MAPS
Exhibition
Catalog 2016 Exhibition
Maine-Aomori
Printmaking Society
BY BRIAR PELLETIER
t first glance, MAPS reads as being distinctly Japanese. The exhibition’s array of woodblock prints and the bulbous, painted Nebuta that seems to grow from the floor suggest an exhibit rich in the culture’s tradition. This exhibit, however, is in no way insular.
What MAPS presents is a visual record of how the crosscultural relationship between Maine and Aomori, Japan changes through time. Featuring traditional Nebuta festival floats, illustrations from a collaborative book, an illustrated origins story, and twenty prints representative of contemporary local artists, MAPS explores the varied ways the MaineAomori sister-state manifests and strengthens its relationship through collaborative art-making.
Jeff Badger’s The Wreck of the Cheseborough , made especially as a companion to the works displayed, offers a rich and concise primer to the exhibition, featuring stark black, relieflike images which illustrate the origins story of the Maine-Aomori relationship.
Hello from the Other Side of the World, a children’s book co-created by illustrators Scott Nash and Toshiki Sawada, illustrates an endearing message of cross-cultural friendship via its whimsical story, imagery, and
the two artists’ bond. These exquisite illustrations are remnants of a cross-cultural project sadly cut short by Sawada-san’s passing. Their work remains as a result of their cultural sharing. Even the Nebuta attest to this message, having been created by Maine and Aomori citizens working together here in Portland. The transfer of art objects embeds cross-cultural perspectives within a community of art makers, collectors, and admirers. MAPS is a more intimate form of cultural exchange. Ten Maine artists and ten Aomori artists were invited to contribute prints to share with their respective communities as well as the global community. The twenty prints showcase a variety of subject matter from figurative to landscape. Vibrant color as well as black and white compositions are both present. The group’s diversity in style, however, is its true strength: every print featured stems from this invitation for exchange, and every print is a purposeful gesture in return. The prints form a community within themselves. The exhibit presents art as a form of ambassadorship: the act becoming the object and the object becoming the act. Each print will become permanent additions to the collections of the Munakata Shiko Memorial Museum of Art in Aomori and the Friends of Aomori here in Maine.
Maine-Aomori
Printmaking Society
Exhibition
