything. This wholeness, synonymous with what we mean when we say God, has the power to bring stone to life. # # #

Depository for his collections - art and books A setting [the home, studio, and gardens] where one can grow beyond the book, spiritually and artistically A desire to share his legacy with the public

For Information, questions, comments, and contributions contact Dr. James W. Washington Jr & Mrs. Janie Rogella Washington Foundation (The Washington Foundation) 1816 26th Avenue P PO Box 22952 P Seattle WA 98122 206 P 709-4241 www.jameswashingtonculturalcenter.org P Facebook P James and Janie Washington Cultural Center