By Hailey Stangebye

Photos courtesy of the Sunami family

On November 30, “Generations of Art: The Sunami Family” will open at the Cultural Arts Center with a ceremony featuring the Columbus Symphony, the Columbus Modern Dance Company and, of course, the Sunami family.

This show represents four generations of artists all connected through bonds of heritage and love, and is being organized by local public artist John Sunami. A resident of Columbus for over forty years, John boasts an array of public art installments all over our city, from the COTA Bus headquarters to the McConnell Arts Center of Worthington.

The lineage starts, however, with John’s father, Soichi Sunami. Born in the late 1800s, Soichi emigrated from Japan to the United States and pursued a career as a photographer. Among his many accolades, Soichi was one of the founding staff members for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

“This is going to be one of the first major retrospectives of my grandfather’s work since he passed,” Chris, Soichi’s grandson and John’s son, says. “He was an early modernist photographer, and he was best known because he took a lot of the iconic pictures of the early modern dancers. Particularly, he worked with Martha Graham, who was one of the main innovators of modern dance. He and Martha Graham worked closely together for five years. A lot of the really famous pictures of her were ones that he took.”

“He was an early modernist photographer, and he was best known because he took a lot of the iconic pictures of the early modern dancers. Particularly, he worked with Martha Graham, who was one of the main innovators of modern dance. He and Martha Graham worked closely together for five years. A lot of the really famous pictures of her were ones that he took.”

For the opening ceremony festivities, the Columbus Modern Dance Company (with funding from the Greater Columbus Arts Council) has secured permissions to recreate an original Martha Graham piece, “Heretic,” which was photographed by Soichi.

Next in the line of artists is John, a key organizer for the show and an acclaimed public artist in Columbus.  

“My dad was one of the very early innovators of digital art,” Chris says. “I remember, back when I was a kid, he got his first Macintosh computer in 1984, which was when they came out. And he was a winner of one of their first contests for digital artists. So, he was doing digital art very early.”

The show will also showcase three artists from the next generation of Sunamis: Chris, his sister, Jennifer, and his wife, April.

Jennifer is a commercial artist based out of Seattle. Chris is a programmer at Nationwide by day, but he spends his off hours writing and composing.

“The Columbus Symphony is going to provide an ensemble. They’re going to play live accompaniment to the dance,” Chris says. “They’ll also be performing six of my own pieces. That’s very exciting for me.”

“The Columbus Symphony is going to provide an ensemble. They’re going to play live accompaniment to the dance. They’ll also be performing six of my own pieces. That’s very exciting for me.”

Last in this generation, but certainly not least, is acclaimed local artist April Sunami. Her work has been featured across the state, and, earlier this year, she produced a solo show for the Southern Ohio Museum at Portsmouth. She is also currently a featured artist and curator for Columbus’ Harlem Renaissance 100 celebration.

“This will show the range of what our family is doing,” Chris says. “But, it also shows that we’re an multiracial family, and I think it’s good for people to see that as a part of the fabric of Columbus. Sometimes, people don’t think of Columbus as a multicultural place. But it really is.”

“But, it also shows that we’re an multiracial family, and I think it’s good for people to see that as a part of the fabric of Columbus. Sometimes, people don’t think of Columbus as a multicultural place. But it really is.”

The fourth generation will be represented in the show with a piece from River Sunami, the 10-year-old son of April and Chris. River is one of the many young artists and musicians among Soichi’s 10 great-grandchildren. While it’s too soon to tell if River will follow in his family’s footsteps, Chris says that River was drawn to art from the moment he could draw.

This show opens on November 30 at 6 p.m., and the artwork will remain on display through January 5, 2019. For more information, click here.

By Hailey Stangebye

The Greater Columbus Arts Council’s 35th annual Community Arts Partnership Awards — or CAP Awards — are just around the corner, on Oct. 18. This is more than a luncheon; it’s an opportunity to honor the individuals and entities that allow the arts to flourish in central Ohio.

Better yet, this year’s luncheon is inspired by the Harlem Renaissance celebration.

“People should not come expecting your traditional talking heads and boring awards luncheon. We’re going to make it a lot of fun. It’s going to be a journey from Columbus to Harlem and back,” Jami Goldstein, vice president of marketing, communication and events for GCAC, says. “People will get to see performances, spoken word poetry and music. We couldn’t be more delighted about giving our community a really fun look at an important historical, social and cultural movement.”

“People will get to see performances, spoken word poetry and music. We couldn’t be more delighted about giving our community a really fun look at an important historical, social and cultural movement.”

As a part of the ceremony, GCAC will honor three individuals and three businesses for their outstanding support for the arts in the greater Columbus community. For the individual categories, GCAC recognizes an arts educator, an emerging arts leader and an arts partner. For the business awards, they recognize a small, medium and large employer.

The diverse range of awards represent the wide scope of Columbus-based movers and shakers that help the arts to grow.

“I think it takes a lot to make the arts flourish in a community,” Goldstein says. “Those community contributions are critical to having a vibrant arts scene. That includes financial support, non-cash contributions, volunteer involvement, board participation, on-going work every day — whether it’s with kids, or within the community to build partnerships. These kinds of strong partnerships between businesses and community members in the arts help stimulate economic growth, promote the city’s revitalization and encourage tourism, all of those things that we know the arts do every day.”

The past year has been particularly transformative for the Columbus arts community thanks to the I, Too, Sing America: Harlem Renaissance at 100 campaign. This year’s CAP Awards will reflect this city-wide effort to engage and embrace our local, black artists.

“We really hope people go away from the Community Arts Partnership Awards with a sense of inspiration, energy and excitement about what’s happening and the things that people are doing in the arts community,” Goldstein says. “As far as the Harlem Renaissance, we hope that this is just the beginning. This has been a year-long celebration that will continue into almost March of 2019. But this is just the start of us engaging our Columbus, black artists more to make sure that their voices are heard and that their art is seen in more places.”

“As far as the Harlem Renaissance, we hope that this is just the beginning. This has been a year-long celebration that will continue into almost March of 2019. But this is just the start of us engaging our Columbus, black artists more to make sure that their voices are heard and that their art is seen in more places.”

For more information, or to reserve your spot at the CAP Awards, visit gcac.org. Ticket sales close Wednesday, Oct. 10, so claim your table soon!

This year’s awards are made possible through the generosity of the presenting sponsor, PNC.