“Midori” Features Japanese-Inspired Fashions and an Abbreviated Tea Ceremony

“Midori” Features Japanese-Inspired Fashions and an Abbreviated Tea Ceremony

“Midori,” sponsored by the Massillon Museum, will be an evening of Japanese-inspired fashions and an abbreviated tea ceremony demonstration at the Lions Lincoln Theatre in downtown Massillon, followed by a free reception at the Massillon Museum.

The doors of the Lions Lincoln Theatre will open on Saturday, February 21, at 6:00 p.m. for the free event. Kumi Day will demonstrate an abbreviated tea ceremony at 6:30. The Fashion Student Organization of Kent State University (FSO) will model their original Japanese-inspired fashions at 7:00. The fashion students also created an original video; Kathy Guidone, art teacher at Louisville Middle School, orchestrated stage decorations.

Immediately following the fashion show, guests will be invited to walk across the street to the Massillon Museum for a reception, a display of teapots created by students in the Museum’s “Expressive Teapot” class instructed by Laura Kolinski-Schultz, and an exhibit of a man’s haori and objects used in a tea ceremony on loan from the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.

To promote “Midori,” students from Washington High School, Fairless High School, McKinley Senior High School, Glenwood Middle School, GlenOak High School, Jackson High School, Perry High School, Oakwood Middle School, Hartford Middle School, Sacred Heart of Mary School, and Louisville Middle School; Massillon Public Library Junior Friends; and Youth Manga Group at North Canton Public Library; as well as members of the Stark County Social Workers Network decorated kimono handcrafted by FSO members. The kimono display different materials—paint, fabric, sequins, beads, and more. A list of participating students and photographs of their kimono can be viewed online at www.massillonmuseum.org/kimono.html.

Prior to “Midori,” the kimono are exhibited at the Massillon Museum, Massillon Cable TV, the Massillon Club, Massillon Area Chamber of Commerce, the YMCA of Western Stark County, Massillon Public Library, Lions Lincoln Theatre, Kent State University Stark Campus, North Canton Public Library, Enger Auto Service in Massillon, Kent State University Fashion School (main campus), Canton Woman’s Club, and the Malone University Art Department. On the night of the event, they will be exhibited at the Lions Lincoln Theatre, where the audience will judge them. The students whose design is selected as the best will earn complimentary tickets to the "Kimono as Art" exhibition at the Canton Museum of Art. All students who decorated kimono will receive student memberships to the Massillon Museum.

The “Midori” project is funded by Arts In Stark in conjunction with the “Kimono as Art” exhibition at the Canton Museum of Art. The Massillon Museum is sponsoring “Midori” and the countywide display of original kimono. Massillon Museum Curator Alexandra Nicholis has coordinated the project with Kent State University student and FSO president, Gretchen Greenwood. The FSO organized the fashion show and the accompanying video, designed the original fashions to be presented, and created the blank kimono that have been decorated and displayed throughout the county.

For more information about “Midori” and the kimono display, contact Alexandra Nicholis at the Massillon Museum, 330-833-4061, or visit massillonmuseum.org.

Media Contacts:

Alexandra Nicholis, Massillon Museum Curator - anicholis@massillonmuseum.org or 330-833-4061

Margy Vogt, Massillon Museum Public Relations Coordinator - 330-844-1525