The DePaul Art Museum welcomes you to a launch party and conversation for The Virtual Asian American Art Museum (VAAAM), held in conjunction with the exhibition Yasuhiro Ishimoto: Someday, Chicago. 

The VAAAM is a large-scale digital humanities project developed by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at New York University (A/P/A Institute) to serve as a resource for new collaborative scholarship on Asian American art history. As part of Art Design Chicago, VAAAM is developing a module focusing on the transnational lives and work of four Japanese-American Chicago artists, including Ray Yoshida, Michiko Itatani, James Numata, and Yasuhiro Ishimoto.

To celebrate the launch of the VAAAM, the DePaul Art Museum hosts a launch party from 4:00-5:00 pm, including a viewing of Yasuhiro Ishimoto.

Following the reception at 5:00 pm, stay for a panel conversation about postwar Japanese American art in Chicago, including presentations about the four aforementioned Japanese-American Chicago artists. Speakers include Jasmine Alinder (Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), John Tain (Head of Research, Art Asia Archive, Hong Kong), Karen Patterson (Curator, John Michael Kohler Arts Center), and Laura Kina (Professor Art, Media & Design, DePaul University). The panel is moderated by Alexandra Chang, Curator of Special Projects and Director of Global Arts Programs at the A/P/A Institute.