Dear Friends,

As we move into spring the Topaz Museum Board celebrates the projects we sponsored in 2024 and those that will continue in 2025.

Topaz Art Pilgrimage, May 2-4

More than 150 people came to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) to see artists’ view of Topaz, Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Minè Okubo, three trailblazing Japanese American women artists with Topaz connections. Curated by Dr. ShiPu Wang, the exhibit sponsor was the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) at the (UMFA). Visitors saw lectures, film screenings, koto and shakuhachi performances, art projects, and took tours of the Salt Lake City historic Japantown with activities at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple and the Japanese Church of Christ. The weekend culminated with a trip to the Topaz Museum and a tour of the Topaz incarceration site.

Topaz Museum Board retreat, October 18-19

Board members from Utah and California gathered at Filoli for strategic planning to begin hiring a paid staff and intensify our work as stewards of the incarceration site.
In December the Topaz Art Pilgrimage booklet was published and sent to over 3600 subscribers.
Number of museum visitors this year, 8,807.
“Topaz to the Classroom” programs were presented at 31 Utah schools. 7,148 students in 155 classrooms participated in this Topaz Museum sponsored outreach project.

Collaborations

September to December: Topaz Museum Board assisted Friends of Topaz Museum and Ruth Sasaki of Topaz Stories in presenting six special events at J-Sei in Emeryville, CA: Children of Topaz: Stories and Art; Dispersed: The WWII Scattering of the Japanese American Community; The Lost Sketches of Topaz: Ella Honderich’s Topaz Years; Soldiers’ Stories; Wartime Friends and Allies of Japanese Americans; and Return to California: Stories of Postwar Resettlement.
October 4-6: Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium conference in Los Angeles, CA. Several board members attended and Board Co-President Dianne Fukami participated in the workshop, The Future of the Wakasa Stone: A Public Discussion, along with Karen Korematsu from the Wakasa Memorial Committee and Ann Burroughs, JANM.
Oct. 11: Utah Museums Association conference in Logan, Utah. Five Topaz Museum board members participated in the Topaz Strong panel presentation.
February 15, 2025: Day of Remembrance event at The Brigham Academy Center, Brigham City, UT and exhibition: Uncovering the Journey: Japanese American Pioneers in Box Elder County. Topaz Museum’s informational booth at the event was well received.
February 10 to May 1, 2025: Exhibit of Paul Kitagaki, Jr. photographs, co-sponsored with J-sei and FOTM on March 1 Paul Kitagaki, Jr. presentation.
March 30: Topaz Stories “After the War” program at the Berkeley Historical Society (in conjunction with their exhibit, Roots, Removal and Resistance).

Upcoming Events

Through August 17: “Picture of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Minè Okubo at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
July 24-November 9: Topaz Stories 2025 Exhibit at the San Jose Japanese American Museum (JAMSJ).
May 1-2, 2026: Topaz Museum/Incarceration Site Pilgrimage, in conjunction with JANM stamping of the Ireichò at the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple and at the Topaz Museum in Delta.

We are grateful to the Delta volunteers who work at the museum. Thank you and arigato to all the volunteer staff. We know our work would not be possible without their partnership and support. We look forward to continuing our Topaz journey with them.

In partnership,
Topaz Museum Board

Dianne Fukami and Ann Tamaki Dion
Co-presidents