The Blog
Recap of An Evening of Good Taste: Sake Tasting
An Evening of Good Taste - Sake Tasting
By L.A. Chandlar
Two or three times a year, International Arts Movement offers an Evening of Good Taste where you can experience a variety of art forms that tantalize all the senses. In the past there have been wine, chocolate and cheese tastings as well as a bourbon tasting, combined with visual and musical art, not to mention intellectually stimulating lectures. The latest offering was a sake tasting at Dillon Gallery, a benefit toward one of International Arts Movement's initiatives: Generative Japan.
Usually when you mention that you are going to a sake tasting, the response is most often a lot of eyebrow waggling and elbow nudging as if you are quite the adventurer and party enthusiast. That stems from the fact that most people's only experience of sake has been when it was served hot and had a taste most comparable to butane. That certainly was my experience. This elegant evening served to show sake as quite sophisticated, drinkable and interesting.
The Dillon Gallery was filled with cherry blossoms in honor of the 100th anniversary of the incredible gift of 3,000 cherry blossom trees by Tokyo, Japan to the United States. The jazzy tones of a saxophone drifted through the gallery, via the talented Kevin Gosa. On the walls were breathtaking works from Masatake Kouzaki, “The Tougen Series.” Kouzaki uses a unique combination of traditional materials in the nihonga style (ground mineral pigments, gold and silver leaf on rice paper) with modern oil and acrylic paints. His magnificent work depicted the beauty and joy of the utopia, the “Peach Blossom Land” from a poem by the revered early Chinese poet Tao Yuanming. This exhibit has been noted as “a triumph of resilience” for Kouzaki, as his planned fall 2011 exhibition was canceled because of the tragic events in his hometown of Fukushima last year.
Monica Samuels, our sake host, walked us through five different sakes that were graciously donated by Hakutsuru Sake. Monica's dry wit and wonderful knowledge of the history and composition of sake made her lecture a delight. The five different sakes were all served slightly chilled in wine glasses. The first three sakes, Hakutsuru Organic Junmai, Hakutsuru Junmai Ginjo and Hakutsuru Junmai Daiginjo, were clear and fluid as water. The junmai had an earthy, light taste and the Ginjo and Dainginjo had varying levels of fruitiness mixed with the sake's earthy, distinctive flavor. The Hakutsuru Sayuri Junmai Nigori was an unfiltered, cloudy white resembling coconut water. It had the sake signature flavor, but was smooth and fruity with more body. Lastly, the Hakutsuru Plum Wine was amber in color, like a good scotch, and was heavier and sweeter.
None of them had fire as a foundational taste and were very drinkable. Monica also mentioned that sake was simpler to understand than wine. It is brewed like beer, not aged like wine. Therefore, freshness is a main factor. Just as you would never drink twenty year old beer, fresh sake is best. And the cost is reflective of how much polishing goes into the sake grain of rice – i.e. how much of the excess is buffed away toward the white, circular center. The more polishing, the more pure and the more costly. Sake has a smaller amount of sugar to other alcoholic beverages and is therefore quite kind in not inducing hangovers the morning after. It is also surprisingly gluton-free.
Sake is fantastic with food, as is wine. For the dining pleasure of the Evening of Good Taste, Hakata Grill served some incredible food including their shrimp salad, a tempting noodle dish, a variety of sushi and a gooey, delicious, sorbet-filled dumpling.
As the food and sake was consumed, Makoto Fujimura gave an erudite lecture on some of the programs and the heart behind what International Arts Movement is doing for the effort Generative Japan.
The catastrophe of the tsunami and the earthquake on 3/11 in Japan was shocking to the world, but the after-effects have been even more so. 20,000 lives were lost in the actual disasters. Afterward, 50,000 more lives were lost to suicide. The nation has suffered a high rate of self-inflicted death for many years, but these numbers are staggering. The disaster itself was horrifying, yet we lost more than double the lives due to despair.
The many relief efforts have been generous and helpful. But after the Red Cross and other organizations leave, there is a cultural loss, a loss to the humanity itself that is often not addressed. Through lectures, art exhibits and musical offerings, International Arts Movement seeks to help the people of Japan recapture their expression and imagination in the wake of disaster. Mako said, “It used to be arguable whether or not art could bring healing. But after 9/11, it is no longer debatable. It does.”
International Arts Movement is one of many organizations that are helping Japan in a variety of ways. Should you like to make a donation to IAM to help the people of Japan address these deep needs, you can go to the link: http://www.
The Evening of Good Taste truly captivated the attendants. We ate, we drank, we learned. I left feeling educated, stimulated, inspired and hopeful. Matt Heard, theologian and sommelier, once said, “Art opens the shutters of our hearts.” How beautifully true.
