Fall/Winter 2005 Issue: Volume 4, Issue 1
Cover Art
Cover Art: Untitled, Lee Wexler.
Used with permission by The Wing Luke Asian Museum, Seattle, Washington.
Lee Wexler is a watercolor artist living and working on Whidbey Island in Washington. About the painting, he commented: “My work is deeply personal. I deal with the condition of people. In crowds or alone I feel the individual is isolated, always within himself. My paintings reflect this human condition. A camp survivor and activist, Amy Uno Ishi, inspired my series of drawings and watercolors dealing with the Japanese American concentration camps. I visited Amy's home in Eagle Rock, California in early 1977, and was struck by the disarray in her home: the yard was overgrown, cardboard boxes filled the space, papers were scattered on the floor, and a clothesline bearing the weight of laundry was woven throughout the rooms. Psychologically, Amy never left the Manzanar camp where she was detained as a small child. I spent the day and early evening talking with her, asking questions, looking at old photos and making thumbnail sketches of images flowing from Amy. I left exhausted yet inspired by the visit. Amy Uno Ishi was successful in her life's ambition in changing the plaque at the Manzanar camp from ‘Internment’ to ‘Concentration Camp.’ The cover drawing flowed from this conversation.”