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Every day, the employees of the City of Irving dedicate their time, skills, and energy to keeping the city running smoothly. From maintaining parks and streets to providing vital services, their work ensures that Irving remains a thriving, welcoming community. The photography exhibit Irving Works highlights city employees at their jobs working to keep Irving an inviting place to live. Their efforts extend far beyond the tasks they perform, reflecting a commitment to excellence, pride in their work, and a shared vision of Irving’s future. From public safety to public works, from libraries to recreation centers, these employees represent the spirit of Irving: a community strengthened by teamwork, perseverance, and a passion for service. Their stories highlight the dedication and expertise that power the city every day, shaping Irving into the vibrant and dynamic place so many call home. The exhibit Irving Works is a companion to the national exhibition Working America. Both exhibits are on view through May 18.

In the photography exhibition Working America , artist Sam Comen presents American immigrants and first-generation Americans at work in the small, skilled trades as icons of the American experience. The subjects share stories of economic independence and struggle, belonging and exclusion, faith and fear, and service to both community and family. A variety of themes are explored in the portraits and accompanying interviews, including the dignity of work, inequity among immigrant nationalities, the political relevance of labor migrants, the intergenerational legacies of inherited skills, the learning of new skills to adapt to the new land of opportunity, and the relationship between a nation’s identity and the identities of the individuals who comprise that nation. This body of work has particular relevance today in a political landscape where anti-immigrant and pro-worker sentiments figure prominently. Comen has revisited some of his portrait subjects more recently, to update their stories in the extraordinary context of the global pandemic and subsequently devastating economic hardship, adding new dimensions and timeliness to the project. Working America is a meditation on American belonging and American becoming, it poetically acknowledges the lives of and contributions that working men and women make as a part of our country and our collective experience. Working America is on view at Irving Archives and Museum through May 18, 2025. About the Artist As a native Californian, Sam Comen has used his home state as a muse throughout his career and often looks to the places that define us for inspiration. He has long focused on themes of American identity, community-building, immigration, democracy, and social justice in his photographic work. His portrait Jesus Sera, Dishwasher (2019) from the Working America series was awarded Second Prize in the prestigious triennial The Outwin: American Portraiture Today at the National Portrait Gallery in 2019, and his work was on view there in the 2017–18 exhibition The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers. His photographs are collected by the Library of Congress, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and private collectors, and he is regularly commissioned by brands and publications internationally. About ExhibitsUSA This exhibition is toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance. ExhibitsUSA sends more than twenty-five exhibitions on tour to over 100 small- and mid-sized communities every year. These exhibitions create access to an array of arts and humanities experiences, nurture the understanding of diverse cultures and art forms, and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities. For more about ExhibitsUSA, email MoreArt@maaa.org or visit www.eusa.org . About Mid-America Arts Alliance Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) strengthens and supports artists, cultural organizations, and communities throughout our region and beyond. Additional information about M-AAA is available at www.maaa.org .

The Inspiring Legacy of Setsuko Nagasawa Kinslow and Her Journey from Wartime Japan to a New Life in Texas

The experiences of the nearly 45,000 Japanese women who immigrated to the United States as wives of American military servicemembers after World War II are explored in the exhibition Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). These young women left their homes to build lives within the complexities of postwar American society. Their experiences reshaped communities by challenging immigration laws and race relations. Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide opens at IAM, a Smithsonian Affiliate on December 14, 2024. It will remain on view through April 6, 2025, before continuing to tour museums and cultural organizations across the United States through 2028. An opening reception is planned for Saturday, December 14, 2024, 1 – 3 p.m. Reception open to the public. The exhibition examines the lives of ordinary women living in extraordinary times, women who navigated the wide divide between the country of their birth and the country of their husbands. It was a divide of cultural, social and legal differences. The exhibition begins by examining how the lives of Japanese citizens and occupying American servicemen intertwined during the Allied Occupation of Japan between 1945 and 1952. It outlines the obstacles of U.S. laws banning Asian immigration and the push to change perceptions following WWII. The exhibition highlights how these women learned to be mid-century American housewives while preserving their cultures. It is a story as varied as their circumstances from geography and the race of one’s husband, to religion, work and career military or civilian life. Through touchscreen displays, visitors can explore a historical and cultural timeline highlighting significant dates relevant to Japanese war brides in both the U.S. and Japan. They can also hear personal accounts from Japanese women and their families that reflect on the themes of the bride schools, moving to the United States, marriage, parenting, identity and community. Videos showcase segments from 1950s films that helped shape expectations on both sides of the world. Films produced by Allied forces screened throughout Japan during the occupation period promoted American sentiments and values. While in the U.S., films and other media played a pivotal role in creating new stereotypes of Japanese people and Japanese women in particular. The arrival of these brides marked the largest women-only immigration event in U.S. history and, by 1960, had increased the population of Asian Americans in the U.S. by 10%. In contrast to other waves of immigrants, war brides did not settle in established immigrant communities with strong Japanese cultural roots. They lived in cities and towns, big and small, across America, often without familial, linguistic or cultural support networks. Not all women lived happy lives or had intact marriages, but many carved out meaningful lives in their communities despite formidable challenges. The exhibition draws upon the work of three daughters of Japanese war brides to better understand their mothers’ experiences. Through War Bride Experience Inc., Lucy Craft, Karen Kasmauski and Kathryn Tolbert collected oral histories of war brides and members of their families. Japanese War Brides features many of these voices that provide personal reflections on life in postwar Japan, their experience as new immigrants in the U.S. and their legacies. _______________ Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide is a collaboration between SITES , the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and War Bride Experience Inc. The exhibition received federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. Additional funding was provided by the Sachiko Kuno Philanthropic Fund.

Only on view through Sunday, January 5, 2025!

Discover Robert N. Batson’s latest exploration of abstract landscapes in Diptychs, Triptychs, and Other Experiments at Irving Archives and Museum through January 5, 2025! This new exhibition features works created by Batson between 2022 and 2024. These pieces continue his exploration of vibrant color, rich textures, and abstracted landscapes. Batson skillfully layers paints and chalk pastels to evoke atmospheric, landscape-inspired abstractions, with each work inviting viewers to experience his unique interplay of material and meaning. A must see for art lovers! About the Artist Robert N. Batson has lived in Irving since the age of two. He can't remember when he first started drawing and painting, but art has been a constant presence throughout his life. He attended Irving High School, where he studied art, graduating in 1965. Batson then studied architecture at Texas Tech University, earning a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1970. He became a licensed architect in 1974. The following year, in 1975, he received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Dallas, where he began exploring three central themes that continue to define his work: color, texture, and landscapes. Throughout his career, Batson has balanced practicing architecture and teaching both architecture and art history. Now retired, he exhibits his art at the Taos Artists Collective gallery in Taos, New Mexico, and the Fine Arts New Mexico gallery in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico. He also volunteers at the Irving Arts Center as a docent and participates in their family, youth, and teen programs. Batson has previously exhibited at the Irving Arts Center.

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Irving Archives and Museum Showcases Exhibit on Irving Hospital History 60 Years of Healthcare: Honoring Our Legacy, Building Our Future