UW researchers find privacy risks with 3D tours on real estate websites
Artist renderings by Akira Ohiso
Creative Aging /
Seattle Met Magazine: Spring 2022 /
Slurp!
The bursts of color wending down Maynard Alley in the Chinatown–International District are a study in peacefully coexisting contradictions. Slurp!, a whimsical and dynamic rendering of the immigrant experience by Akira Ohiso, celebrates the complex entanglements that form identity; the pieces of the mural inform one another, and yet each vibrant cluster of noodles is separated from the other. At a single glance, their similarities are most apparent, and yet with each moment of continued examination, their differences rise to the forefront, each detail serving to distinguish one noodle cluster from another. In his artist’s statement, Ohiso writes that the clusters allude to different geographic locations, and their meandering route gestures to the nonlinear, “circuitous” path often walked by immigrants.
Apartment Therapy /
Primary Colors Go Bold in a Seattle Apartment
Views of Seattle and Mt. Rainier could be the highlight of Ellie Ohiso’s apartment — until you turn around and take in the vibe she’s created. When asked to describe her home’s style in five words, she said: “Memphis design Nordic color pop.” She’s brought in bold primary colors in the furniture, campy neon signs, and graphic art, along with a few colorful nods to rock and roll. It’s an eclectic, collected look that proves white walls are anything but boring.
Seattle Art Beat /
New SLURP mural brings color and whimsy to Maynard Alley in Seattle’s Chinatown International District
This mural is inspired by noodles, stepping stones, the immigrant journey, and the diversity of intersecting cultures inhabiting the Chinatown International District today. Each noodle cluster alludes to geographic locations, the circuitous route of immigration, and safe passage through the space. Landing on each cluster promotes this journey. Viewers are invited to appreciate the diversity of the neighborhood through vibrant colors, movement, and a memorable experience. – Akira Ohiso, artist who designed SLURP
Come see the new SLURP! mural in Chinatown International District (CID)! Designed by local artist Akira Ohiso and installed with technical assistance from muralist Angelina Villalobos, the vibrant new SLURP mural includes eight segments that meander through Maynard Alley near King St.
Initiated by the community, the mural is the result of a collaboration between the Maynard Alley Partnership, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation Development Authority (SCIDpda), the Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA), several neighborhood businesses and individuals, the Seattle Together Initiative, Office of Arts & Culture, and Seattle Department of Transportation working together to reimagine Maynard Alley as a vibrant, community-focused pedestrian space.
The CID, which consists of Chinatown, Japantown, and Little Saigon, is both a historic district and a lively neighborhood with bustling small businesses, diverse residential demographics, well-used parks, a community center, social service agencies, medical clinics, and cultural institutions.
Last week SDOT shared a brief history of the CID to help us understand and appreciate how the Asian Pacific Islander communities have overcome some of the harshest systems of racism and created its own vibrant microcosms.
Maynard Alley is one of two historic alleyways in the CID that the community has worked to revitalize in recent years. The other being Canton Alley.
For more than a century, people have lived and worked in residential units and storefronts off the alley. The historic buildings that line the alley hold layered stories from the neighborhood and people who have called the CID home over the years.
One of the gems on Maynard Alley is the Louisa Hotel. Built in 1909, the Louisa Hotel was built to house Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino laborers while they waited for work in Alaskan canneries. The hotel was also the site of two speakeasies, the Blue Heaven and The Club Royale, and Seattle’s first Chinese bakery.
The Maynard Alley Partnership has worked with local businesses, community members, and the City to make the alleyway a safe and inviting destination for people to gather, eat, shop, and strengthen the community.
With funding from the 1% for Arts program, the City is proud to support the community’s vision and install the new piece of artwork. The Public Art program integrates artworks and the ideas of artists into a variety of public settings, advancing Seattle’s reputation as a cultural center for innovation and creativity.
