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Hide and Seek: The Emerald City Search Returns |
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 Busting Port of Kobe, Settsu Province, woodblock print on paper, by Hasegawa Sadanobu II (1848-1941). Image courtesy of the Kobe City Museum and the Seattle Art Museum.
The search is being held in celebration of the Seattle Art Museum’s exhibition, Japan Envisions the West, and the spirit of imagination and discovery it represents. Highlighting Japanese art from the 16th–19th centuries, the show illustrates a period in which Japan’s recent exposure to Western influences, particularly through trade with the Dutch, had given its artists new ideas and images to work with.
The Emerald City Search is a partnership between the College of Arts and Sciences, the UW Alumni Association and the Hillel Foundation, in cooperation with the Seattle Times and the Seattle Art Museum. It is the brainchild of Rabbi Will Berkovitz, the Greenstein Family Executive Director of UW Hillel, who says he was inspired by a similar search that the city of St. Paul, Minn., used to organize every year as part of its winter carnival.
“It’s one of my fondest memories—looking around in the snow with my dad for this mysterious object, and trying to decipher clues,” says Berkovitz, who grew up in Minneapolis. “I really think there’s just something that we as humans love about that sense of adventure and exploration and discovering mysteries. And the idea of bringing the entire community together in a sort of yearly communal ritual was something that I was completely enticed by, because I remember it so well from my own childhood.”
Japan Envisions the West: 16th–19th Century Japanese Art from the Kobe Museum, will be on display at the Seattle Art Museum from Oct. 11 through Jan. 6. Visit seattleartmuseum.org for complete details. For more information about the Emerald City Search, visit UWalum.com. |
