TESSERACT STUDENTS INVITED TO WORK WITH WORLD RENOWNED ARTIST
PARADISE VALLEY, ARIZONA –January 21, 2009– Tesseract School, a non-profit,
independent private school—preschool through ninth grade, with its inaugural 10thgrade class scheduled for fall 2009—announced today that its fourth-grade students have been invited by the Arizona State University (ASU) Art Museum to work with
internationally renowned artist Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba.
Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s new work is an ongoing project in which the artist plans to run a
distance equal to the diameter of the earth over a two-month period as a memorial for
refugees around the world. The mental and physical challenges he endures are meant to
demonstrate the struggles refugees face every day and the will it takes to survive.
Tesseract’s fourth-grade class will join Nguyen-Hatsushiba today at the ASU Art
Museum to help create a portion of his museum exhibition. Nguyen-Hatsushiba is
currently in Phoenix to create his museum installation and scout the best route for his
run scheduled in April. In early summer, he plans a second installation at the ASU Art
Museum inspired by this dramatic experience. This week, the students and the artist will
build telescopes out of found objects that will be showcased with the summer exhibition
as well as design their own smaller telescopes to keep for themselves. The found-object
telescopes are an integral part of the installation scheduled for summer 2009.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for our students to work with an internationally
renowned artist,” said Barbara Perez, Tesseract’s visual arts educator. “To be included
in this community effort at ASU is such a gift and provides another hands-on learning
opportunity for our students. It is very exciting to be able to participate in livingcurriculum—
this experience will be with the children for a lifetime.”
Nguyen-Hatsushiba was raised in the U.S. and now resides in Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam. He is known for his underwater films which have been shown in biennials and
collected by art museums around the world.
Nguyen-Hatsushiba’s exhibit is titled Breathing is Free: 12756.3 – New Work by Jun
Nguyen-Hatsushiba and will be showcased in the ASU Art Museum January 24 - April
26, 2009. It is co-curated by Senior Curator and Interim Director ASU Art Museum
Heather Sealy Lineberry, and Alsdorf Professor of South and Southeast Asian Art,
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Dr. Nora Taylor. The ASU Art Museum
presentation is generously supported by the Evelyn Smith Exhibition Fund, Howard and
Donna Stone, the ASU Art Museum Advisory Board, Diane Harrison and Sherman Axel,
MD, and Friends of the ASU Art Museum. In-kind support provided by TownePlace
Suites by Marriott in Tempe, LaBocca Urban Pizzeria and Wine Bar in downtown Tempe
and PS Studios, Phoenix. For more information about the exhibit and the artist, visit
asuartmuseum.asu.edu or call 480-965-2787.
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