“Jump to Japan” Exhibit Opens In Seattle
The Children's Museum offers families a unique Asian cultural exploration through animation, comics, woodcarvings, scrolls in new “Jump to Japan” exhibit
TCM-Seattle one of only seven museums in nation to develop fun, hands-on Asian exhibit
SEATTLE – Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art – one of the most extensive explorations of arts-focused Asian pop culture ever to be offered to children throughout the United States – debuts Jan. 24 at The Children's Museum at the Seattle Center.
TCM-Seattle was selected from among 255 children's museums to be one of just seven to develop and build seven Asian exhibits that will travel to more than 70 cities in the nation over the next four years. Jump to Japan has its national debut in Seattle and runs through June 6.
Jump to Japan focuses on three art forms – modern animation, manga (comic books and graphic novels) and traditional woodblock and scroll prints. Japanese animation and manga have become immensely popular among American youth. Manga sections have been added to local libraries and bookstores, including Barnes & Noble and the University Bookstore. Pokémon cards and Hello Kitty products are well-known icons of Japanese pop culture, while the traditional arts continue to affect modern art and culture. The Children's Museum will connect these popular art forms to Japanese culture in the 3,000-square-foot three-part exhibit, which covers Fantastic Animation, Manga Mania and Artful Traditions.
Fantastic Animation centers on the feature film animation work of Academy Award winner Hayao Miyazaki. Visitors are transported to a Japan of fantasy as they step into a larger than life “Cat Bus” (Nekobasu) from Miyazaki's film, My Neighbor Totoro. Kids will drive the Cat Bus and use a hand-crank to scroll images from the film across its windows. Other windows will scroll images of real-life Japan, allowing children to contrast the film with how Japanese children really live. Children and adults also will create their own animation series with a camera and simple interactive computer programs where they can change characters and backdrops reflecting areas of Japan.
The Pacific Northwest is home to a growing community of Miyazaki and Japanese animation fan clubs. American television increasingly broadcasts Japanese children's animation shows on Saturday mornings, such as the popular Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Manga Mania features the popular Japanese comic book art. Visitors enter a re-created manga shop where they will see, read and touch a multitude of comic books filling every shelf. Children will role play the shop manager or customer and learn more about popular items such as trading cards and good luck charms based on manga characters. Young artists will be able to create their own comic pages using pre-made stencils or freehand drawing.
Artful Traditions brings to life the ancient arts of woodblock printing and scroll-making for 21st century children. Visitors will craft their own three-dimensional representations of specific scrolls and woodblock prints representing clothing, play and food and selected from A Child's Book of Play, owned by the Edo Museum in Tokyo. Scroll paintings were the original inspiration for manga and then animation. They have retained their importance and popularity, while telling a story about life during specific historical periods.
The Museum will send educational guides to approximately 1,000 elementary school teachers in 400 schools in the Seattle, Edmonds, Lake Washington, Bellevue and Federal Way school districts. The guides will show how Jump to Japan meets the Washington State Essential Learning Requirements in the arts. Guides also will be sent to day care programs, home schools and other organized pre-school or K-6 groups.
Programming through the Imagination Studio… on Wheels!, the Museum's eastside mobile program, will link to Jump to Japan through hands-on experiences in print-making, manga and animation.
Permanent exhibits at The Children's Museum-Seattle further enhance the joy of discovery for children and families with similar hands-on, artful explorations of cultural connections.
Other multi-generational educational programming over the next four months will include a teacher open house workshop; artist-led workshops in animation, manga and woodblock prints; week-long workshops during major school holidays; adult and adult-child lecture series and demonstrations; artistic performances and demonstrations; and an animated film festival focusing on Hayao Miyazaki's work.
Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art is part of the Asian Exhibit Initiative, funded by the Freeman Foundation and administered by the Association of Children's Museums. It is presented in Seattle in collaboration with The Minnesota Children's Museum. It is sponsored in Seattle, in part, by Comcast.
The Children's Museum is located in the Center House at the Seattle Center, a few steps southeast of the International Fountain. Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for children and adults, $6 for grandparents, free for infants under the age of one. For more information, call 206-441-1768 or visit the web site at www.thechildrensmuseum.org.
