The Wing Newsletter 2019 HERE TO STAY IN THIS ISSUE: Up Close with Worlds Beyond Here PG. 3 A Conversation with Summer Camp PG. 4 New Exhibit Life Wide Angle/Close Up PG. 6 Up Close with Excluded, Inside the Lines PG. 7 Supporter Spotlight PG. 8 A Message from the Executive Director BOARD OF TRUSTEES Casey Bui, Co-President Here to stay. Ellen Ferguson, Co-President Katherine Cheng, Co-Vice President Diane Sugimura, Co-Vice President What do those words mean to an American community with Mimi Gan, Secretary roots in immigration and that has historically struggled to Bruce Brundige, Treasurer belong? This spring, we open two exhibits which explore the Gloria Lung Wakayama, Past President realities of place and belonging for the Asian Pacific Kiran Ahuja American community. Tera Beach Sai Chaleunphonh Nanette Fok In March, we were excited to open Excluded, Inside the Lines, Jamie Ford uncovering the layered legacy of redlining and housing Judd Lee discrimination in Seattle. You hear through personal stories Louie Gong Donna Lou how communities of color got creative and collaborated to survive and thrive when they Patricia Norikane Logerwell were unwanted, excluded and even threatened. In May, our Tsutakawa Art Gallery will Paul Mar showcase a new multimedia and photography exhibit Life Wide Angle/Close Up curated Midori Matsui Maya Mendoza-Extrom by Carina A. del Rosario. It will examine Chinatowns and “Asiantowns” across the nation JoAnn Mills and give us a look at what happens when these “undesirable” neighborhoods suddenly Victor Mizumori become a target for gentrification. Jill Nishi Savitha Reddy Pathi Michael Shiosaki The struggle for ownership and a place to build community isn’t new. The origins of our Mark Takagi current building, the East Kong Yick, began with 170 Chinese American pioneers who Judy Tobin Larry Yok – with no access to loans and a strong will to make Seattle home – pooled their savings together to set down roots. STAFF Roldy Ablao II The struggle for ownership and place is also more than physical. It’s about our stories too. Josie Baltan Heather Chan It’s why the film Crazy Rich Asians with its all Asian cast and often-unheard perspective Mimi Chan struck a chord with many of us, even if we don’t own private jets. Vivian Chan Cassandra Chinn For The Wing, ownership that is authentic and engaged is what keeps our community Robert Fisher Rahul Gupta and its stories alive. Thank you for supporting us and for making sure that the Asian Emily Halladay Pacific American presence is here to stay. Maya Hayashi Samantha Hilario John Hom Olive Huang Jintana Lityouvong Shaun Mejia Christina Nguyen Doan Nguyen Rayann Onzuka Somchay Phouleuanghong Beth Takekawa, Executive Director Alex Plemitscher Madison Ramey Erika Robertson Jeannette Roden Jessica Rubenacker Julie Salathe Charlene Mano Shen Pin-An Shih Christina Shimizu Alexis Silva Deyland Somer Amirah Srong Emma Yamaguchi Sullivan Beth Takekawa Troy Tsuchikawa Nina Vichayapai Raine Warden Wren Wheeler Ann Wong Donald Wong Mikala Woodward Gary Yamamoto Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience 719 South King Street, Seattle WA, 98104 206.623.5124 | wingluke.org 1 IT’S THE YEAR OF THE PIG! By artist Quinn Osborn Pig years: 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019 Famous Pigs: Magic Johnson, Julie Andrews, Ken Watanabe, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King, Ewan McGregor, Amy Winehouse, Elton John Characteristics of people born in the Year of the Pig: Warm-hearted, good-tempered, loyal, honest, gentle, sincere, brave, philanthropic, sociable Year of the Pig Coloring LUNAR NEW YEAR Contest DESIGN CONTEST WINNER Judges will be QUINN OSBORN selecting 12 2019 YEAR OF THE PIG COLORING CONTEST Honorable Mentions GRAND PRIZE: $800 gift card to The Bellevue Collection Plus 12 additional winners! Get FREE kids’ admission and ½ price for accompanying adults with contest entry! CONTEST ENDS MARCH 31,(see 2019 reverse AT side for5:00 details) PM! (who will receive participant present. Must be submitted with child VOTE ONLINE APRIL 13–24! Woodland Park Zoo For our inaugural Lunar New Year design contest, we Fun Packs). From asked the public to design the Year of the Pig. Though those 12, the there were many amazing pig design submissions, winner will be we’re happy to announce the winner Quinn Osborn. determined by Graduating from the University of Washington in online voting Interdisciplinary Visual Arts, Quinn uses different from April Artist’s Age mediums to explore a variety of artistic disciplines Date of visit FREEMAN FOUNDATION to The Wing ARAKAWA FOUNDATION To be fi lled out 13–24th, for the by museum staff while mixing things up to create something wholly grand prize of unique. Blending traditional and digital, her Year of the $800 gift certificate Pig design really stuck with us, and we’re excited to from The Bellevue