Living Traditions, a New Multicultural Art Series Debuts at Bellevue Arts Fair

Living Traditions, a New Multicultural Art Series Debuts at Bellevue Arts Fair

By Emily Parkhurst
NAP Contributor

Inohi Taiko. Photo credit: Bellevue Arts Fair. 

The Bellevue Arts Fair (BAF) announces the launch of Living Traditions, a new multicultural exhibition series celebrating the communities and artistic traditions woven into the creative life of the Pacific Northwest. Each iteration brings a single cultural community into focus. The hope is to build lasting connections between the people, history, and creative practices of our region.

The inaugural iteration, Living Traditions: Japanese Art and Resilience in the Pacific Northwest, celebrates Japanese artistic traditions not as artifacts but as living practices made and carried forward by the region’s communities. The online exhibition allows visitors to explore a growing archive of the region’s creative heritage. It features curatorial essays, links to historical archives, and an extensive cultural map. This will come to life with interactive programming throughout the Bellevue Arts Fair Weekend. Over the three days, July 24-26, visitors can encounter calligraphy, woodblock printing, ceramics, ikebana flower arrangement, taiko drumming, haiku poetry, and the Star Festival through demonstrations, workshops, and several live performances.

Living Traditions is guest-curated by Dr. Anna-Marie Moblard Meier, an art historian and printmaker specializing in European modernism, Japonisme, and Meiji-era art history with a doctorate from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The series is co-curated by Shizu Usami, a master calligrapher and script historian. Usami began her U.S. practice in Bellevue and now works throughout Washington state. Her work has been trusted by distinguished Japanese government–affiliated cultural institutions. She is internationally recognized for her mindful brushwork and academic insights into East Asian characters. Her calligraphy has been commissioned for the United Nations and other international conferences as well as cultural institutions around the world.

Japanese mural artwork. Photo credit: Bellevue Arts Fair. 

“This inaugural exhibit highlights the arts and traditions brought to Bellevue by the founding Japanese American farming families who cleared the land, grew the strawberries, and influenced the city’s identity. These art forms were carried through the incarceration of those 60 families and passed forward,” said Dr. Moblard Meier. “That is what resilience means in this title, and we are honored to celebrate it.”

Living Traditions reflects Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM)’s evolution as a community-embedded arts organization—bringing exhibitions, artist-led experiences, and cultural programming to audiences across the city. The series is designed to grow through community input and to build lasting connections between the BAF and the diverse communities of the Pacific Northwest.

“Living Traditions is exactly the kind of program that defines what BAM is becoming—collaborating with the expansive Japanese American community, and bringing the arts into spaces and celebrations that belong to everyone,” said Cassandra Johnston, CEO, BAM/BAF. “Japanese art and culture have shaped Bellevue’s identity for generations, and we are honored to celebrate that history and the living traditions that carry it forward.”

Online Exhibition and Curatorial Talk

The online exhibition includes curatorial essays on each artistic tradition and artist, historical context, and links to Nikkei (Japanese American) historical societies and archives. There is also an interactive cultural map of 145 locations representing Japanese and Japanese American art, culture, and community across the greater Seattle metro area. It includes public murals and gardens, taiko groups, chado practitioners, language schools, Hiroshima remembrance sites, and community institutions. 

The website launches with a dual-language curatorial talk in English and Japanese. It was presented by curator Dr. Anna-Marie Moblard Meier and co-curator Shizu Usami at the Bellevue Public Library.

Extensive In-Person Programming July 24-26, 2026

The Living Traditions Community Celebration takes place at several downtown locations. Exact locations and programming can be found on the event website: www.bellevueartsfair.com/. Highlights include:

• Inochi Taiko opens the weekend on Friday, July 24 at 11 a.m. with a live performance on NE 6th Street joined by co-curator Shizu Usami in a live calligraphy performance.

• A Mokuhanga woodblock printing workshop by Kathleen Hargrave and Yoshi Nakagawa on Saturday, July 25 followed by a hands-on workshop led by both artists on Sunday July 26.

• Ceramics artists Takako Mollicone and Cameron Yuki will present a live ceramics (Togei) demonstration on Saturday, July 25.

• Ikebana International Seattle presents a live group arrangement on Friday, July 24 with arrangements throughout the weekend at the museum, Avenue Bellevue, and the Westin including a single stem take-away for visitors.

• The Star Festival (Tanabata) installation surrounds the museum and NE 6th Street with hundreds of paper wishes written by students from Bennett Elementary and Japanese Dual Language preschools across Bellevue. Rainier Ginsha Haiku Club and Haiku Northwest poets join co-curator Shizu Usami at the Star Festival table all three days.

• A family tumbling doll (okiagari-koboshi) craft table inside the museum store is hosted by ParentMap. Free and open all three days. The BOOGIEREZ Japan Town galleries at Avenue Bellevue host an arts organization table where visitors can connect with Japanese arts groups and discover classes, workshops, and communities across the Pacific Northwest.

• A Community Hub inside the museum store will host a Japanese community organization information area for guests to learn more about cultural opportunities.