The City worked closely with the Maynard Alley Partnership and a number of businesses in the neighborhood to ensure that the artist and artwork would speak to the unique community, strengthen connections, highlight and the culture and history of the CID.
Last week, Akira Ohiso, Angelina Villalobos, SDOT and ARTS staff, and about a dozen talented volunteers painted the mural on the alleyway and King St.
Dahvee Enciso, who coordinates installing all of SDOT’s ground murals, shared this was one of the most fun projects he’s worked on. “There was so much community support and gracious hospitality! Shop owners stopped by throughout the day to see our progress and brought sweet treats to the amazing volunteers who were helping us paint. Everyone’s cheery spirits reflected the vibrant colors in the mural.”
Come see the fresh mural for yourself!
Follow the meandering mural through the alley and ponder the unique cuisines, histories, and experiences that each segment of mural represents. While you’re there, visit one of the mom and pop shops, enjoy a bubble tea, or stop in one of the many restaurants for a delicious bowl of noodles. You can also stop by the Wing Luke and nearby businesses to pick up free stickers of the mural as well
Visit SeattleChinatownID.com for shops, restaurants, and places to visit in Seattle’s CID.
To learn more about the historic CID, check out these resources
Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority
History Link: Seattle Neighborhoods: Chinatown-International District — Thumbnail History
National Park Service: Seattle Chinatown Historic District
Additionally, our friends at the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods are hosting a series of profiles and stories to amplify and honor people, businesses, organizations, and projects connected to the history of Seattle’s API community. And we invite you to read SDOT’s brief history of the CID and resilient API communities.
Crosscut /
ArtSEA: A colorful noodle spill on the streets of Seattle
“And while you can’t wander the grounds of Seattle Center to experience Folklife’s diverse mix of cultural traditions this year, you can walk around the Chinatown-International District, where Seattle artist Akira Ohiso has just installed a colorful homage to the many strands of Asian identities in the neighborhood.
Called “SLURP,” his playful archipelago of street murals features eight nests of twisty noodles in red, blue, purple, green and yellow. One clump is accented with a slice of lime, another a shrimp, another a half of a hard-boiled egg. Painted by Ohiso, with the help of local muralist Angelina Villalobos and Seattle Department of Transportation “street art expert” (#lifegoals) Dahvee Enciso, these oversized servings look fanciful, clever and delicious.
Ohiso’s aim was to create artwork that speaks to neighborhood’s cultural traditions by way of a contemporary sensibility. “When visiting the Chinatown-International District, my identity is instantly legitimized,” he writes in his artist statement. “The smell of fresh fish reminds me of my childhood. Still, I crave renewal and yearn for an Asian American experience in the C-ID that survives and flourishes in the 21st century.”
A joint project of the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and Seattle Department of Transportation, SLURP adorns the neighborhood’s historic Maynard Alley. The idea is to draw people back to the businesses that have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as by the documented increase in anti-Asian bias incidents.
“This mural is inspired by noodles, stepping stones, the immigrant journey and the diversity of intersecting cultures inhabiting the Chinatown-International District today,” Ohiso writes. “Each noodle cluster alludes to geographic locations, the circuitous route of immigration, and safe passage through the space.”
Perhaps the best part of my job as an arts editor is finding out that something I wrote sparked a new artistic connection — whether that’s someone discovering an artist they want to follow, or going to a show they never would’ve known about otherwise, or reaching out to collaborate with another artist after reading about their work.”
King 5 News /
New Maynard Alley street mural to celebrate the vibrant Asian cultures in Seattle's International District
The mural will depict large bowls of colorful noodles that will represent the vibrancy of the different Asian cultures in the International District.
Library of Congress Builds New Collections Documenting COVID-19 Pandemic /
In May of 2020, the Library’s Prints & Photographs Division curators and staff specialists carefully selected more than 50 pandemic-related posters for acquisition from the nonprofit Amplifier design lab, and a door opened for receiving digital as well as printed versions of the artworks. Responding to Amplifier’s global open call, such artists as Kimberly Ashby, Gregg Deal, Jena Floyd, Jorge Garza, Akira Ohiso, Alfredo Ponce, Teddy "Stat" Phillips, Lisa Vollrath, Thomas Wimberly, and Jay Yellowhawk created visually-stunning posters with compelling messages aimed at promoting mental health, well-being and social change.
