Topaz: Artists Internment, Their Visual Work and Words

"Block" Topaz by Setsu Nagata (source: Topaz Museum) 

 More than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry were held in ten remote camps beginning in 1942. Two-thirds of those displaced were American citizens. Not charged with or convicted of any crime, they were incarcerated for up to three years in prison camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

The Topaz War Relocation Center, located in Central Utah, was opened in 1942 and closed in 1945. The majority of the more than 11,000 people processed through the camp were from the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Japanese-Americans interned in the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah brought with them the skills from their interrupted lives. Among their number was University of California-Berkeley art instructor Chiura Obata who founded an art school at Topaz that grew to 16 instructors teaching 23 subjects to over 600 students.

This exhibit consists of thirty-two works in oil, watercolor, pastel and ink. The artists include Chiura Obata, Setsu Nagata Kanehara, Charles Erabu Mikami, Miné Okubo, Kinji Otsumi, Thomas Ryosaku Matsuoka, Kaneo Kido and Yajiro Okamoto.

The exhibited artworks are collected and cared for by the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah, a non-profit, volunteer organization whose purpose is to preserve the history of Topaz.

This traveling exhibit is made possible by funding from the Western States Arts Federation, Utah Arts & Museums, and the National Endowment for the Arts. It has also received support from the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Topaz: Artists Internment, Their Visual Work and Words is on display in the Art, Music and Recreation Center from April 28 through June 24, 2012. The library has also scheduled several programs related to this exhibit.

Dances For Camera - 2012

Still from Two Seconds After Laughter (source: San Francisco Dance Film Festival)

Please join us for the 2nd annual “Dances for Camera” on Saturday, April 21st from 2-4 pm and/or Wednesday, April 27th from 5:45-7:45 pm. Two distinct programs at the San Francisco Public Library will showcase highlights from the 3rd annual San Francisco Dance Film Festival, with some of the best dance films from around the globe, selected out of more than 100 entries from 25 countries.

These short experimental dance pieces are created specifically for the camera, independent from the traditional stage. Interpretations can range from narratives to collages of music, movement and images, sometimes including the use of animation and other new media. Local directors will be available for Q&A following the screenings.

On Saturday the following short will be screened:

SCREENDANCE SHORTS PROGRAM 1
2:00 pm | Saturday April 21
San Francisco Public Library – Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94122

Into Minds
(UK, 2011) 5min
Director: Azul Sierra

A hybrid film that mixes poetry with dance and movements, Into Minds explores the difference between two mindsets: a rigid mind that wants to control everything with absolute reason, and a mind that is connected to the heart, one that wants to be river, fount and flow.

Beautiful Illusion
(UK, 2011) 4min
Director: Jessica Taylor & Aaron Buckley

A dance between the vulnerability of flesh and the hard reality of science. At what cost do we suffer for our art?

Handke, Part One: Solos
(HUNGARY, 2011) 9min
Director: Réka Szűcs

"I have lived in time. I have thought about the beginning and the end. I have realized that I am not you." —Peter Handke, "Self Accusation"

In A Moment
(CANADA, 2011) 8min
Director: Ricky & Jeffrey Kuperman

A man with no memory fights to recognize his wife.
View Trailer

There, Again
(USA: Tuscaloosa, 2011) 10min
Director: Sarah M.Barry

Within each room, dancers explore their surroundings and find different ways to confront their confinement.

Where Do You Live?
(USA: Corte Madera, 2011) 3min
Director: Kate Duhamel

Robin Cantrell and Mira Cook dance on the New York City skyline to an original song by Mira Cook.

Two Seconds After Laughter
(USA: Sherman Oaks, 2011) 16min
Director: David Rousseve

Weaving Indonesian dance, Sundanese music, and a true-life narrative of an immigrants journey, Two Seconds After Laughter creates a border-jumping dialogue on a universal irony: The heart longs most for the place to which it can never return...home.


SCREENDANCE SHORTS PROGRAM 2

New London Calling
(UK, 2010) 10min
Director: Alla Kovgan

An unsupervised tribe of seventy-five children takes over the entire city of New London, creating their rites and rituals through playing street games.

Vias de Vuelo (Rails To Fly)
(MEXICO, 2011) 11min (excerpt)
Director: Alfredo Salomón

A humorous reflection on the liberty of human beings.

Origami
(USA: San Francisco, 2011) 3min
Director: RJ Muna

A study of movement and physical architecture based on the symmetry of folding and unfolding figures.

