Talk: Japanese Paper as Art

Join us at BAM for a talk by Dr. Claire Cuccio, examining the evolution of Japanese paper as a modern art form. Cuccio’s talk will focus on the pioneering work of artist Ibe Kyoko, who is currently featured in the Bellevue Arts Museum exhibition Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper.

Speaker Bio:

Claire Cuccio is an intercultural educator, writer, editor and translator settled in Seattle after two decades in Asia. Since completing a PhD in Japanese literature at Stanford University, she migrated to Asian print, papermaking and the culture of handwork. Her writing explores handcraft and contemporary artists working in traditional materials and techniques, and she creates experiential and object-based learning programs in our increasingly virtual world. Cuccio has served as lecturer at Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies at Doshisha University, Kobe City University of Foreign Studies, Yokohama’s creative site BankART 1929, Beijing Foreign Languages University and Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. Her interest in the arts and handcraft is evolving in tandem with the NeuroArts initiative and wellbeing, most recently through community building at a Tibetan heritage school, an international arts residency “Tools for the Crater” about depression and her current work at the nonprofit organization Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS).