In the late 1990s I was offering plein air classes privately, after piloting a 1995 program through the Gage Academy, which was then called the Academy of Realist Art. I had gone through a succession of monitors, those student participants that helped the class run smoothly in exchange for a tuition waiver, eventually working with Ako Lindley, a Tokyo born and bred Japanese woman who had made the U. S. her home for many decades. Ako was well connected in Seattle's Japanese community, and during her tenure as monitor she induced several other Japanese to join the class. One of these was Ritsuko Taneda.
In the late 1990s I was offering plein air classes privately, after piloting a 1995 program through the Gage Academy, which was then called the Academy of Realist Art. I had gone through a succession of monitors, those student participants that helped the class run smoothly in exchange for a tuition waiver, eventually working with Ako Lindley, a Tokyo born and bred Japanese woman who had made the U. S. her home for many decades. Ako was well connected in Seattle's Japanese community, and during her tenure as monitor she induced several other Japanese to join the class. One of these was Ritsuko Taneda.