UW Tech Policy Lab: Telling Stories /
In 2018, The Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington convened a Global summit to surface the implications of artificial intelligence. Along with 2 artists, Akira was asked to illustrate a collection of short stories.
“Deceptively simple in form, these original stories introduce and legitimate perspectives on AI spanning five continents. Individually and together, they open the reader to a deeper conversation about cultural responsiveness at a time of rapid, often unilateral technological change.”
The Library of Congress /
Akira’s artwork for the Amplifier’s Global Open Call for Art has been selected and acquired into the Library of Congress. Archival quality prints are in their collection as they work to preserve this historic moment and movement in our country.
Apartment Therapy Feature /
Ellie’s Interior Design work was featured on Apartment Therapy’s website and Instagram.
This Seattle Rental Apartment Proves You Can Have a Colorful Home Despite White Walls
Wing Luke Museum /
Akira’s artwork was featured by the Wing Luke Museum for Covid19 Love Letters to the ID Project.
National Geographic /
Amplifier is a Seattle design lab that commissions free, open-source art with social messages, available to download. For Inauguration Day in 2017, the lab shared symbols of hope with the now-iconic “We The People” campaign, a collection of portraits highlighting people of color. “It was built on a hack,” explains executive director Cleo Barnett. “With posters banned from parts of Washington, D.C., we bought full-size, full-color ads in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today so that the message could be rolled up, carried across the barricades, and unfurled on the other side. It became our biggest campaign yet.”
The group is now tackling “symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change during these stressful times,” according to Barnett. Artists from 50 countries submitted more than 8,000 works in 20 languages. A selection has been printed and pasted all over the city. Sandin Medjedovic’s image of a doctor as Atlas—bearing the weight of the world—hangs 16 feet high in Seattle’s Pioneer Square.
Throughout the week of May 18, the group plans to roll out five blocks of imagery on boarded-up businesses downtown. It will be Amplifier’s largest public art project to date. The campaign features more than 20 creatives, among them locals like Akira Ohiso, Stat Phillips, and Eileen Jimenez. “We’re putting messages into the world that will save people’s lives,” Barnett says. “And we’ve also put over $80,000 into the hands of artists so far.”
Crosscut /
A new poster series from Seattle-based Amplifier features work by Northwest artists emphasizing public health during the coronavirus pandemic. Left: 'She the Culture/Saving the World,' by Stat Phillips; Right: 'New Worlds,' by Akira Ohiso.
Le Temps /
Progressive? With limits
Seattle is often portrayed as one of the most progressive cities in the country. Assisted suicide has been legal since 2008, gay marriage since 2009 and the sale of cannabis for non-medical use too, since 2012. A minimum wage of $ 15 per hour is also applied. An artist based in Seattle since 2016, Akira Ohiso somewhat nuances this image: "Seattle adopts progressive policies and uses a language that promotes equity and inclusion, but that is easier said than done. Many locals who define themselves as progressive believe, for example, that the city is in decline due to the influx of new residents. Tech giants are attracting younger workers from diverse backgrounds. ”
Purchase Award, City of Seattle /
Purchase Award, City of Seattle "Fresh Perspectives 2"
Red Lines, 2018
My Muslim Neighbor, 2019
Lonely Arts Club /
A Heart and Art Collaboration: An Interview with Ellie and Akira Ohiso
East coast artists Ellie and Akira Ohiso have collaborated for over 15 years. For this duo, collaboration comes in many forms. From long-standing projects like Green Door Magazine to raising three children together, creating something as a team is more than just executing an idea, it’s recognizing each other’s strengths and weaknesses and building upon them.
