FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Melinda Medlin or Kent Landers
Thompson & Baker
901/527-8000

or

Andrew Groveman
Belz Enterprises
901-260-7278

Memphis artist to host clinic on Japanese art at Peabody Place, Wednesday, April 21

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, April 19, 1999 – Ancient Japanese art techniques will be the subject of the next brown bag demonstration at the Rivertown Gallery in the Pembroke Square building of Peabody Place in downtown Memphis.

Mary Lawrence Allen will host a clinic on the Gyotaku method of printing Wednesday, April 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Participants are encouraged to bring a lunch to the seminar.

This Japanese century-old art form first began as a way for the Japanese to record their catch of the day by imprinting the fish on paper using ink. This led to a unique art form of imprinting a fish with paint to create original portraits. Fans of this inventive art style include Governor Don Sundquist, who has a "fish portrait" in his mansion, and Mayor Jim Rout, who also owns a Mary Lawrence Allen original.

Allen, a self-proclaimed Tennessean, was born in Chattanooga, educated at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and has lived in Memphis since 1955.

Rivertown Gallery is one of dozens of residential, office and retail tenants located in Belz Enterprises’ Peabody Place development in downtown Memphis. When completed, Peabody Place will contain approximately two million square feet of space, with 762 hotel rooms, 201 apartments, 565,000 square feet of office space, 420,000 square feet of retail space and 3,600 parking spaces. .

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