Working in Japan   rpaul@purdue.edu
1998
For August and the first week of September 1998, I had the opportunity to live and work in Japan. The location was Kotakigi, a 1300 year old temple located south of OSAKA in the village of Takihata. Here I lived and worked with two wonderful Japanese artists and for 10 days, 16 art students from OSAKA UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS. I became good friends with Zitsuya Ozaki and Rikuo Ueda, the two Japanese sculptors with whom I shared a house and working facilities. Ozaki carves wood on a grand scale. Rikuo built "wind machines"--wind driven sculptures that make drawings.
Ozaki did most of the food preparation and I helped where I could.
Students from OSAKA UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS stayed with us for 10 days. They spent this time making environmental installations from the materials at hand.
2000

 

September 26. We opened the sumi kiln this morning. It took roughly three hours to unload the kiln and remove my objects from the cans. I did my best to help the sumi master and his assistants unload the kiln. When I had finished I was covered with charcoal dust from head to foot. About 80% of the objects survived the firing. I am confident I could improve on the object survival rate and the qualtiy of the sumi product if I had time to do a second firing. I learned enough from this experience to want to continue the process on my own after I return to America. I have several days to put together 5 sculptures. The pictures posted here are not of very good quality. They do not show the subtle surface detail and color of charcoal which drew me to the process. The copper wire turned a deep, velvet purple-- a patina totally unknown to me.

September 23.  All of us involved with Art Walking 2000 are sensing the end of the project. I have not updated the web site because I have very busy with working, traveling, meetings, and evening social events. I have been working on copper and wood parts that will be combined with sumi if the firing is successful. Jim and I spent the day with Joichi Ikeda and Chiyoe Ogawa visiting galleries, museums and prefectural officials in Namba City.  There are many final preparations to be made for the Art Walking exhibition which takes place during the month of October. Lastly, many of our friends are hosting parties in our honor. Every day is filled with appointments.  The date for the sumi opening has been moved to the 26th. This is good news as I will have more time to finish my pieces. Most exciting, I may have an opportunity to visit a bamboo master in Nara. The Nara region is well known for bamboo work.
   

September 17. Today we visited the home and studio of Munetaka Wakita, a master ceramist who lives and works in the Nara prefecture.

 
September 15.   I woke up to the smell of charcoal being made. The charcoal kiln is about a 10 minute walk up wind. Today is a day to rest and organize for future events. We have a full schedule of visitors and visits between now and September 28th. I have work to do on metal sculpture parts. Today is also a holiday honoring your elders and celebrating the full moon. We are expecting a large group tonight for the event. The day started with three women from Takihata village appearing at our door at 8. They are here to cook for the celebration.
My walk up to the sumi kiln.

September 14. The day my objects go into the sumi kiln. I got up at 6 to prepare objects and pack the cans. This process took about 2 hours. I will not be seeing these objects for two weeks.  I catalog sculptures and parts as best I could with drawings and notes.

September 13.
September 10.
September 7.
September 5.
 
 
 
return to home
return