JOHN TATEISHI TO SPEAK, MONA HIGUCHI EXHIBIT AT XAVIER COLLEGE PREPARATORY

JOHN TATEISHI TO SPEAK, MONA HIGUCHI EXHIBIT AT XAVIER COLLEGE PREPARATORY

Xavier College Preparatory invites the community to a special evening of art, culture and exploration on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 on Xavier’s campus, located at 4710 North Fifth Street in Phoenix. Beginning at 5:00 p.m, guests are invited to Xavier’s Stark Gallery to enjoy installation artist Mona Higuchi’s Line of Exclusion exhibit. Following the exhibit, Xavier is pleased to present a lecture by John Tateishi, former National Executive Director of the Japanese American Citizens League, at 7:00 p.m. in the McGroder Family Theater of the Virginia G. Piper Performing Arts Center. These events are open to the community and admission is free.

Cosponsored by the Arizona Asian American Bar Association, ASU Asian American Faculty Staff Association and Asian Pacific American Studies Program, JACL-Arizona Chapter and Xavier, Mr. Tateishi will present Justice Reclaimed: Japanese American Redress and Civil Rights. Mr. Tateishi has been involved with Asian American communities for over twenty-five years, gaining national prominence in 1978 when he launched a national campaign to seek redress for Japanese Americans interned in U.S. detention camps during World War II. As the National Redress Director of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), he crafted the legislative and public affairs strategies that led to the creation of a federal commission and culminated in the successful passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Mr. Tateishi is the author of And Justice for All, an oral history of the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, has appeared on national television and radio, and was the 2007 recipient of the Spendlove Prize on Social Justice.

Mrs. Higuchi, who has been creating site-specific work since 1988, will present Line of Exclusion, the first piece in her E.O. 9066 project. E.O. 9066 marked the former demarcation line establishing a military exclusion zone in Arizona during WWII. In Arizona, persons of Japanese ancestry living south of the line were sent to internment camps, while those living north of it remained in their homes. Many of Mrs. Higuchi’s artworks have focused on human rights issues and historical events such as Kristallnacht, the Relocation of the Aleuts in WWII, and the Disappeared in Central and South America in addition to Japanese American internment. Her work has been exhibited in the United States, Asia, and Europe, and will appear in Xavier’s Stark Gallery until the first week of November. Mrs. Higuchi will also spend a day with Xavier students, discussing the process of making art that deals with social issues.

Xavier’s Stark Gallery is a component of the school’s Department of Art. The Gallery has been in existence since 2001 and contains approximately 600 square feet of floor space and 73 feet of running wall space. The Gallery is traditional in appearance with white walls, track lighting and wood floors. During the academic year, six to eight exhibitions of emerging and established artists' work are presented as well as a student portfolio show during the month of May. Stark Gallery is primarily focused on education and does not take a commission on works sold nor are sales encouraged.