Hi Ellie and Akira, welcome to the Lonely Arts Club! You’ve done so much more than the occasional project together. From many exhibitions to starting the successful Green Door Magazine, what has it been like collaborating together after all this time?
Ellie: Akira’s job is to come up with the idea, and I ask, “How can we make this happen?” I’m very detail oriented and I’m able to fill in the holes where Akira is not able to. In Seattle, there are so many artist grants available, and Akira has gotten some. But there is this other side to it where you have to present a budget and very concrete lengths of time. I know how to do that and stay on budget. That is a problem that a lot of artists have. Akira is like a balloon, and I’m a like the string on the balloon.
Seattle Viaduct Fish Kites, Akira Ohiso
Akira: I’m a bit of a dreamer. If I didn’t have someone with her skills, none of these ideas would come into fruition. I’m very “in the moment”, and not very detail oriented. Sometimes I’m like, “I’m trying to make a statement here,” and Ellie is like, “You’re not going to sell anything with that statement!” Historically, I know it’s cliche but it’s sometimes true, artists really do think about producing something but then don’t know what to do after that.
Ellie: Akira is very prolific. He’s always working, creating two or three drawings a day and some of them never see the light of day. He’ll show me things and I’m able to know what does and doesn’t work. I’ll understand if something has commercial value. I feel like every artist needs someone like me, like an artist manager. Someone who can help with editing, marketing and commercial applications.
Tell me more about one of your biggest collaborative projects, Green Book Magazine.
Ellie: After we had kids we moved to upstate New York, in the Catskills, which is an hour in a half from New York City. There was this growing trend of artists that were priced out of Manhattan moving there. It wasn’t like here where you can move to Tacoma and still have coffee shops and civilization, it was really out there. It snowed 8 months out of the year, so it created a haven for artists to create. Around 2011 when we started Green Door was when print magazines were taking off again. It was very timely.
Akira: I think we captured something. We started it because we felt like we didn’t have anyone like-minded, so we said, “Let’s do a publication that featured things we like and want to do.” The first few issues I was writing everything and, slowly, people started reaching out. By our last issue, we had Martha Stewart and Mark Ruffalo on the cover, all of these famous people who had a root connection to the area.
Ellie: With Green Door’s success, we ended up renting a disgusting storefront on the main street as our headquarters and created an art and event space.
Akira: That space was cooler than the magazine. That was what was really the magic, having people coming in and having blowout parties. One time there was a huge storm with a foot in half of snow, and three hundred people came.
Ellie: It was really “of the moment” because we were all these city refugees that lived in a place that felt very disconnected. We would throw parties, and because we had the popularity of the magazine we would get free drinks and food, and we could showcase art on the walls. We had taken our exposure from the magazine and had turned it into community engagement.
Akira: Everyone felt lifted and supported by each other because of that. We had a little opening, and they filled it.
Ellie: Us creating a magazine legitimized a community, and in turn, the community legitimized us with their voice.
What ended up happening with this project?
Ellie: By 2014, we were too big to be small, too small to be big. We were breaking even. Towards the end of Green Door, we were hiring photographers, make-up, and hair. We were issuing 1099s. It was crazy. It was coming to the point where we needed to hire an investor. Some of the investors we were looking into wanted us to pull back a little bit, to not write what we wanted to write.
Akira: We were in the middle of an issue and I said, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” People had a hard time understanding that. As an artist, when is it ever a good time to stop? I think it’s when you’re still feeling like you’re being honest.
Akira, your art has a very specific style of line work. Was there a particular shift that changed your art into what it is right now?
Akira: As an artist, it’s all a process. I’m experiencing a shift in my art right now. When I came to Seattle three years ago, I did a lot of drawings while just walking around the city, capturing the homeless community, and the gentrification that is happening. I started documenting all of this and built some shows around that. I did it for two years, and now I recently deleted all of my social media accounts so I could start fresh. I’m in that shift now and you go where the work takes you. It’s early days, and I kind of like being under the radar and experimenting. I get to test things out a little. I’m always reinventing my visual landscape or narrative.
