Topaz Museum

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Saturday, my friend and I boarded a bus and took a 2 hour ride to Delta, Utah, a small town of about 4,000 people 133 miles south of Salt Lake City.
Why would we travel so far on a Saturday?
 Because Scotty Hill, pictured below, Mayor Gayle Bunker, bottom left, and Jane Beckwith, not pictured, invited us to come.  
They were very excited to share the opening of the Topaz Museum with as many people as possible. Topaz, a Japanese American WWII Internment Camp, is located 15 miles west of Delta.  Follow this link to learn more about this terrible scar in our US History.
The Topaz museum has been over 12 years in the making and so Saturday's grand opening was a monumental step in honoring the lives of those Japanese American's whose rights were violated in the name of "military necessity."  The museum will eventually house more exhibits about Topaz but currently is showing an exhibit of art created by Topaz internees between 1942-1945. 
The art work was impressive and moving.  There were many artists in the camp who were professors and professional artists, as well as many other professions.  Those in the camp started an Art School which had up to 600 students.  The current art show features watercolor, block prints, gauche, charcoal and pastel work.
 Photograph in front of the gymnasium during an Art Exhibition at Topaz.

 I will try to let the pictures speak for themselves.





 These are just a small sampling of the art work at the exhibit.
There is also a small exhibit of items made with shells by internees.

 I will post more photos from Topaz later.

In the meantime if you have the opportunity, please take the time to travel to Delta to visit the museum and then go the extra 15 miles to see Topaz.

Comments

em's scrapbag said…
I would love to make this trip. There is also a mosaic dragon in Goshen I'd like to visit while I'm down that way.
January 19, 2015 at 12:43 PM
Jane Babcock said…
My father taught math and PE at Topaz for a year. My mother talked about the dust and desolation. Very hard on the gardeners from California.
January 20, 2015 at 8:16 AM
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