Connecting Maine and Aomori
Sister Cities, Art Exchanges, & Sharing Regional Cultures

Briar Pelletier - PhD, Nagoya University - Studium Generale 2021
https://maineaomoriprintsociety.wordpress.com/ 2022/1/17

LECTURE CONTENTS
1.SISTER CITIES

2.VISUAL CULTURE

3.THE MAPS PROGRAM

Their history and what they are today

What is is and how it is used in exchanges

Maine-Aomori Sister State Art Exchange

4.VOLUNTEERING AS COMMUNITY/SELF-DEVELOPMENTWhat isa Sister City?
"Twin Town""Friendship City"

A BROAD-BASED, LONG-TERM
PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN TWOCOMMUNITIES IN TWO COUNTRIES.
A CITY CAN HAVEMULTIPLE SISTER CITIESEACH SISTER CITYORGANIZATION IS
INDEPENDENT AND
VARIES IN SIZEPURSUE SHARED AREAS
OF INDUSTRY/INTERESTTHAT ARE IMPORTANTTO THEM

A quick history ofSister City Ties

836: PADERBORN, GERMANY AND LEMANS, FRANCE FORMED THE FIRSTRECOGNIZED SISTER RELATIONSHIP.

PRE-WWII

1920: KEIGHLEY, ENGLAND AND
POIX-DU-NORD, FRANCE FORMEDTHE FIRST LEGALLY RECORDEDSISTER CITY RELATIONSHIP
WWI & WWII - SISTER CITY ASAN ACT OF PEACEBUILDINGA quick history ofSister City TiesPOST-WWII

1945: COVENTRY, ENGLAND,STALINGRAD, RUSSIA AND LATERDRESDEN, GERMANY FORM TRI-SISTERCITY - ALL THREE CITIES WEREHEAVILY BOMBED DURING WWII
1945-46: BATH, ENGLAND FORMED
AN "ALKMAAR ADOPTION SISTERCOMMITTEE" WITH ALKMAAR,DENMARK. CHILDREN FROM EACH
CITY TOOK PART IN EXCHANGESDURING 1945 AND 1946.
1955: ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA (US)AND NAGASAKI, JAPAN FORM
SISTER CITY RELATIONSHIP ONPEARL HARBOR DAY.

US-JAPAN SISTER CITIES
451 SISTER CITIES (2018)
25% of Japan's overall sister ties.

1ST SISTERS:NAGASAKI & ST.PAUL

US-JAPAN ART INITIATIVES:HIROSHIMA & SANTA FE

Established in 1955 on "Pearl
Harbor Day" as a sign of peace.

An exchange of children's art started by
Chuzo Tamotzu in 1953

Question 1:

Do you know if your hometown has a sister city?
If you do, why do you think your city
paired with their sister city?

Maine & Aomori
The Cheseborough from Bath,Maine, shipwrecked off of the coastof Shariki village in Aomori(Tsugaru Village today).
The people of Shariki village saved
survivors from that shipwreck,
nursed them back to health, andhelped them get back to the UnitedStates. It is an event in our sharedhistories that we decided tocelebrate by establishing an official
sister state relationship.

"WRECKED OFF THE JAPAN COAST. NINETEEN OF THE CREW OF AN AMERICAN SHIP
LOST"TheNew York Times. New York. November 7, 1889.

2018:

Sasakawa
Peace
Foundation
findings"Sister Cities: Seedbed for the Grassroots of U.S.-Japan Relations"
Sasakawa Peace Foundation, May 23rd 2018.

1. SISTER PROGRAMS HAVE GREATLY
LOST GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
2.SISTER PROGRAMS ARE OFTENVOLUNTEER-RUN AND LED
3. LACK OF COMMUNICATION ANDRESOURCES LEADS TO ISOLATION
4. SITUATION HAS BEEN MADEWORSE DUE TO COVID-19

what isVISUAL CULTURE?
and what are

CULTURAL IMAGES?

VISUAL CULTURE:
A visible and tangible object(s) that presents the forms andpractices within a society, including those of everyday life,
popular culture, and high culture.

CULTURAL IMAGES:

Cultural images are characteristic images of an individual culture.

https://twitter.com/cityportland/status/9913090668269281292022/1/17©anthonydibiasephotography

Question 2:

Does your city
have public art orlandmarks within
the city that
educate the public
about their sisterand its culture?

What canVisual Art
Exchanges
achieve?

1. ELIMINATE LANGUAGE BARRIERS
2. LOWER COSTS OF EXCHANGE BY
EXCHANGING ARTWORKS RATHER
THAN PERSONS
3. WIDER ACCESSIBILITY TO MOREPEOPLE IN SISTER COMMUNITIESTheMaineAomori
Printmaking
Society

INTERNATIONAL ART
EXCHANGE PROGRAM
EST.2016 AS PART OF
MAINE-AOMORI SISTERSTATE RELATIONSHIP
2016: INTERN
2017 - PRESENT:BOARD MEMBER &EXCHANGE ORGANIZERTwo (2)prints of Portland,
Maine landscapesby Aomori artists
during sister-stateartist residency.

https://maineaomoriprintsociety.wordpress.com/2022/1/17

MAPS Project timeline
20162017

2018

2019

2020

Inaugural exchange

Annual exchange
establishedChildren's print
exchange begins

Aomori, Japanresidency

5 Years x 100 Prints

Traveling exhibition
series begins

Rural community
outrach begins

Annual children's
print exchange
establishedExhibition at
SPACE Gallery
Portland, ME USA &Aomori Bunka Center
Aomori, Japan

Portland, ME residency

Open-callsubmissions begin

5 year retrospective
exhibition postponeddue to covid-19
Virtual exhibitions
implementedimage credit:BriarPelletier

Volunteering for Communityand for Yourself
What Volunteering Gave Me:
A 6-month internship with
MAPS/Munakata Shiko Memorial
Museum of Art in Aomori City.

Hosted by Hirosaki University.
My first international experience.
A new, global community.
New opportunities.

2016/5/9
To-o Nippon newspaper inAomori.

Volunteering for your community
leads to personal growth.
Not only will you enrich yourcommunity at large, you will takepersonal experiences and skills withyou throughout your life.

image credit:BriarPelletier

Volunteering
broadens yournetwork.
It can also
lead to newopportunities
and directions
you did not haveaccess to before!

In Conclusion:
1. You are more internationally connected than you may think - throughsister city connections.
2. Consider volunteering for sister city programs, because they need you.
3. Investing in your community is an investment in yourself.

Question 3:

If you could share a cultural image of yourhometown with a sister city community, what
image would you choose and why?
What method would you use to share it?

15

Thank youimage credit:BriarPelletier