Camberwell Conservation Team

Two of my works for the final show were damaged at the fire on 28th June. They were immediately brought to the conservation team of Camberwell College of Art. They are one of the best in the world. I was so lucky to studying in the same institute. Dolce and Mark, thank you very much for your time and great support on rescueing my works!!!

Followings are the photos taken during their treatment.

These are the photos of damage before the conservation. My scroll painting got a mad water stain and smork dust.
...and some fire man's kicks!

Following three are photos taken in the afternoon of 29th immediatery before being taken out from fire place to get repaired by conservation team. The shopping bags I placed on top of works before I left studio in previous day helped minimizing damages.

Installing Cuckoos

Title: Cuckoos 2010
230cm x 300cm
Metal leaves, Sumi ink, pigments and gelatin gue on Japanese paper

This mobile installation took me some while to finish but it was worth to try. During the installation, I found this painting has a wide viewing angle (right - left about 120 degree) and a bit similler to how kaleidoscope works. Please check following YouTube.

28th June, 2010 -Our Studio Got A Fire

Our MA Fine Art Studio at Wilson Road, Camberwell College of Art was on fire on 28th June. This movie was taken 3 days after the fire. Some students’ works got very serious damage. This is so sad. However, we are still planning to have show on schedule. We will do our utmost for the show and recover from this depression.
Fortunately, both of my works, Cuckoos and Doodles on A National Treasure Project were survived (It was almost miracle!) though they got some damage. I will write about how my works were rescued in a different article.
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Camberwell College of Art
MA FineArt Show
Private View 13th July, 2010
Open to the public 14th - 17th July
Wednesday - Friday 10:00am - 8:00pm
Saturday 11am - 4pm*
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For visitor information & travel details go to:
visit www. camberwell.arts.ac.uk/summershow2010

MACBETH at Shakespeare's Globe!

I went to see MACBETH on 27 June. It was just a wonderful stage and play! In my experience, it was No.1 performance together with Zingaro which visited Tokyo in 2006 from Paris. Shakespeare's Globe (21 New Globe, Walk, London) is an open air oval theater. Their stage reminds me of Shinto shrine of our country. A five pounds ticket for a “Yard Standing” was a great choice since actors were running around us and I was so excited to be involved. I was thinking about Shakespeare’s Globe can be a guide when I think about ‘site specific’. I enjoyed the play too much to criticize how it is site specific. Place (Globe), actors (artists), various audiences, spectacles…. It will be so nice if I can create such surprising art. Painting tends to be personal activity but what makes me happy is audience’s positive reaction. Rather than to be a researcher, I want to be an entertainer. Is it time to consider how my arts can be entertainment…!?

Canterbury Cathedral

I visited Canterbury Cathedral on 28th May, 2010.
Visiting this place was one of my dream.
I also joined their evensong. It was a wonderful day!






A type of literatures which has visible structures are very helpful when I think about how images can be narrative. In The Canterbury Tales (at the end of 14th century), Geoffrey Chaucer employed a narrative technique called “frame story” (short stories being connected together to create a long story), and it gave me an idea for my scroll painting in which so many different creatures run through a long scroll painting in tern.

Artist Talk: Nihonga and the Recent Site-specific work of Toshiyuki Higashi

90 people attend this event.
I'm so glad this really happened. Many thanks for everyone who gave me great support!!!


Yes. Our Rachael was there! Thank you Rachael, Rosy and Bingbing for your attendance!







Mr. Higashi's artist talk at Japan Foundation (Russell Square) was a big success. It gathered about 100 people in spite of a short notice period. Even after the lecture, many guests stayed long to chat with Mr. Higashi. They are very much interested in Japanese style painting's techniques and tools. 5 months has passed since I sent a proposal to the Japan Foundation but I feel like all my effort was rewarded tonight. I want to send my deep appreciation to Mr. Higashi, Mr. Abe, Ms. Takekawa/ Japan Foundation as well as my art teacher in London, Ms. Rebecca Fortnum. This event wouldn't happen without your strong support!

White Roses (2010)

White Roses (2010) paper clay Lost in the fire 28 June, 2010
(My own way of showing differences in repetitions)

Equivalent (1960) Carl Andre

I found the word “apparent paradox” while I was researching Carl Andre. I like this word and thought it would be interesting if I could create apparent paradox on my painting. In my next painting, Cuckoos, apparent paradox appears in following ways:

· Enormously enlarged small creatures
· Ordinal lives decorated by rare metals
· Differences in repetitions
· Newly painted but has exfoliated touch
· A large painting consists of small pieces
· Death as an evidence of life

Hunterian Musium at The Royal College of Surgeons

Part of a female cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) dissected to show the developing egg, prepared by Edward Jenner (1749-1823) and presented to John Hunter, 1788.
A post card I bought at Hunterian Museum
Copyright 2005 Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons

I visited Hunterian Museum at The Royal College of Surgeons tree times (may be more). I always feel down for next one or two days every time after I visit this space. While I understand these dissected collections contributed a lot for today's advanced medical technology, it is very hard for me to avoid imagine their final scream. The enormous Hunterian collection look rather cruel to me but I have to say some of the specimens in glass cylinders are just look stunning. –This place easily makes me believe I tend to appreciate beauties more than ethics and it always annoys me.



However, I have to treat this very carefully. Why the female cuckoo in a glass cylinder looked so sad and beautiful? Instead of trying to get plausible reasoning, I made 9 sketches of another cuckoo specimen from the same angle. The sketch could be more but I stopped when I found essential lines of painful distortion in the 9th sketch. What I have seen in the glass cylinder is an evidence of her life. Though no one can help her anymore, I thought I can paint about her at least.

