Art teacher Mabel Rose Jamison wrote, “a good painting is a thing of lasting beauty” in testament to the ambitious mural project undertaken by eight of her students at Rohwer High School. At any school during any time period, such a project would require a teacher of immense dedication, and students with profound maturity and skill. What makes the story of these murals particularly extraordinary is that it took place in an American concentration camp.

Lasting Beauty showcases the only remaining remnants of the murals—preliminary paintings executed on sheets of cloth saved for decades by Jamison herself. These works of art tell the story of the incarceration through the eyes of eight gifted students and their visionary teacher.

This exhibition premiered in Arkansas as part of Life Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas, a partnership between the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the National Museum with major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.