The Question Most Weighing On My Mind Lately.The Image Is From A 1970's English Text Book I Picked Up

The question most weighing on my mind lately.  The image is from a 1970's English text book I picked up for free at the Kawaura library.

I saw this in a friend's apartment last weekend and really liked it, especially the "[art] is the inside of the world" phrase. Source

This is the 9th grade version of the April edition of the English newsletter I make for my students. This time I focused on Easter and the idea of language families. I wanted to show students that as they learn English, they're unconsciously gaining knowledge in other related languages as well. I also included a French video called Tokyo Reverse, which I thought they'd be into and a bit about Ukiyo Heroes, which is an awesome project where two Americans make traditional ukiyo e style woodblock prints of Nintendo characters. You can get a PDF of the newsletter here.

Each character's meaning is translated in the image caption.

I'm still working on my series Jiji, the project where I ask people to assign meanings to some of Japan's thousands of rare kanji. It's nice to have a light, simple project I can carry around with me.  The first piece, pronounced ni (knee), was written by Jason Shon, an American working as the Kumamoto Prefectural Adviser to the prefecture's JET teachers. He used his own job experience as well as the character's two radicals, mouth and ear, to decide on its meaning. The second, pronounced chi (chee), was written by Togawa-sensei, my school nurse. She used the left radical, woman, and the right radical, which is often used in kanji dealing with dirt or earth, to produce the meaning Mother Earth. The third was by a friend's grade school coworker, a 26-year-old English teacher. Her character, shin (sheen), is made up of a radical for mountain (top) and one for tough, arduous, or spicy (bottom). Like the others, she took both into her meaning. I'm curious to see how people continue to creatively interpret a character's radicals. After all, combining the meaning of radicals was how many kanji were originally created. At the same time, I'd like to know what meaning would arise if someone disregarded the kanji's components and went with a more abstract, personal approach.  

I installed Impress (痕跡を) on May 2nd at Kawaura Jr. High School. It features intricately hand embroidered pieces by Jenna Goeringer, an artist based in Naperville, IL. I originally saw her large piece, Void, at an exhibition in my hometown a few years ago, and its haunting image stuck with me. Each of her pieces are meticulously crafted and fascinating to look at. Most of the ones pictured above are shown backwards, so that their loose ends are visible. Impress is the sixth and final exhibition of contemporary art I've put up at my school, and I feel like it's a good one to go out on.  With the students' enjoyment of each exhibition, I felt I succeeded at my lifelong goal as an art worker: to bring the pleasure of art to new audiences. 

I got interviewed about my Omoidemari for the newspaper! Decorating with Red Temari

Zachary Johnson (26), ALT of Kawaura Jr. High School from Illinois, US, is planning a participatory, public art project for the Ushibuka Haiya Festival on the 19th and 20th. He will be distributing red temari to those in attendance with the intent of having them decorate the area of the festival. Johnson came to Japan two years ago. From the experience of majoring in art history in college, he has held events such as a young comic artist exhibition with the intent of having the people of Amakusa enjoy art. Next, inspired by the depopulation of Amakusa, he plans to acquaint people with the places where locals hold memories as well as where visitors have felt the good points of Ushibuka. Currently, he’s in the middle of making three hundred red temari, which he calls Omoidemari (a combination of the word memory, omoide, and temari), inspired by Amakusa’s traditional craft, namban temari. His hope is for people to place thepiecesin their favorite locations in downtown Ushibuka, affixing them with messages about their memories of those places. He plans to distribute them at the Haiya Festival as well as through tourist locations. “I hope the red temari can catch peoples’ eyes and be a chance to create new activity”, said Johnson.

Satoru Ishimoto. Kumamoto Nichi Newspaper. April 10. 2014.