TCM-Seattle one of only seven museums in nation to develop fun, hands-on Asian exhibit
SEATTLE – Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art – one of the most extensive explorations of arts-focused Asian pop culture ever to be offered to children throughout the United States – debuts Jan. 24 at The Children's Museum at the Seattle Center.
TCM-Seattle was selected from among 255 children's museums to be one of just seven to develop and build seven Asian exhibits that will travel to more than 70 cities in the nation over the next four years. Jump to Japan has its national debut in Seattle and runs through June 6.
Jump to Japan focuses on three art forms – modern animation, manga (comic books and graphic novels) and traditional woodblock and scroll prints. Japanese animation and manga have become immensely popular among American youth. Manga sections have been added to local libraries and bookstores, including Barnes & Noble and the University Bookstore. Pokémon cards and Hello Kitty products are well-known icons of Japanese pop culture, while the traditional arts continue to affect modern art and culture. The Children's Museum will connect these popular art forms to Japanese culture in the 3,000-square-foot three-part exhibit, which covers Fantastic Animation, Manga Mania and Artful Traditions.
Fantastic Animation centers on the feature film animation work of Academy Award winner Hayao Miyazaki. Visitors are transported to a Japan of fantasy as they step into a larger than life “Cat Bus” (Nekobasu) from Miyazaki's film, My Neighbor Totoro. Kids will drive the Cat Bus and use a hand-crank to scroll images from the film across its windows. Other windows will scroll images of real-life Japan, allowing children to contrast the film with how Japanese children really live. Children and adults also will create their own animation series with a camera and simple interactive computer programs where they can change characters and backdrops reflecting areas of Japan.
The Pacific Northwest is home to a growing community of Miyazaki and Japanese animation fan clubs. American television increasingly broadcasts Japanese children's animation shows on Saturday mornings, such as the popular Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Manga Mania features the popular Japanese comic book art. Visitors enter a re-created manga shop where they will see, read and touch a multitude of comic books filling every shelf. Children will role play the shop manager or customer and learn more about popular items such as trading cards and good luck charms based on manga characters. Young artists will be able to create their own comic pages using pre-made stencils or freehand drawing.
Artful Traditions brings to life the ancient arts of woodblock printing and scroll-making for 21st century children. Visitors will craft their own three-dimensional representations of specific scrolls and woodblock prints representing clothing, play and food and selected from A Child's Book of Play, owned by the Edo Museum in Tokyo. Scroll paintings were the original inspiration for manga and then animation. They have retained their importance and popularity, while telling a story about life during specific historical periods.
The Museum will send educational guides to approximately 1,000 elementary school teachers in 400 schools in the Seattle, Edmonds, Lake Washington, Bellevue and Federal Way school districts. The guides will show how Jump to Japan meets the Washington State Essential Learning Requirements in the arts. Guides also will be sent to day care programs, home schools and other organized pre-school or K-6 groups.
Programming through the Imagination Studio… on Wheels!, the Museum's eastside mobile program, will link to Jump to Japan through hands-on experiences in print-making, manga and animation.
Permanent exhibits at The Children's Museum-Seattle further enhance the joy of discovery for children and families with similar hands-on, artful explorations of cultural connections.
Other multi-generational educational programming over the next four months will include a teacher open house workshop; artist-led workshops in animation, manga and woodblock prints; week-long workshops during major school holidays; adult and adult-child lecture series and demonstrations; artistic performances and demonstrations; and an animated film festival focusing on Hayao Miyazaki's work.
Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture Through Popular Art is part of the Asian Exhibit Initiative, funded by the Freeman Foundation and administered by the Association of Children's Museums. It is presented in Seattle in collaboration with The Minnesota Children's Museum. It is sponsored in Seattle, in part, by Comcast.
The Children's Museum is located in the Center House at the Seattle Center, a few steps southeast of the International Fountain. Hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $7.50 for children and adults, $6 for grandparents, free for infants under the age of one. For more information, call 206-441-1768 or visit the web site at www.thechildrensmuseum.org.
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