IAM Present THE OTHER SIDE | Monica Lozano
PRESS RELEASE
THE OTHER SIDE / Monica Lozano
3 photographic series inspired in the border town of Ciudad Juarez Mexico.
Opening Night. Thursday April 19th. 6:30 pm.
Artist Talk. Wednesday April 25th. 6:30pm
International Arts Movement. Space 38/39
38 West 39th Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10018
International Arts Movement is pleased to present The Other Side, a collection of 3 photographic series by Monica Lozano, curated by Sergio Arribas and Dhruv Malhotra. Monica Lozano's work is inspired by real stories of people's courage, determination and strength, particularly those who have lived difficult experiences in border towns throughout the world. Her work is a poignant meditation on the human condition in a difficult time and place. By contemplating on the theme of survival, these stories are a testament of courage.
In the words of Lozano: “I was raised in the border town of Ciudad Juarez Mexico which today is considered to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The last 5 years I found myself exasperated by the continuous media reports about the violence in Juarez. In a desire to capture this other side I knew about my city, I found myself dedicating my photographic work to this matter. After several encounters, I realized that I was also looking to find my own hope, my own understanding and acceptance of the whole situation.”
About Monica Lozano
Following a BA in Visual Arts, Lozano received her Masters Degree in Photography in Madrid, Spain. During this time, she produced Borders, a series selected for various international photo competitions and grants including the Air Dolomiti (Lufthansa) prize at the ITS#EIGHT competition in Italy. She also completed the Photo Global residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York on a presidential scholarship. Lozano's elegant and socially charged portraits have been exhibited in Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico and the United States. In 2011 she was featured under the One To Watch column in American Photo Magazine. Lozano is currently collaborating in a global action with 2011 TED Award winner JR and his Inside Out Project in Ciudad Juarez and Mexico City. International press has placed Lozano as one of Mexico's new contemporary young photographers.
http://www.monicalozano.com/
About International Arts Movement
IAM gathers artists and creative catalysts to wrestle with the deep questions of art, faith and humanity in order to inspire the creative community to engage the culture that is and create the world that ought to be. International Arts Movement works on inspiring people to hope, engage deeply into the depth of culture's critical zones, and create a world that ought to be. We believe that artistic excellence as a model of "what ought to be" paves the way for lasting, enduring humanity.
http://www.internationalartsmovement.org/
About the Inside Out Project
The Inside Out Project is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images are made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators, for them to exhibit in their own communities. People can participate as an individual or as part of a group. Posters can be placed anywhere, from a solitary image in an office window, to a wall of an abandoned building, or in a full stadium. These exhibitions will be documented, archived and be made available online at www.insideoutproject.net.
Curatorial Job Opening
CALL TO CURATORS for new Curatorial Residencies at Charlotte Street Foundation's Paragraph Gallery + Project Space in downtown Kansas City, fall 2012-summer 2013.
Please see complete call + FAQ attached.
Link to online call:
http://www.charlottestreet.
http://www.charlottestreet.
Application Deadline is APRIL 30.
A Story of Generative Participation: NCAI Forum on Art, City, and Society
This April New City Arts Initiative will host their first ever forum this April. At this weekend gathering in Charlottesville, VA three questions will be addressed:
1. Why do the arts matter?
2. What is good art?
3. What is the responsibility of the artist.
We're excited to report that the cityfolk have gathered their resources and talent to bring this event to fruition. Maureen Lovett, the Executive Director, shares a few words below about the experience of bringing a first-class arts event to Charlottesville.
Since last spring, we’ve been planning, coordinating, and juggling to host some sort of conference in Charlottesville. Our ideas and plans have changed, but initially, those plans didn’t even seem to matter because the idea of fundraising was so daunting.
As an organization, we already raise funds to cover our organizational and event costs. It was too late to apply for a grant. The thought of proposing a conference budget to our already extended givers seemed unwise. Meanwhile, we needed presenters on board in order to convince sponsors to give, but without a budget yet, it felt awkward to build a schedule.
Kickstarter crossed our mind, but it seemed like too much production to take on in addition to conference planning. We reached out to a few donors to give large gifts, but with time no longer on our side, we needed a different funding outlook.
Presenters had been gracious to us by waving fees, finding alternative ways to pay their way here, and reserving lodging with friends. A catering company came on board, accepted our meager food and beverage budget, and committed to underwriting the rest of the meal costs. We had three weeks before we need to open registration and no other significant funding.