Collection and use it for our Lunar New Year Celebration & Fair! membership to The Wing. Photo by Walt Tuai Follow us on social media or check back on the website (wingluke.org/2019newyear) for more details on the voting process. @winglukemuseum PRESENTING SEASON SPONSORS SEASON PARTNERS SEASON CONTRIBUTOR SUPPORTER 4Culture MUFG Union Bank Expedia Foundation The Lester and Phyllis Epstein Foundation THE WING / WINTER 2019 2 UP CLOSE WITH WORLDS BEYOND HERE By Exhibit Developer Mikala Woodward Early on in the exhibit development process, someone on the Science Fiction Community Advisory Committee suggested that the exhibit should start in a teenager’s bedroom – “they should be a fan,” she said, “someone who loves this genre and is inspired by the limitless possibilities of these imaginary worlds – but who is kind of alienated by the lack of representation they see in classic Sci Fi.” The idea quickly took hold. We knew this room should be full-to- bursting with books, toys, and memorabilia – but a search of the museum’s collection brought up just one item: a signed photograph of Harry Kim from the Star Trek: Voyager series. And so we put out the call, to staff, family, and friends: “Please lend us your Sci Fi books, posters, toys, comics – anything that can help us show our visitors the depth and breadth of APA fandom. We want to illustrate both the white-male-dominated early years (Asimov, Photo by Walt Tuai Heinlein, Bradbury, Clarke), but also the excitement sparked by the appearance Gundam model appeared, followed by a (more and more common these days) of childhood copies of the books that had full set of USS Enterprise blueprints. One Asian or APA names and faces. inspired them to become writers – which contributor offered an enormous Stargate we paired on the shelf with the books they Et apres, le deluge. poster signed by dozens of cast members had grown up to write. – but wait, she had to get one more Staff members left stuffed animals, board signature at a convention in Vancouver When all of these items had been sorted, games, and dog-eared comics on my desk. before she’d be ready to part with it for a labeled, and arranged in a carefully Packages arrived from Pennsylvania, Ohio, year. Another brought us a huge collection curated display of adolescent clutter, we and Germany. Angry Asian Man put us in of Star Trek items – Christmas lights, coffee stepped back and gazed upon this touch with a guy who had collected the mugs, photos and books, printouts of the glorious geeky cornucopia with pride. action figures for every single Asian/Asian Articles of Federation and the Ferengi Visitors will never know the personal American character in the Star Wars Rules of Acquisition – plus action figures of stories embedded in every item in that franchise – and we called in our resident every character of color from each series. teenager’s bedroom, but they walk away expert, seven-year-old Audrey Chu, to help filled with the imagination, devotion, and identify them all. We discovered the hidden geekly passions inspiration Science Fiction has brought to of people we thought we’d known for years generations of Asian Pacific American fans. At an awards dinner, our former Deputy – accomplished artists and community Director of Operations slipped me an leaders who, it turned out, had spent their unmarked bag that contained a Dr. Who younger years drawing portraits of Star Trek scarf and Space Invaders hat she had actors and connecting with fellow fans knitted. An old high school friend I hadn’t through typewritten zines and subculture spoken to in years came through with a book stores. Staff members contributed SUPPORTING SPONSOR Chewbacca Furby. Someone stopped by photos of their kids rocking Star Wars on a business trip from New York and Halloween costumes – and in one case, the dropped off an original series Star Trek costume itself. People unearthed dusty lunch box at the front desk. A UW boxes from their mothers’ garages and roboticist entrusted me with a tiny Iron found Star Trek novels, fan club newsletters MEDIA SPONSORS Giant figurine that he’d kept since they’d edited in high school, beloved KUOW childhood, cupping it tenderly in both handmade dolls with Sharpied features and hands as he handed it over. A fragile unraveling seams. Authors brought in their 3 FROM THE COLLECTIONS CARVED IN STONE Thank You and Welcome 65 years/Shizuoka prefecture, Hamamatsu city.” Born in 1877 and immigrating to the US in 1906, Shinjiro was among those Japanese Americans incarcerated during WWII. Historical records indicated Shinjiro worked as a cook and a farm laborer having lived in Yakima, Tacoma, and Seattle. Burke later learned from a publication by Teruko Kumei, an When people ask archaeologist Paula authority on Japanese migration, that Johnson Burke “What’s the coolest thing Shinjiro was a leading figure in Many thanks to Bo Lee and Dr.