Pursuit
(USA: Los Angeles, 2011) 4min
Director: Amy “Catfox” Campion

Feet meet pavement at full speed as Danni G races down the sidewalk, flies over obstacles, and careens through crowds of dancers. Is he being pursued or is he in pursuit?

The Pendulum Heart
(USA: San Francisco, 2011) 9min
Director: Nara Denning

A mask carver of changing identity, forever driven to transformation by the "call of the heart." This is the trial of a winded spirit, a meditation on the evolution of identity and also an examination of the pendulum swing within the secret heart of every woman and man.

Love Song
(ISRAEL, 2011) 4min
Director: Simon Birman & Harel Kay

An homage by dancer and singer Harel Kay to Ofra Haza, a famous Israeli singer of Yemenite origin who died in 2000.

Lysergic Worlds
(SPAIN, 2010) 19min
Director: Javier Cardenete

Dr. Vega has a brand new patient: Diego. It seems he never leaves his room. All he does is paint and pin things to the wall, making lysergic worlds where he lives.


On Wednesday the following will be screened:

SCREENDANCE SHORTS PROGRAM 3
5:45 | Wednesday April 25
San Francisco Public Library – Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94122

Bränner Staden
(SWEDEN, 2011) 9min
Director: Olof Werngren

Sweden’s largest independent dance institution, Skånes Dansteater, and the acclaimed Swedish band Gaby and the Guns stand behind the short film Bränner Staden. It is about shaking life into things that have become fixed in patterns. About a feeling of being trapped in a ”place” that feels smaller every day.

Two Sink, Three Float
(BELGIUM, 2010) 7min
Director: Satya Roosens

On a thin membrane between top and bottom, one is taken into a surreal and visual story.There is an underworld, a world under, which we do not see. It is not shown on the surface. Or is it?

Marie
(USA: New York, 2011) 2min
Director: Brian Oakes

An experimental dance film that utilizes motion-capture technology in a uniquely minimal manner.

Black Train Is Coming
(USA: San Jose, 2011) 3min
Director: John T.Williams

Black Train is Coming is based on the 1926 sermon, “Death’s Black Train is Coming” by Rev J.M Gates, one of the most prolific black preachers in the United States.
View Trailer

Parts Don't Work
(USA: Seattle, 2011) 8min
Director: KT Niehoff

Set in the Fun Forest Amusement Park in Seattle, the heroine grapples with her outsider status in relationship to a go-go booted, lipstick-slinging Girl Gang.

Seven Dolors
(USA: New York, 2011) 4min
Director: Eli Rarey with Katherine Helen Fisher

Seven Dolors was created following the death of the dancer/choreographer’s uncle in the attacks of September 11th. Dolors is a sober, intimate window into the universality of the maternal grieving process.

Body of War
(UK, 2010) 20min
Director: Isabel Rocamore

Set in the Normandy Landing geography and punctuated by testimonies of active-duty soldiers, a visceral military hand-to-hand combat is gradually deconstructed – inviting the viewer to engage in the relationship between intimacy and brutality.

Claude Bessy: Lignes d'une Vie (Traces of a Life)
(USA: New York, 2011) 54min
Director: Fabrice Herrault

French ballerina Claude Bessy was a much-admired Étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet who also ran its prestigious school for decades. Narrated by its subject, the film features rare vintage class and performance footage of the dancer in her prime. Includes works by Gene Kelly, Serge Lifar, and Maurice Béjart.


Reading List:

Dance On Camera: A Guide To Dance Films And Videos, edited By Louise Spain (Scarecrow Press, 1998).

Modern Dance & Ballet On Film & Video: A Catalog, compiled And edited by Susan Braun (Dance Films Association, 1986).

Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image by Erin Brannigan (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Envisioning Dance on Film and Video, edited by Judy Mitoma, Elizabeth Zimmer, Dale Ann Stieber, Nelli Heinonen, Norah Zuňiga Shaw (World Wisdom, 2007).

The French New Wave Cinema - a short bibliography

The 4th floor display of images from literature about French new wave cinema will be coming down shortly. The following selective bibliography lists preliminary sources for those who wish to study the history of French New Wave in more depth.


792.501 C119 v.1, 2, 3 - Cahiers du Cinema, edited by Jim Hiller (Harvard University Press, 1985), 3 vols.

791.43 G54c - Cinema: The Archeology of Film and the Memory of a Century by Jean-Luc Godard & Youssef Ishaghpour (Berg, 2005).