When anxiety started to set in (note: procrastination not advised), we just started asking. Everyone. I frantically called a friend to brainstorm a new network of donors. She helped me think of local people and businesses to ask, after offering a financial gift herself. The same thing happened with the next person I called—a gift and some referrals. And the next. Soon, our board was coming up with creative ways to fund the project and asking local businesses to sponsor us around the $500-$1,000 level.
Three weeks later, our extended community had collectively agreed that this event was worthwhile by funding us in small-yet-significant increments. The true purpose of the conference is to continue building community around the arts by celebrating regional arts leaders who happen to also be top-notch presenters. Local businesses and patrons recognized the event for its potential, and came on as a part of the collective support necessary to see this event happen. If they couldn’t get out their checkbooks, people started giving coffee, beer, space, materials, and volunteerism.
We made our minimum underwriting goal of $15,000 (while decreasing our overall budget through in-kind donations) in less than three weeks through relationships, matching graciousness with graciousness, and a sincere community initiative.
We are happy to say that registration is now open: http://forum.newcityarts.org/
IAM gets talked about on Persued By A Bear
Read the article here!
http://pursuedbyabear.typepad.com/actressnyc/2011/12/meet-l-a-chandlar.html
Want to get involved, know what's happening at IAM? Sign up for the newsletter (http://internationalartsmovement.org/IAMglobal/pages/590-newsletter-sign-up) and keep tuned for future events, exhibitions, opportunities for artists and much more.
Folding Cosmos Japanese Tea House: A Shalom Project of The Folding Cosmos Committee & IAM
Folding Cosmos Japanese Tea House: A Shalom Project of The Folding Cosmos Committee & IAM
Throughout the week preceding the tenth anniversary of 9/11, the International Arts Movement hosted tea time at the organization’s midtown office, Space 38|39. IAM offered a cup of comfort and empathy through the Japanese art exhibit and interactive tea ceremony entitled ‘Folding Cosmos’. It’s the stories, the particulars, that all add up to make the events of September 11, 2001 so painful and shocking and resonant. For one who was not in New York City on that day, I feel as if I don’t belong at some of the commemoration events; I am a foreigner to this grief. I am detached. But it’s the personal accounts that allow us to feel and to feel for one another. ‘Folding Cosmos’ was not a large observance in a stereo-speakered stadium, but an intimate and participatory cultural confluence. It was a stance of solidarity and an embrace of empathy in a macrocosmic meeting place.
International Arts Movement was founded by Makoto Fujimura in 1991. Eleven years ago, the Japanese artist and his family lived only a few blocks from Ground Zero. And so on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Fujimura read an excerpt from Fallen Towers and the Art of Tea, an essay from his book Refractions, its provenance being a blog encouraged and enabled by his children. What was once a collection of essays that Fujimura might describe as "incomplete gestures" is now one of several cultural artifacts that sprang from his reflection upon the events of that day. Refractions is a piece that became a published work with generative force.
Also from the ashes of 9/11 came Tribeca Temporary. Seeking to demonstrate something larger through his work, something wholly different from the ‘egofest’ of the contemporary art world, Mako Fujimura and other ‘Ground Zero’ artists collaborated to establish TriBeCa Temporay, a not-for-profit art gallery. Here was a space where, according to Fujimura, “incomplete gestures were acceptable, even preferred.”
After Fujimura’s reading, we were invited to step into the ‘Folding Cosmos’ for tea. Two benches squared around a table that swirled with a fluorescent oil, almost like a magic eight ball rolled topsy turvy, but with neon streaks simulating cosmic light. Fluorescent oil sliding through thin Plexiglas tubes stood in for the corners of the tea house within the greater space. Each person received a sweet pastry, as we awaited our tea. Inconspicuously kneeling, the tea master was hard at work, never breaking form, never taking a break. Ladling hot water over the green matcha essence, she whisked the mix together into a frothy broth of energy. Each bowl-like cup, an ample serving, had been thrown or cast by an IAM-affiliated potter. Each was special and delightful in its design--and used in the presence of the potter. A twice turning of the cup, cup by cup, and every guest received their tea in turn. Each serving received individual attention, yet was crafted in the same careful fashion by the tea master. What a gift for New York City in 2011 to receive from Japan--only months down the road from the earthquake and tsunami that swept away some 12,000 people, displacing hundreds others. ‘Folding Cosmos’ was given out of mourning, from people still reeling from their own loss to others remembering their grief.
