KENSINGTON, MD — What began as an extraordinary insight ended with an extraordinary exhibit. While attending a cultural arts seminar last spring, Ellen Horiuchi Williams, a Japanese-American member of the Church residing in the Kensington Ward, Washington DC Stake, felt an unmistakable prompting with a most unusual message: "put your life on kimonos."

Photo by Carol Petranek

Ellen Horiuchi Williams, a Japanese-American member, created an exhibit on display at the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center.

"It felt as if a voice were speaking to me," Sister Williams related. "I quickly grabbed my sketchbook and wrote down the idea, using a kimono outline. Frankly, I didn't hear much of the lecture as my mind raced and ideas came."

She focused on this concept during the coming months. "My thoughts were channeled into thinking about materials, stories and traditional kimonos," she said. "I read books, talked to friends and family, and kept my radar open. Little by little, pieces fell into place."

These pieces resulted in Kimono Chapters, a unique exhibit on display at the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center until May 31. From ancestry to childhood, marriage to career, each colorful kimono is stitched and hand painted with themes illustrating various stages of the artist's life.

"The materials used for the exhibit are as eclectic as my experiences," Sister Williams said, pointing out pictures, ribbons, buttons and postcards. "Photographs of my family are inside my kimonos because the inner kimono is the private side of an individual. The outer kimono is the face shown to the world."

This personal history exhibit is just one part of the visitors center's third annual commemoration of Asian-Pacific Heritage Month, which began April 29 with colorful costumes, lilting music and native dances. From the snaking Chinese lion dance to the energetic Philippine hat dance, representatives from more than a dozen countries personified their culture and celebrated their heritage to a delighted audience of 680 people.

A fashion parade showcased native dress from more than a dozen countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, China and Pakistan. On the following evening, Christopher T. Shiraki, a dean at Southern Virginia University, presented an address on the topic of overcoming adversity and embracing diversity.

Chairwoman Merlene Burnham of the Kensington Ward, Washington DC Stake, worked with a committee of 16 people in planning and executing this monthlong celebration.

"If we can be entertaining that is good," she said, "but if we can be an instrument in showing people that God lives, that He loves them, that this is His Gospel and it is true, then we have accomplished our goal."

The Asian Pacific Celebration is one facet of a growing community outreach program that draws thousands of people in the mid-Atlantic region to the visitors center.