I see a lot of illustrative, and colorful layered lines in your work.
Akira: Yeah, before coming to Seattle I was working only on paper. When I moved here, I started testing an app [Sketches and Procreate] and I liked the limitations of the app. It has ten colors, and I like working within those constraints. For me anyway, it’s very freeing because I can get overwhelmed with too many choices. I also take a lot from pop-culture and give images some movement and different meaning.
Ellie: He was quoted as the “democratizing of art”, because everyone can access this app with limited amount of money.
What have people gotten right about what you both do, and what has been the biggest misinterpretation?
Ellie: I’m a talker and Akira is the quieter one. What was interesting was when we were doing the magazine, we would be interviewed and people always minimized my role in things. I used to just sit there and think, “Well, my name is on the masthead above his.” The misconception is that my role in Akira’s success is undermined.
Akira: If Ellie says this is how it should be, I trust her because we’ve done that in the past and it’s been successful. It’s about what she brings to the table. She can make things very succinct, get them to the point to where it has a clear message.
Lastly, since you’ve come from the east coast to Seattle, what have been your successes and challenges with engaging with our community?
Akira: Personally, coming from New York, I think the diversity in this city has been a little lacking. Seattle says all the right things regarding diversity and inclusiveness but systematically, nothing really changes – or at least very slowly changes.
Ellie: In New York, you live diversity, but here they talk about diversity. That’s a step, but you need action. For instance, my children are multiracial. I worry that if you don’t understand diversity, there’s tokenization. You throw someone on a board not because you find inherent value in their voice, but because you just think you need their voice.
Akira: On the flip side, Seattle has been very positive to me due to the long history of the Japanese communities here with the internment camps and World War II. So I actually began to explore my Asian identity more due to coming to Seattle. My newer work is coming back to things I haven’t visited since childhood and put away for a while.
Ellie: In New York, you have to be pretty up the chain to get a gallery show. Seattle has more space for all types of artists, and you can make real money in emerging art. Akira has sold more work in Seattle than he has ever in New York. One of the things that Seattle is doing right is that it isn’t always about “connections”, it’s about emerging talents and voices.
Want to see more of Akira Ohiso’s art?
April 13th at the Ballard Artwalk, Featuring Nine New Works by Akira Ohiso and at Populuxe Brewery June through July
Art Beat /
In celebration of the future waterfront and new tunnel and part of the overall StepForward99.com series of events, the Office of the Waterfront and the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture will activate the top deck of Alaskan Way Viaduct with a once in a lifetime arts festival featuring unique performances, activities, artworks, installations and interventions from over 100 regional artists and organizations. All arts activities will take place on the top level of the Viaduct.
Hello | Goodbye: Viaduct Arts Festival /
Saturday, February 2, 2019
12:30-6 PM
In celebration of the future waterfront and tunnel, the Office of the Waterfrontand the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture will activate the top deck of Alaskan Way Viaduct with a once in a lifetime arts festival featuring unique performances, activities, and site-specific art installations from over 100 regional artists and organizations.
12:30 p.m.: Musical and Performance Procession:
Hello | Goodbye will begin with a processional featuring music and performances from Orkestar Zirkonium, Sara Lovett’s Giant Puppets, The Cabiri and more. The public is invited to join the procession which begins at Seneca St.
All Day: Activities, Installations and Performances:
Engage youth and family with a variety of activities, performances and unique site specific installations from regional artists and organizations including Au Collective, Cedric Bomford, Minh Carrico, Scott Trimble, April Soetarman, Sutton Beres Culler, Aubrey DeRush, Dewa Dorje, Roger Fernandes, Naomi Haverland, LelaVision, Ulises Mariscal, Tia Matthies, Emmett Montgomery, Akira Ohiso, DK Pan, Shawn Parks, The Cabiri, The Fabulous Downey Brothers, SANCA, and more!