An internationally recognized artist, Fujimura has already reached far beyond Tribeca. Yet a new project set to launch this year, Generative Japan, will focus more on revitalizing the arts as an essential step toward healing in that nation. As an effort of the International Arts Movement, he hopes to see more projects unfold, like the ‘Folding Cosmos’, as restorative acts. Around Christmas of this year, Fujimura will travel to the northern provinces of Japan to give back and to see how he as an artist and how art itself can work towards the long-term regeneration of Japan. No matter how “incomplete” the gesture might be.
A Letter from the Executive Director
Ten years ago my wife and I were invited to an IAM conference. There, amidst 250 other attendees, we found our tribe. We found language with which we can express the way beauty and goodness transform us and our world. Because of IAM I have a language to raise two creative boys in a great but challenging city. Because of IAM, Laurie and I are inspired to invest in our community, create, dream and be generative with our lives. In many ways, I am who I am today because of IAM.
If IAM has had a similar effect on your life, would you consider making a year-end donation?
In the five years since I said “yes” to a kind, soft-spoken Japanese-American painter – a hard thing NOT to do if you know him – and took the reigns as Executive Director, I have seen inspiring growth in our movement. Four years ago we didn’t have dozens of local partners and affiliates, a creative space in New York City, nor a brilliant and hard-working staff team. This year we celebrated our 20th anniversary at Encounter 11 with nearly 600 people from all over the United States and abroad. Our resources, media, website, and programming are used by people in 145 different countries. This week the staff and I received calls and emails from friends, old and new, rehumanizing their communities in Stockholm, Hong Kong, Bangalore, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seattle, Charlottesville, and Oklahoma City. This truly is International Arts Movement.
Given the world’s present economic and social instability, the conversation we steward is even more essential for the thousands of artists and creative catalysts serving, creating, collaborating and investing in their communities. And as we cultivate this conversation of art, faith and humanity we hope to see it resonate with tens of thousands more. But with more growth will come greater obstacles and needs. It’s the best kind of challenge to have, but a challenge nonetheless.
IAM is a movement of relationships. We are artists, entrepreneurs, doctors, educators, clergy, cultural leaders, and students. We are catalysts, inspired to rehumanize by engaging in our spheres of influence and infusing beauty, truth, and goodness into our world as signposts of what ought to be. The ideas and philosophies of a movement are most powerful when people are inspired to act, to create, to build, to restore, and to rehumanize – and that is happening more and more the world over.
Would you consider making a year-end donation to support the ongoing work of IAM?
As we have said for years, “you are IAM,” and we are grateful for the pivotal role you play in this movement.
Yours,
Bryan Horvath
Executive Director
International Arts Movement is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Online donations made after December 24, 2011 may not post until 2012.
Give the Gift of Art this Christmas Season
This Christmas season, instead of buying your Christmas gifts from just anywhere, why not support the passion and work of a local artist? Besides supporting local and independent artists, you are giving a unique and personal gift to someone you love. Here are a few options to get you started:
1. If you are in the New York City area this coming Thursday night (Dec. 1), you can come make merry with IAM at Space 38/39 at 7pm and buy a ticket for our small works auction.
2. Research your own city to find local artists through http://worldartistdirectory.com/ or just a basic google search. You might be surprised by what you find!
3. If you want to branch out, check out Etsy.com, if you haven't already. You can spend hours on the site and find some one-of-a-kind gifts.
4. If you feel like being creative yourself, check out the Craft Blog: Your daily source for craft projects and inspiration.
If you have any other sources, please let us know!
Happy art supporting this Christmas season!
IAM Christmas Party & Small Works Auction
Call for Artwork
International Arts Movement is calling artists around the world to donate pieces to our 5th Annual Christmas Small Works Auction on Thursday, December 1, 2011.
This popular event provides exposure to IAM artists while giving art lovers access to high-quality, reasonably priced small works of art to hang in their home or give as a gift. Proceeds will help to fund new programming at IAM.
We gratefully accept original printings, drawings, photography, and sculpture. Please complete this form before submission. All work should be shipped to: 38 W. 39th St., Floor 3, NYC, NY 10018 by Friday, November 25, 2011.
Further questions? Please feel free to contact Meaghan@iamny.org
Come make merry with IAM!
Join us at Space 38|39 for goodies, drinks, and live music. Buy a ticket for our small works auction. Bid on a gift for yourself or someone else in our silent auction (only at the party!). Meet other IAMers and hang out with staff and friends. Leave with a small token of our wishes for your happy new year. Come for the whole time, or just drop by on your way to your evening activities!
Can't be in New York? Send your greetings via Twitter (@IntlArtsMvmnt).
RSVP to rsvp@internationalartsmovement.org. We'll see you there!
The Blog
The IAM Global blog discusses news and updates for the entire International Arts Movement.