791.4309 C491 - Cinema, Year by Year, 1894-2004, editor in chief, Robyn Karney (Dorling Kindersley, 2004).

792.59 C343w - Claude Chabrol by Robin Wood & Michael Walker (Praeger, 1970).

792.502 R636c - Eric Rohmer, Realist and Moralist by C.G. Crisp (Indiana University Press, 1988).

791.4309 Eu7437 - European Cinema, edited by Elizabeth Ezra (Oxford University Press, 2004).

791.4302 G54br - Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard by Richard Brody (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & Co., 2008).

791.4302 T768s - François Truffaut and Friends: Modernism, Sexuality, and Film Adaptation by Robert Stam (Rutgers University Press, 2006).

791.4309 D799f 2011 - French Cinema by Charles Drazin (Faber and Faber, 2011).

791.4309 W692f - French Cinema Since 1950: Personal Histories by Emma Wilson (Rowman and Littlefield, 1999).

791.4309 D744f - French New Wave by Jean Douchet (D.A.P., 1999, 1998).

791.4309 G834f - The French New Wave: A New Look by Naomi Greene (Wallflower, 2007).

791.4309 M3379f - The French New Wave: An Artistic School by Michel Marie (Blackwell Pub., 2003).

791.4361 N3978h - A History of the French New Wave Cinema by Richard Neupert (University of Wisconsin Press, 2007).

791.4309 Se4894m - Masculine Singular: French New Wave Cinema by Geneviève Sellier (Duke University Press, 2008)

791.4309 Sk41f 2002 - A World History of Film by Robert Sklar (Harry N. Abrams, 2002).

Das Chorwerk - a series of Renaissance and Baroque choral music

SCORE 783.08 C456 Das Chorwerk (Moseler, 1929-)

Das Chorwerk is a series of scores of European choral music composed between the 15th century and the 18th century. It includes works both secular and sacred works by renowned composers of Flemish, French, German, Dutch, English, Italian and Czech origin. These works have been selected and edited by noted music scholars.

According to Frederick Gable (in A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music) "Das Chorwerk is an authoritative large series devoted to a wide range of choral music." The series include some of the most noteworthy works of early polyphony by composers like Ockeghem, Josquin, Isaac, Gabrieli, Schein and Lasso.

Although new volumes of Das Chorwerk continue to be issued, the Library's holdings cease in the mid-1970s with volume 125. The IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) has a listing of all the volumes that includes scans of volumes 1 through 90.

An Index to Das Chorwerk: volumes 1-110 provides detailed information about the contents of the series. It indexes the contents by composer and title, details the voices employed and also supplies the musical type of each work. Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to their Contents also details the composers and works in this series.

The Library's collection of Das Chorwerk is lacking a few volumes and is not indexed in our online catalog. This blog entry includes an index of our holdings.


Bibliography:

Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to their Contents, compiled by Anna Harriet Heyer (American Library Association, 1980).

An Index to Das Chorwerk: volumes 1-110, compiled by Michael Ochs (Music Library Association, 1970).

A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music (2nd edition), edited by Jeffery Kite-Powell (Indiana University Press, c2007).


