Spring Festival in California’s Central Valley, Apr. 22

 

Cultural News, March 2007

 

 

 

Bill Crowley will perform Rakugo (traditional comedic storytelling) at the Spring Festival of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in California’s Central Valley. (Cultural News Photo)

 

Hanford, California -  The Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture in California’s Central Valley invites the public to its seventh annual Spring Festival on Sunday, April 22. The event will feature a wide variety of activities including tours of the special loan exhibition, “Tracing the Silk Road with Ikuo Hirayama: The Legacies of East-West Cultural Exchange”, Art Show & Sale featuring 14 California artists, bonsai demonstration by Bonsai Master Kenji Miyata, demonstrations on tokonoma Display by Hideko Metaxas of northern California,  taiko (Japanese drumming) and traditional Japanese dance performances, origami, kendō,  raku firing, and Japanese carpentry demonstrations. 

 

     There will also be a number of special ticketed activities including tours of the private garden which only open to the public twice a year, Japanese tea ceremonies, bonsai and ikebana (Japanese-style flower arrangement) workshops, Rakugo (traditional comedic storytelling) performance, and shibori (Japanese dye technique) workshop by textile artist, Yoshiko Akane of southern California.     

 

      Rakugo has been entertaining common people in Japan since the 17th century. After studying with well-known Rakugo Master Katsura Shijaku for seven years in Japan, Bill Crowley became the first non-Japanese to ever professionally perform Rakugo. He performed at the APEC summit in Osaka 1995, and has performed a number of times for the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a cultural ambassador for Japan. The Japanese Ministry of Education is using his Rakugo work in two of its national English textbooks; realizing students are more apt to learn when they are having fun. Rakugo performance starts at 2 p.m. and requires an additional ticket.

 

     Shibori is a traditional Japanese dye technique often used for kimono. Ms. Yoshiko Akane who specializes in textile dyeing and design will conduct the workshop. Participants will create an original scalf using this shibori technique. Shibori workshop starts at 12:30 p.m. and requires advanced reservation.

 

      Refreshments, lunches and snacks will be available for purchase. Starting at 10 a.m. and running through the afternoon until 5 p.m., the Institute gallery, library, and outdoor courtyard will be bustling with Japanese cultural activities. Admission to the Spring Festival is $7 per person for non-members in advance and $10 on the day of the event.  Clark Center members and children under 12 are admitted free. For more information, visit  www.ccjac.org.

 

     This event is sponsored by The Bertha and John Garabedian Charitable Foundation, ValPrint, Valent, Valley Ford, and Valley Public Television.

 

     The Clark Center is a public museum gallery and library study center dedicated to Japanese art and culture located 6 miles south of Highway 198 in Hanford between Jackson and Jersey Avenues at 15770 Tenth Avenue. It takes three hours to drive from Los Angeles to Hanford on the route of Freeway 5 and 99.