Topaz: Artists in Internment @ RIo Grande (SLC: Jan 20 - Feb 4

Please join us at the Rio Gallery January 20 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. for the Topaz: Artists in Internment exhibit opening reception. The Rio Gallery is located at 300 South Rio Grande Street (455 West), Salt Lake City. Other special activities including a play reading, panel discussions, and film screenings will continue into February. The exhibit can also be seen Mondays through Fridays between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. Admission is free. The opening reception, held during the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll, will feature a reading by the poet Lawson Inada, former Oregon poet laureate, a screening of the short documentary Days of Waiting, recognition of descendants and survivors of internment and an Ikebana display by Theresa Sueoka. Japanese Americans interned in the Topaz War Relocation Center near Delta, Utah, brought with them the skills from their interrupted lives. Shortly after arriving they established an art school with 19 instructors teaching 23 subjects to 600 students. The Topaz exhibit features 32 artworks created during internment on loan from the Topaz Museum. Artists exhibited include Chiura Obata, Setsu Nagata Kanehara, Charles Erabu Suiko Mikami, Mine Okubo, Thomas Ryosaku Matsuoka, Yajiro Okamoto, Kaneo Kido and Kenji Utsumi. Interspersed with the images are Inada's Jan Ken Po-ems, words with surprise beginnings, middles and ends that invite response. Join the conversation at the exhibit blog. Other special activities will be held in conjunction with the exhibit. January 19, 7:00 pm Merrill-Cazier Library, Room 101, Utah State University, Logan Poetry reading with Lawson Inada February 3, 7:00 pm Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, 20 S West Temple, SLC Screening of Unfinished Business followed by a panel discussion with Lawson Inada and civil rights activist Mark Alvarez February 4, 4:00 pm Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, 20 S West Temple, SLC Screening of American Pastime February 4, 7:00 pm Salt Lake Buddhist Temple, 211 W 100 S, SLC Reading of Plan-B Theatre Company's BLOCK 8. The performance is free and online reservations are encouraged at planbtheatre.org by clicking on Script-in-Hand Series. Visit artsandmuseums.utah.gov or call 801-236-7555 for more information.