2 Jacobus Vaet - Sechs Motetten (1929)
4 Johannes Ockeghem - Missa "Mi-mi" (1929)
5 Adrian Willaert, Philipp Verdelot, Jacob Arcadelt, Cyprian De Rose - Italienische Madrigale (1930)
6 Thomas Stoltzer - Psalm 37 (1930)
7 Heinrich Isaac - Missa carminum (1930)
8 Adrian Willaert - Volkstümliche Lieder (1930)
9 Heinrich Finck - Acht Hymnen (1930)
10 Giovanni Gabrieli - Drei Motetten (1931)
11 Pierre de La Rue - Requiem and eine Motet (1931)
12 Johann Hermann Schein - Sechs deutsche Motetten 1931)
13 Orlando de Lasso - Madrigali und Chansons (1931)
14 Lasso, Hieron, Praetorius, Sweelinck, Hassler, Schein - Sieben Chromatische Motetten des Barock (1931)
15 Johannes Lupi - Zehn weltliche Lieder (1931)
16 Johann Theile, Christoph Bernhard - Zwei Kurzmessen (1932)
17 Henry Purcell - Fünf Geistliche Chöre (1932)
20 Josquin Desprès - Missa da pacem (1932)
21 Heinrich Finck - Messa in summis (1932)
22 Gilles Binchois - Sechzehn weltliche Lieder (1933)
23 Josquin Desprès - Evangelien-Motetten (1933)
24 Melchior Franck – Fünf Hohelied-Motetten (1933)
25 Antonio Caldara – Ein Madrigal und achtzehn Kanons (1933)
26 Thomas Selle – Passion nach dem Evangelisten Johannes (1933)
27 Christoph Demantius – Passion nach dem Evangelisten Johannes, Weissagung des Leidens und Sterbens Jesu Christi (1934)
28 Gallus Dressler - Fünh Motetten (1934)
29 Fünfzehn deutsche Lieder aus Peter Schöffers Liederbuch (1934)
30 Desprès, La Maistre, Hollander, Utendal, de Vento, Regnart - Acht Lied- und Choralmotetten (1934)
31 Johannes Aulen - Missa (1934)
32 Von Fulda, Finck, Florigal, Hartzer, Kungsperger - Deutsche Meister des 15. Jahrhunderts, Zwolf Hymnen (1934)
33 Josquin Desprès – Drei Psalmen (1935)
34 Orlande de Lasso – Busstränen des Heiligen Petrus, Nr. 1 - 7 (1935)
35 Grabbe, Pederson, Nielsen - Neun Madrigale (1935)
37 Orlande de Lasso - Busstränen des Heiligen Petrus, Nr. 8 - 14 (1930
38 Melchior Franck - Musikalische Bergreihen (1936)
39 Christoph Demantius – Vier deutsche Motetten (1936)
40 Alessandro Grandi – Drei Konzertierende Motetten (1936)
41 Orlande de Lasso - Busstränen des Heiligen Petrus, Nr. 15 - 21 (1936)
42 Josquin Desprès - Missa de beata virgine (1936)
43 Isaac, Pesenti, Compère, Zesso, Scotus, Fo, Da Nola - Karnevalslieder der Renaissance (1936)
44 Johannes Hähnel - Ostermesse über das Lied "Christ ist erstanden" (1936)
45 Deutsche Lieder des 15. Jahrhunderts aus fremden Quellen (1937)
46 Johannes Martini – Drei geistliche Gesänge (1937)
47 Balthasar Harzer - Summa Passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Johannem (1937)
48 Orlande de Lasso - Prophetiae Sibyllarum (1937)
50 Johann Georg Kühnhausen - Passion nach dem Evangelisten Matthäus (1937)
52 Augustin Pfleger - Passionsmusik über die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz (1938)
53 Melchior Franck – Drei Quodlibets (1956)
54 Desprès, Willaert, Arcadelt, de Rore - 5 Vergil-Motetten (1956)
55 Loyset Compère - Missa “Alles regrets” (1956)
56 Missa Anonyma II aus dem Codex Breslau Ms 2016 (1956)
58 Jacques Arcadelt – Sech Italienische Madrigale (1956)
59 Adrian Willaert – Drei Motetten (1957)
60 Escobar, Dalua, Sanabria, de Peñalosa, Vrede - Spanisches Hymnar um 1500 (1957)
61 De Beaulieu, Sandrin, Mornable, Layolle, Cadéac, de Sermisy, Arcadelt, de Manchicourt, Mouton, Coste, Buss, Fresneau – Zwölf Französische Lider, aus Jacques Moderne: Parangon des chansons (1957)
62 Ludwig Senfl – Zwei Marien-Motetten (1957)
63 Georg Forster – Zehn weltliche Lieder (1957)
65 Antonio Scandello - Missa super "Epitaphium Mauritii" (1958)
66 Ambrosius Beber – Markus-Passion (1958)
67 Giovanni Gabrieli – Drei Motetten (1958)
68 Antoine Brumel - Missa Pro defunctis (1959)
69 Georg Hemmerley - Drei Motetten (1958)
70 Jean Mouton - Missa “Alleluya” (1958)
71 David Köler – Drei deutsche Psalmen (1960)
72 Jacobus Clemens non Papa – Drei Motetten (1959)
73 Clément Janequin - Zehn Chansons (1959)
74 Thomas Stoltzer - Ostermesse (1958)
75 Anton Gosswin - Neue teutsche Lieder (1960)
76 Jean Mouton - Fünf Motetten (1959)
77 Gioseffo Zarlino – Drei Motetten und ein geistliches Madrigal (1959)
78/79 Friedrich Funcke - Matthäuspassion (1961)
80 de Wert, Pallavicino, Striggio - Vier Madrigale von Mantuaner Komponisten (1961)
81 Heinrich Isaac - Introiten I (1960)
82 Pierre Certon - Zehn Chansons (1962)
83 Antonius Divitis – Missa “Quem dicunt homines” (1961)
84 John Sheppard – Sechs Responsorien (1960)
85 Johannes Hähnel – Drei Weihnachtsmagnificat (1961)
86 Lambert de Sayve – Vier Motetten (1962)
87 Matthias Greitter – Sämtliche weltliche Lieder (1962)
88 Giovanni Nasco - Fünf Madrigale auf Texte von Francesco Petrarca (1962)
89 Krebs, Kirnberger, Homilius - Vier Motetten der Bachschule (1963)
90 Thomas Selle - Zwei Kurzmessen (1963)
91 Pierre de La Rue - Vier Motetten (1964)
92 Benedictus, Faignienet, Verdonck, Baston, Souliaert, Belle, Clemens non Papa, de Latre - Fünfzehn Flämische Lieder der Renaissance (1964)
93 Costanzo Porta - Missa "La sol fa re mi" (1965)
94 Jean Richafort - Drei Motetten über den Text "Quem dicunt homines" (1964)
95 Domenico Mazzocchi - Sechs Madrigale (1965)
96 Andrea Gabrieli - Drei Motetten (1965)
97 Robert Fayrfax - Missa "Tecum principium" (1965)
98 Heinrich Hartmann - Vier deutsche Motetten (1965)
99 Johann Ludwig Bach - Zwei Motetten (1964)
100 Heinrich Isaac - Vier "Marienmotetten" (1965)
101 Adam Rener - Missa "Carminum" (1966)
102 Thomas Crecquillon - Drei Te Deum (1967)
103 Claude Goudimel - Vier Festmotetten (1966)
104 Georg Philipp Telemann - Vier Motetten (1967)
105 Benvenuto, Cambio, Parabosco, Donato - Fünf Madrigale venezianischer Komponisten um Adrian Willaert (1969)
106 Sebastian Aguilera de Heredia - Drei Magnificat (1969)
107 Christoph Bernhard - Eine Kurzmesse und eine Motette (1969)
108 Orazio Vecchi - Missa In Resurrectione Domini (1967)
109 Giaches de Wert - Vier Madrigale und drei Konzonetten (1970)
110 Johannes Nucius - Vier Motetten (1969)
111 Heugel, Fritz, Alderinus, Sporer, Dietrich, Brätel, et al - Achtzehn weltliche Lieder aus den Drucken Christian Egenolffs (1970)
112 Antonio Vivaldi - Zwei Psalmen (1972)
113 Mario Savioni - Fünf Madrigale (1972)
114 Pierre de La Rue - Missa "L'homme armé" (1972)
115 Antonio Ingegneri - Sieben Madrigale (1974)
116 Teodoro Casati - Messa Concertata (1972)
117 Christian Erbach - Acht Motetten (1974)
118 Jiří Rychnovský - Missa super "Et valde mane" (1973)
119 Heinrich Isaac - Introiten II (1973)
120 Isaac, Bruhier, Jachet di Mantua, de Cleve - Vier Sattsmotetten des 16. Jahrhunderts (1977)
121 Crecquillon, Cambio, Zarlino, Ferrabosco - Vier Motetten (1976)
122 Ludovicus Episcopus - Fünf weltliche flämische Lieder (1977)
124 Jean Richafort - Requiem (1976)
125 Marenzio, Vecchi, Eccard, Varotto - Madrigali a diversi linguaggi (1975)

