Inspiration! Hello Kitty! And the Japanese American Museum

Growing old is mandatory;

growing up is optional.

~Chili Davis

Don't you just love Hello Kitty? Well, even if you don't, I think you'll enjoy this post. (Especially the super cute Hello Kitty art created by the kids at my work!)

Hello Kitty Sits on a Sunflower

Pastel on Paper, 2014

by sweet Violet :)

Sunlit Road with Teddy and Kitty

Pencil on paper, 2015

by Maya

Floating Kitty in a Field of Green

Mixed Media, 2015

by Sasha

Hello Kitty Angel on Cloud, 2013

Animation cell, acrylic paint, plastic, sharpie, and pastel

by Vera

Hello Kitty Rides a Great Read Shark, 2014

Watercolor and Pastel

by Delilah 

Also by Delilah ... 

Hello Kitty by the Sea, 2015

watercolor and ink on paper

Kitty in Blue, 2014

Sculpey clay, acrylic paint

by Kya

Kitty and her Fishbowl, 2013
Pastel and charcoal pencil

by Jaffe

Hello Kitty (ハローキティ Harōkiti^?)^[3] (full name Kitty White (キティ・ホワイト Kiti Howaito^?) made by the Sanrio company, (Japan) came to the U.S. in 1976.

I was probably 7 1/2 and thought she was the cutest thing ever. I remember I had a cute pink Hello Kitty sewing kit, pencils, and tiny red plastic address book that snapped shut. Adorable.

Of course, in the years since, her image has been on everything from vacuum cleaners to gas cans, and more.

Last fall a Hello Kitty exhibition opened at the Japanese American Museum, in Los Angeles.

I kept trying to get over and see the exhibition, then time flew by and I was afraid I was going to miss it. Fortunately, just in time, my friend Erin came up from San Diego with her daughter for the weekend and the Hello Kitty stars aligned! We made it!

 

With your admission ticket they gave you Hello Kitty ears, with a bow. The best part of that, was seeing loads of grown men walking around with these little ears and bows on! (Whether they were with a child or not!) I was planning to sneak some photos of the guys, but I got too distracted by all the cuteness, and forgot!

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?

~Satchel Paige

Below, Hello Kitty braces! Toilet paper?

I think this was a bedazzled handbag ...

Hello Kitty men's suit by Liberty of London! (2014)

And, why not?

The model for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.

There were big murals in the exhibition, as you can see below, along with a Hello Kitty surf board. In the same area there were roller skates and a skateboard.

Hello Kitty as the rock band Kiss.

I would love this sake set!

Everyone is the age of their heart.

~Guatemalan Proverb

Too cute to eat bento boxes!

Another wall mural ...

Each year of Hello Kitty's life represented. I love the preppy 1980 Kitty! Below, Erin and I with our graduation year, 1987. Love the punk rock plaid under it.

The key to successful aging 

is to pay as little attention to it

as possible.

~Judith Regan

Apparently, Hello Kitty is 5 apples tall. And, in case you are interested, she was born in the suburbs of London on November 1st. (So, I guess that makes her a Scorpio!) Not sure why the Japanese company picked London, but there you have it.

"She is portrayed as a bright and kind-hearted girl, very close to her twin sister Mimmy. She is good at baking cookies and loves Mama's homemade apple pie. She likes to collect cute things and her favorite subjects in school are English, music, and art." - source Wikipedia

After seeing all the cute Hello Kitty stuff, from over the years, we went into the area of the exhibition with art inspired by Hello Kitty.

Hello Kitty in Bloom, Mixed Media

2014

Michael Courville

Inner Kitty, 2014
Gouache on paper
Apak

The Gaze of Kitty, 2014
Acrylic, Acrylic Gouache, Tarpaulin
Kazuki Takamatsu

Super Space Titan Kitty
Fiberglass
Colin Christian
(love Makena's expression!)

Instruction, 2014
oil on panel
Kevin Earl Taylor

Scott Scheidly
Hello Lincoln, 2014
Acrylic Painting on Masonite

Hello Kitty ensembles made for Project Runway.

Hello Kitty dress (2009) worn by Lady Gaga and worth more than anything else in the show. (A guard told us some of the rare collectables on the dress were worth a lot of money.) Plush dress styled by GK Reid and originally shot by Markus + Indrani.

Marilyn style dress worn by Paris Hilton in 2009.

Bedazzled Bustier show costume worn by Katy Perry, designed by The Blonds.

Bows on the floor ... those are my spectators. 

 

What a fun day! We checked out more at the Japanese American Museum before roaming around and having lunch in Little Toyko! I will have to do another post with more of that day. We covered a lot of territory!

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.

~Mark Twain, 

Following the Equator

Links!

Japanese American Museum

Little Tokyo Los Angeles

Please click on the artists' names above to get to their websites!

Sanrio online Hello Kitty shop

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Independence Day!
Happy July!

Blessings and light!