Saturday, November 15, 2014

3 Years in Sendai -18 - Friends & Fellow Artists.

Without the support and encouragement from friends and loved ones nothing great can ever be achieved. We are interdependent beings and we share and share alike our success and failures. In Sendai I was given so much help and moral support by my friends and instructors at the Miyagi Museum of Fine Arts so much so that there was not much room for doubts. Because of thid I was able to create to my heart's content. The only thing that slowed me down was responsibilities towards my  famly and taking good care of their needs.

Locals and foreigners alike were very sympathetic towards my cause and whenever i decided to hold a solo exhibition i felt confident that I would succeed knowing that there will always be someone there to lend a  helping hand and to cheer you on. I also have no doubt that me efforts was also a source of encouragement for those who were in the same boat as i was and my successes became their example to follow. or so i have been told.

My Exhibition openings was always a joyful occasion as it brought together all my friends and family making it a gathering for people who would normally not know one another. I would like to believe too that wherever i held my exhibition I would also be sharing myself with other not just my works but who I am and what I can offer as a man. I tried to eat sleep shit like a Japanese Oto san, only i was more of a homemaker than a real 'Salary man'. Artist seldom are often treated as being unemployed and just wasting their time away while others truly earn a living.'.I got used to it and as a matter of fact I relish being accused of this or that by the society that i lived in so long as in the end i will laugh my loudest or die trying.

There are those who are artist  simply because that is who they are quite naturally and then there are those who make art a source of livlihood, I try to be both but am poor at being the later. Most of my works are given away as gifts or donated to institutions that i felt worth giving to. I always felt that I would love to know that my personal work hangs on my friend's living room wall.

It was never easy to hold and exhibition especially when you have to d o it all on your own and when you have two children to care for while your wife works and you have language barriers to overcome in your dealings it makes it tough.
I learned a great deal about printmaking from my Japanese artist friends and one of them was Goko San  here seen with Yuki San a ver y cheerful young lady who was always'Genki' as the Japanese would call it. Goko San does cutout prints where he arrange odd pieces of materials rolled with different colored inks and print the arrangement on to paper.
Mr. Charles Harding was a professor from Colorado, USA and was also another great print maker who was at the Miyagi Museum Open Studio for a brief period when he visited Sendai. The Miyagi Museum of Fine Arts had a unique philosophy of encouraging local residents to become involved in creatvivity by allowing folks to come and do their creative works at the Museum.
Yoko Chan was the adorable young lady who  was the studio 'runner' getting things done and making sure that everyone has what they needed. Yoko Chan was also a great photographer or was in the making of becoming one.  
These two ladies sometimes came to the studo to work with the kids and were fun to be with., cannot remember their names.
Mr. Shoji Sensei, the Man! He was once a principal at a local school but became the head instructor at the Museum Open Studio. A man full of knowledge and energy. It was the enthusiasm that was inherent in the Japanese, at least those that i encountered for various reasons was what I repected in them and Mr.Shoji, I hope i got his name right, was an example of such a one . A great teacher and a good friend. I wish I had served him better as both his friend and student.

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