Silkscreening and Collage with Penelope Houston

Learn about collaging and silk-screening from local artist, musician and library technician, Penelope Houston.

In conjunction with the exhibit “Put a Librarian On It”, displayed on the lower level of the Main, we are pleased to present this exciting program on Thursday, April 5th from 6-7:30. Penelope will be available for a question and answer session after the demonstration and participants will take home their own unique postcard.

Penelope Houston is well known as the lead singer of the Avengers, a solo musician and is also a visual artist.


Check out these books if you want to learn more about collage and the screen printing process…

Collage, Assemblage, and Altered Art: Creating Unique Images and Objects by Diane Maurer-Mathison (Watson-Guptill Publications, c2007).

Collage Fusion: Vibrant Wood and Fabric Art Using Telamadera Techniques by Alma de la Melena Cox (North Light Books, 2009).

Collage Playground: A Fresh Approach to Creating Mixed-Media Art by Kimberly Santiago (North Light Books, 2010).

Collage Sourcebook: Exploring the Art and Techniques of Collage by Jennifer Atkinson, Holly Harrison, Paula Grasdal (Quarry Books, 2005).

Water-Based Screenprinting Today: From Hands-On Techniques to Digital Technology by Roni Henning (Watson-Guptill Publications, 2006).

Little Book of Screen Printing by Caspar Williamson (Chronicle, 2011).

Printing By Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens by Lena Corwin (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008).

Simple Screenprinting: Basic Techniques & Creative Projects by Annie Stromquist (Lark Books, 2004).