Samurai Baseball Exhibit Features Works by 15 Local Artists

By CHARLIE VASCELLARO
COOPERSTOWN

The cross-cultural exchange here in Cooperstown served as the impetus for the “Samurai Baseball and More—A-Fine-Arts Look at Baseball” exhibit running through Saturday, September 13 at The Art Garage, 689 Beaver Meadow Road. Opening receptions were held on Friday and Saturday, July 25 and 26.

The exhibit features a variety of multi-media and multi-disciplinary contributions of 15 local artists. Some of their works were previously included in Cooperstown exhibitions on Main Street and Pioneer Street in the 1990s, and in the international touring exhibition, “Diamonds Are Forever: Artists and Writers on Baseball,” co-curated by Art Garage proprietor Sydney Waller.

Cooperstown artist Robert Seward created a collection of Japanese woodcuts and Manga-inspired posters assembled in a collage in one of Waller’s three galleries.

Seward previously taught at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, where he introduced the work of Robert Whiting, an American authority on Japanese baseball and author of “Ya Gotta Have Wa” and “The Samurai Way of Baseball.” Whiting’s thesis is that baseball, as played in Japan, draws on the samurai spirit (bushidō), the way of the warrior, is deeply intertwined with Japanese culture and societal values, and prizes harmony of the group.

Other artists in the show include: Marcie Schwartzman of Cooperstown, who created a stitched, bead-embellished textile banner containing an image of Ichiro and his signature upheld bat; and David Wilson of South New Berlin, who contributed two sculptures, one with an action figure atop a baseball monument embossed with samurai tenets and the other, a Samurai baseball trophy, with a baseball impaled on a samurai sword that inspired the title of the show. Ada Yonenaka, of Chelsea/Bowerstown, created prints on paper with configurations repeated in Japanese-evocative patterns that have also been converted to greeting cards available for purchase.

“It was collaborative kismet inspired by the imminent induction of Ichiro Suzuki into the Hall of Fame,” said Waller. “With Japan-centric artist/scholar Robert Seward, we launched the concept of a ‘samurai baseball’ exhibition as a tribute that unites all citizens of the world in our shared values—often best expressed via art,” said Waller. “It’s especially timely at this time of crazy anti-humanity, hostilities and cruelty. The love of baseball and the pursuit of excellence unites us.”

“I’ve curated annual fine-arts-look-at-baseball exhibitions on Main Street, from Umpires of Art to Bases Loaded, etc.—all contemporary art with a baseball theme,” Waller continued. “I contacted 15 artists, some veterans of those shows. We look forward to a series of artist talks in August and early September to delve into the ideas.”