March 26, 2014 - Mural Mural on the Ground

The mural of Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheater as reflected in a puddle on the amphitheater's stage.

Paul Horiuchi was commissioned to create a mural for the 1962 World's Fair.  The 17' x 60' work of art, "Seattle Mural" was initially placed over a pool and surrounded by some of the fair's temporary structures.  Mr. Horiuchi's "Seattle Mural" is a collage made of 160 color variations of Venetian glass installed on 54 panels.  The mural design began with pieces of colored paper torn and made into a collage.  It was intended to evoke the natural beauty and colors of the northwest.  It now provides a recognizable backdrop for dozens of public concerts, festivals and gatherings held each year at Seattle Center. If you knew of a band from Seattle, chances are they've played in front of this mural.

{Here is a 50 minute concert Pearl Jam played 8/23/1991, several days before the release of their first album "Ten". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFzoSWKnzg}

Mr. Horiuchi has a story not that unusual for Japanese Americans of his generation.  He was born and raised in Japan while his father worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming.  In 1920, at the age of 16, he got on a boat to the US to join his parents, meet his father and his three younger siblings.  Mr. Horiuchi did well working for the railroad, but when the Japanese employees of the railroad were fired and evicted from company housing following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  As he was outside of the exclusion zone imposed by Executive Order 9066, Mr. Horiuchi wasn't placed in a relocation camp as many Japanese Americans on the West Coast were.  He scraped by supporting his young family with whatever work he could secure.  Things were bad enough that they actually applied to be placed in a relocation camp.  They were denied.

Following the war, Mr. Horiuchi opened an auto body shop in Seattle's International District.  For Mr. Horiuchi, art was a hobby.  His work had been recognized at regional art shows, but in 1950 a financial crisis compelled him to sell some paintings.  He quickly found that that there was a lucrative market for what had been his hobby.  He was able to sell his auto body business and start a new career in art.