9th Sketch for Cuckoo

William Wordsworth loved cuckoos

William Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) was a major English Romantic poet. He was England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850. I was looking for some old English poems in structures just like Japanese Haiku poem (Haiku poem has a three-line 5-7-5 syllable patterns). At the research essay tutorial with Rebecca, I told her I was looking for bricks or brocks or architectures just like cathedral which have similar visible regularities in their structures. Carl Andre’s bricks became the subject for my research essay. However, during the tutorial, Rebecca also gave me information about English poem that I thought interesting. William Wordsworth’s poem Tintern Abbey made me imagine the structure of the old beautiful building –Actually, what else could I do? I wish I could read these English poems in the true meaning. But I feel like I can cope with this feel of distance by Keat's 'Negative capability' (!??).

Anyway, I felt happy when I find William Wordsworth loved cuckoos. I learned other famous English Romantic poets had their own favorite birds: For Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), it was skylarks and for John Keats (1795-1821) it was nightingales.

TO THE CUCKOO


O BLITHE New-comer! I have heard,
I hear thee and rejoice.
O Cuckoo! shall I call the Bird,
Or but a wandering Voice?
While I am lying on the grass
Thy twofold shout I hear,
From hill to hill it seems to pass,
At once far off, and near.
Though babbling only to the Vale,
Of sunshine and of flowers,
Thou bringest unto me a tale
Of visionary hours.
Thrice welcome, darling of the Spring!
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery;


-TO THE CUCKOO, William Wordsworth

Kew Gardens

Today, I visited Kew Gardens which was registered as a wold heritage in 2003. This pictured glass house is the largest in the world.
I wanted to sketch cherry blossoms but I found its season hasn't arrived yet.
All greens and flowers (especially orchid) are wonderful. But I can't help remember that they can be alive only inside of the green house.
I was very much impressed by the botanical painting's collection.



This Pagoda seems important land-mark in Kew Garden. There was a Shinto-gate of Japan close to this Pagoda. Its stone garden was beautiful as that of Kyoto.











I have seen many kind of birds in Kew Gardens: peacock, hens, geese, doves etc.


I enjoyed the lovely carpets of crocuses instead.
Minka house's bamboo garden was nice too.



I remember, my grand parent's house was decorated like this when I was a child. It was a beautiful day. I will come back to this garden about the time cherry trees are in their full bloom.

Making of Octopus

Octopus

2010
116cm x 91cm

Japanese Painting (Mineral stone, Metal leaf, gelatin, on Japanese Paper)

Step 1:

The leg of octopus should be very flesh. Choose the one with brighter color in a white meat part as well as a cortex part. The patience in observation is essential while sketching.
Key Tool at This Stage: Patience

Step 2:

Enlarged the octopus sketch by photo copy machine and transferred important lines onto paper.
The Key Tool at This Stage: Photocopy machine




The materials being used at this stage:
Japanese paper, pencil, metallic leaves, gelatin and the ink for calligraphy.

Step 3:
With using a painting knife scratched the surface while the metallic leaves are still wet with. Some parts were broken by fingers to add fragile impression.

The Key Tool at This Stage: A painting knife





Step 4:
Split the image into 4 pieces and mounted them on panels.



Step 5:
Oxidized metallic leaves by pressing the sulfured paper with an iron.

Note:
Measuring the time and temperature are very important when using an iron.



Step 6:
Add some lines to enhance the tablets. Vertically stretched figures need to be emphasized to give the look competitive enough to the physically divided lines.

The materials being used at this stage:
Wooden panels, mineral stones (pigments)

Making of Cicada

Cicada
2009
116cm x 91cm




I found a cicada specimen at The National History Museum.
I thought the branch-like shapes in the wings look interesting.

I was wondering if I can make abstract trial with extracting the cicada’s characteristic features such as transparent wings and skeletons. I sprinkled some solution of alum imaging some part of cicada first. Then dye paper with gold ink.

The materials being used at this stage: Japanese paper, diluted alum, gold ink cake



I liked the freedom looking of dye work. I cut the paper into 4 and mount on the board after changed their order. Added some colors and tried to observe the fractals. I realized that the color works started this way are very difficult for me if I still want to stay with original motif, cicada. Though I enjoyed colors, I decide to withhold this painting because abstraction with colors seemed large issue to be studied independently from my current project.



Split the image into 4 pieces and oxidized metallic leaves by pressing the sulfurized paper with an iron. (The same technique is used in my octopus painting.)

Trying to enhance the painting with representing the wings…




I decided to omit the panel in the right end. I think I should dye paper first to enjoy this painting more. I wanted to avoid dull symmetry looking and that is why I added some wings in left sides but now the large blank space in the right side became boring

OPEN SEMINAR / Finlay

The Exhibition Torch:
To be scheduled either on 19th, 21st or 22nd. of April




==Emoticon ==

I sent an e-mail to suggest a title for a show (see above):
It's my emoticon (=emotion + icon).
Its left part is a face. It's a scene a lady found something beautiful
beyond the torch light and she smiled.

I sometime use these emoticon in e-mails when I felt something
but don't know how to say it ('v') even in Japanese.

I need to contribute more to the class in English.
Definitely need to study hard!!
φ(.. )

==To Do List as of 5th March ==

Several students who attended Finlay's seminars have decided to meet again on 7th April at 10:00, provably in the print seminar room (we will see later).

In the meantime, we are communicating through e-mails to decide what we will do at the future "torch show" in the basement.

To decide the show title to be printed on the poster, we are going to have a quick ballot at 10.00 on either Wednesday 17 or Wednesday 24.

The Exhibition Torch: To be scheduled either on 19th, 21st or 22nd. of April.
Size: from A4 to A1.

One of us, Fianne, created a time table (possible to do list) in i-numbers on format on a mac though I haven't see the contents yet since no time to print it out at the library today (my PC is Windows).