Getting there
The festival will be accessible via Seneca Street and the Battery Street Tunnel during the time period corresponding with your ticket.
BY CAR
Check Seattle Traffic website for the best way to get to the get around town.
Heading north: I-5 to Seneca St exit (#165), west on Seneca St to 1st Ave, and turn right (north) on 1st Ave.
Heading south: I-5 to Union St exit (#165B), west (toward Puget Sound) on Union St to 1st Ave.
From I-90: Heading west, merge onto I-5 North; take Madison St exit (#2C). Turn left on Madison and right on 1st Ave.
BY PUBLIC TRANSIT
Visit the Metro website for a complete guide to Seattle’s transit system and a map of nearby bus stops.
Sound Transit Link Light Rail University Street Station exits onto 2nd Ave.
BY BIKE
See the SDOT interactive bike map for all levels of riders. Multiple bike racks are available on-street and public racks can be accessed by ramp or elevator on Union between 1st and 2nd Avenue on the first parking level of the Russell Investment Center Garage.
BY FERRY
Boats from West Seattle, Bremerton, and Bainbridge, Blake, Vashon, and Vancouver Islands disembark within walking distance
Image credits:
Fish by Akira Ohiso
3D chalk by Naomi Haverland
North Helpline /
The Challenge of Senior Hunger
In the hustle and bustle of modern life, it can be easy to lose sight of just how many seniors there are in our community. Many of them live on fixed incomes and in affordable housing. Due to their age, seniors often have high cost health care among other expenses. At North Helpline, we are committed to looking out for everyone in our community, and we feel that it is especially important to think of our seniors, who are too often overlooked.
…
In addition to North Helpline’s two food banks and the emergency services we offer, other organizations are looking out for seniors a well. For example, we caught up with Akira Ohiso who works at Sound Generations in Lake City. He works with older adults who are experiencing homelessness or are close to it. Together with Hunger Intervention Program, Sound Generations provides meals at Lake City Community Center including lunch and to-go meals.
Akira said “On an everyday level, when you feed someone a meal, the person serving the meal gets some sort of instant gratification from it. There is something to seeing people and helping them in that moment. The frustrating part is systemically, these huge, seemingly immovable systems have to change in order for this to be solved. I don’t know how to do that. With current government programs and the way real estate is, the whole thing is a mess to be honest.”
Akira sees how food insecurity often overlaps with the affordable housing crisis. “I think when you are on a fixed income, especially when it is something like a thousand dollars a month, and their rent is 800, it just doesn’t add up. I had one gentleman who came in recently who gets $975 a month, and his rent had just gone up to $1200 with a private landlord. He has a little extra savings here and there, but he can’t make it work long term. So we are looking at housing opportunities in Seattle which are long term solutions, basically sitting on waitlists for three or four years, and it doesn’t seem like there are any immediate solutions for what is going on right now around housing and the homeless.”
Our executive director Kelly knows that housing is a huge issue to tackle. She also underscored the cost of healthcare as a particular concern for seniors. She said, “One of our volunteers and clients was taking a heart medication every other day, and after she started coming to the food bank, she was able to take her medication as directed. So people are skipping meals, going without, or risking their health in order to feed themselves.”
Feeding America, the nationwide organization that runs Food Lifeline in King County, sees the same problem. “Nearly 5 million senior citizens currently face hunger in our country. After a lifetime of hard work, 63% of the households with older adults (50+) that Feeding America serves find themselves facing an impossible choice — to buy groceries or medical care.”
With the magnitude of senior hunger problem, what can we do? We all have our part in the web of compassion and service to our neighbors. Whether it is supporting a local nonprofit or just saying hello, our insistence on acknowledging seniors and the challenges they face sheds light on people’s various needs. We won’t always know what our neighbors are going through, but we can be grateful that the web of human services including North Helpline is able to help seniors to help themselves, and to never have to go hungry.