U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program
US-Japan Creative Artist Biographies
2010 Artists
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Filmmaking (collaborative award)
John Haptas February 12 – July 14, 2010
John and Kristine are filmmakers who collaborate in making documentary essays. In a previous trip to Japan, they were impressed by the large number of crows living in Tokyo’s urban environment. They also noticed how the municipal authorities have responded to the problem of crows by implementing measure to protect garbage, discourage nesting and drive the crows out of the city. These observances led to the inception of a new documentary, An Abundance of Crows, which they began shooting last autumn. During their residency, they intend to continue working on the film, which will approach Tokyo’s crow phenomena from ornithological, sociological, anthropological and artistic perspectives.
Filmmaking (collaborative award)
Kristine Samuelson February 12 – July 14, 2010
John and Kristine are filmmakers who collaborate in making documentary essays. In a previous trip to Japan, they were impressed by the large number of crows living in Tokyo’s urban environment. They also noticed how the municipal authorities have responded to the problem of crows by implementing measure to protect garbage, discourage nesting and drive the crows out of the city. These observances led to the inception of a new documentary, An Abundance of Crows, which they began shooting last autumn. During their residency, they intend to continue working on the film, which will approach Tokyo’s crow phenomena from ornithological, sociological, anthropological and artistic perspectives.
Architecture, Installation
Robert Hutchison May 11 – Oct 12, 2010
Robert plans to travel throughout Japan to visit and study site-specific installation works created by artists and architects whose work spans both professions, with a particular focus on those works which express or reinterpret cultural history and tradition through contemporary means. Many of these works are by some of Japan’s leading contemporary architects and artists. He plans to document these visits, for subsequent exhibition and publication. He will also travel to various festivals, museums and art spaces.
Dance, Photography, Video
Isak Immanuel June 25 – Dec 23, 2010
Since 2004, Isak has been developing a two part series focusing on performance and exhibition entitled “Tableau Stations | Floor of Sky.” This interdisciplinary project explores the specificity of site, transit and the absences and inversions of quotidian moments. In Japan, Isak proposes to extend this series through working in contrasting environments of city and travel to outer landscape regions, as well, in the development of a new work entitled “Peddler / Prints for Appearance”. Part of his research will be on systems of movement and dance relative to spatial-corporeal representation, orientation, and transformation; including a special focus on the body-awareness techniques of Noguchi Taiso as a container for changing forms and images. He plans to work in connection with the Kyoto-based Butoh Dancer Katsura Kan, as well as fostering study and collaborations in Tokyo.
Visual arts
Katerina Lanfranco March 8 -August 31, 2010
Katerina plans to visit Japan to study isekatagami (paper cut-outs), ikebana (flower arranging) and ukiyo-e (a genre of woodblock prints). Since 2006, she has explored the use of paper cut-outs. Her interest in them stems from their physical directness, compositional detail and complexity. Likewise, in her works she often references floral motifs and plant forms, which she sees as having a similarity to ikebana: an art form in created response to the inherent beauty, symmetry and formal patterns found in plants. As her paintings are a result of the investigation into the creation of other worldly landscapes, inspired by the ukiyo-e tradition, she feels she would benefit from further study into that genre as well.
Fiction Writer
Elizabeth McKenzie March 15- August 7, 2010
Elizabeth will travel to Japan to complete work on her new novel, For the Benefit of Mr. Maru. In this novel, family history blends with fiction to relate the story of her grandmother’s involvement with the radiation victims of the atomic bombing in Nagasaki and the subsequent dissolution of her family (Elizabeth’s grandmother was a doctor who went to Nagasaki to study the effects of the bomb on children). Elizabeth will also interview contemporary Japanese writers little known outside of Japan for a forthcoming collection of translations.
Archives
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Architalk: Seeing the World through Architecture [Architalk Series ] featuring Rachaporn Choochuey “Practising Tropicality”
Arts & Design
Intellectual Dialogue
Program
U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program US-Japan Creative Artists Program (2001-2006)
Arts & Design
International Conferences
Program
U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program US-Japan Creative Artist Biographies
Arts & Design
International Conferences
Program
U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program 2026 Artists
Arts & Design
International Conferences
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IHJ Artists’ Forum Artists’ Talk U.S-JAPAN ART NIGHT 2025
Arts & Design
Intellectual Dialogue
Video
IHJ Cultural Lobby IHJ Cultural Lobby Video Series, “Ça va?”#3 Francis KÉRÉ (Architect, Founder of Kéré Architecture)
Arts & Design
Intellectual Dialogue
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