George Tsutakawa -- February 22, 1910 - December 18, 1997 -- Artist Melded Traditions

A memorial celebration for friends and colleagues will be held at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, Volunteer Park, at noon Dec. 29. Remembrances may be made to the George Tsutakawa Memorial Scholarship Fund, Key Bank, 666 S. Dearborn St., Seattle, WA 98134.

In a world where talent, generosity and indomitable spirit do not always count for much, George Tustakawa's life and career are a graceful reminder that sometimes they do. Mr. Tsutakawa, 87, one of Seattle's most gifted and beloved artists, died Thursday of longtime heart ailments.

Yet he has left an imprint on Seattle that will live a very long time. Even people who do not count themselves art lovers know and admire the dozens of fountains that he created for public spaces in Seattle and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Without exception, the fountains are dazzling rhapsodies of abstract bronze form and cascading water, compositions that seem to sing timeless songs of hope, harmony and beauty. Coming around a corner in downtown Seattle to find one of Mr. Tsutakawa's fountains is like rounding a path in the mountains and finding a waterfall. Your heart catches a little at the beauty of the scene. You're grateful, in a spiritual way, to be there.

Mr. Tsutakawa also was a printmaker, the creator of exquisite sumi paintings, an oil painter, and a sculptor known, especially early in his career, for eloquent abstract wood sculptures that he called "Obos." His Obos looked like beautiful, perfectly balanced stacks of polished rocks, and they referred to the rock cairns that thankful Tibetan travelers build along mountain passes as offerings to the Earth and the gods.

Mr. Tsutakawa started making the Obos in the '50s, after his first visit to Japan as an adult, and they signaled the serene melding of East and West that would become one of his aesthetic signatures. Born in Seattle to immigrant parents, Mr. Tsutakawa had lived in Japan from age 7 to 17, imbuing himself in traditional arts and culture at the knee of his grandfather, a highly refined man who encouraged the young boy's interest in art.

But as a Nisei, or second generation Japanese American, his life and his art crossed cultures. His Obos, and later his glorious fountains, were inspired by the East but shaped by his fluency in European modernism. They combined the Eastern respect for the unadorned splendor of natural materials and spiritual balance with the Western modernists' interest in abstraction. Combining the yin and yang of the Eastern and Western artistic traditions is these days a trendy way to show multicultural sophistication. When Mr. Tsutakawa did it, it was groundbreaking.

Then there was the personal side of Mr. Tsutakawa, a man who was invariably described as gentle, gracious and nurturing. He encouraged thousands of students who passed through his mentorship during the nearly 30 years that he taught art at the University of Washington. His passion for the arts and his ability to inflame others with the same blue light spread to his children. His four adult children, Marcus, Gerard, Deems and Mayumi, have carved their own careers in art, music and writing.

They say they couldn't avoid it. In the Mount Baker home Mr. Tsutakawa shared for decades with his wife, Ayame, artists such as Mark Tobey and Isamu Noguchi were as likely to drop by for dinner as a troupe of visiting Japanese Noh actors.

He also never lost his roots in the Asian-American community, lending his name and art to International District organizations, such as the Wing Luke Museum, at the same time he played an active role in the community at large. For years he was a trustee of the Seattle Art Museum.

In his later life Mr. Tsutakawa wore his beard long and white. In person he resembled nothing so much as a sensei, a Japanese wise man and teacher. Tweak the definition to a Japanese-American wise man and teacher, a man who was able to find perfect harmony in his own life and in the world around him, and the description isn't far off base. He brought grace to our public spaces and the lives he touched. The fountains are his lasting gift to us.

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WHERE TO SEE TSUTAKAWA'S SCULPTURES, FOUNTAINS

Some major public sculptures and fountains created by George Tsutakawa in the Seattle area:

1."Safeco Fountain," 1973, Safeco Building at Northeast 45th Street and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast.

2."Fountain of Reflection," 1962, McMahon Hall, University of Washington.

3. "Moon Song," 1971, Post-Intelligencer Building, 101 Elliott Ave. W.

4. "The Joshua Green Fountain," 1966, Colman Dock, Pier 52.

5. "Naramore Fountain," 1967, Sixth Avenue and Seneca Street.

6. "Fountain of Wisdom," 1960, Fifth Avenue and Spring Street Plaza, Downtown Library.

7. "Sandworm," 1986, entry plaza, King County Administration Building, Fifth Avenue between James and Jefferson streets.

8. "Heaven, Man & Earth," 1979, Maynard Avenue South and South Jackson Street.

9. "Sand Dragon," 1981, International Children's Park, Seventh Avenue South and South Lane Street.

10. "Centennial Fountain," 1989, Seattle University, Broadway and Madison Street.

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"In George's generation, the Nisei generation, being an artist was very difficult. For him to be an artist took a lot. He was a pioneer Asian-American artist, and that made it easier for a lot of people who came later." - Ron Chew, executive director of the Wing Luke Museum

"He was able to draw on Asian roots in a very imaginative way. But his works also reflect the convergence of Eastern and Western artistic tradition. His art has such a strong presence in the community. . . . (The) other works of his that I love, and I think everyone loves, are his fountains. There's the one at Sixth and Seneca (downtown). I actually like waiting for the light there because you get to look at it. It is just beautiful." - Mimi Gates, director of the Seattle Art Museum

"Legions of his students were mesmerized by him. He was gentle, warm, wonderful, totally unpresupposing. He had a gift for bringing out whatever talent a student had in him." - Michael Dailey, artist and University of Washington art professor

"He was one of the prime innovators in using bronze and water as a lovely unit of peace and beauty. He had the imagination to dream it, and he did it. It is beautiful work. . . . He was also such a nice, nice guy." - Doris Chase, sculptor