PORTRAITS OF PLACES
April 13, 2024 through September 2024 in the Frank Fujii Youth Gallery
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
Portraits of Places by YouthCAN
April 13, 2024 through September 2024
Frank Fujii Youth Gallery
In Portraits of Places, 2023-2024 YouthCAN students explored the Chinatown-International District to create multi-media portraits of their favorite places and businesses in the neighborhood. This season’s teaching artists — Summer Li and Alex Chen — emphasized visual, photo, video, and written arts as storytelling.
ABOUT THE TEACHING ARTISTS
Summer Li is a designer and artist based in Seattle. She leads the design team at Henry Art Gallery and has an independent art practice in publishing, garments, installation, and illustration. Recently, she initiated a personal play space under the moniker superlychee, giving herself full permission to experiment and be messy creatively. The first project was a small art book, Just a Dream: Kandi Archives 2007–2011, that documents rave paraphernalia from her youth. Her recent curiosities continue to build on the relationship and connections between garments and body, intuition, expressions of grief, and living in diaspora.
Alex Chen is a Seattle-based filmmaker and photographer whose passion for visual storytelling has led him to explore and capture visuals from around the world. He thrives on the excitement of discovering unfamiliar locales, always equipped with his camera, ready to capture each moment. Currently he is the Director of Photography at the Youtube channel “Cut”. At Cut, they create videos that are not only meant to entertain, but to provoke meaningful conversations that foster understanding and empathy among people from all walks of life.
“Teaching at YouthCAN was an absolute delight. The students were not just enthusiastic, but also very motivated, approaching each lesson with a genuine eagerness to learn and create. The supportive staff fostered an environment of freedom and exploration, empowering the students to express themselves through art in their own unique ways. It was a wonderful experience witnessing the growth and creativity of each individual, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of their artistic journey at YouthCAN.”
The YouthCAN program is free to participate in and open to anyone aged 13-19.
All levels of artistic experience are welcome.
All materials are provided by the museum.
YouthCAN students receive a museum membership.
YOUTHCAN SPONSORS
Climate Pledge Arena Community Fund
Kawabe Family Foundation
Muckleshoot Tribe