off-campus Challenge assignments | University of Tsukuba Faculty of Art and Design Creative Reconstruction Project

An Event was held in Minami-Soma!

By CR in off-campus Challenge assignments, Lessons 21/Nov, 2013 0 Comment

For 2 days, on Nov. 16 and 17, “Encounter with Art in Minami-Soma” was held at the Lifelong Learning Center in Fukushima-ken, Minami-Soma-shi, Haramachi.
Students of the Carving and Modeling course and Western Style Painting course used their skills to carry out different kinds of workshops. The weather was beautiful and many families came to have fun. The children carved wood or piled stones and did some serious artwork. Seeing the children who proudly showed off the accessories and objet d’art that they had made, the students were glad they had held the event and seemed to have enjoyed it, too.
It was an event in which the students reaffirmed their confidence in the fact that there are things they can do through the art they are studying. (Akagi)

Disaster Prevention Team organized Disaster Prevention Game at Takahagi Industrial Recovery Festival

By CR in team, off-campus Challenge assignments, Lessons, Disaster Prevention（-2013） 20/Nov, 2013 0 Comment

On Nov. 16, 17, the Disaster Prevention Team participated in the Takahagi Industrial Recovery Festival held in Takahagi-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture, and organized a disaster prevention game on a slope.
By conducting the game on a slope that would be the evacuation route at a time of an earthquake, it would increase the sense of awareness for disaster prevention.
At the signal to start, the participants climbed the slope, and at 2 points on the slope scattered were small articles from which they had to pick up goods necessary for evacuation and run up to the goal. Adults and children both carefully chose the disaster prevention goods and energetically ran up the slope. A disaster prevention map of the Takahagi station area created by the disaster prevention team was also handed out to the participants in preparation for a disaster. The booklet will be distributed by Takahagi City Office as a support item for the citizens to help themselves in case of a disaster. (Iida)

Itako City Hinode Elementary and Middle Schools Joint Workshop

By CR in team, off-campus Challenge assignments, Lessons, Itako 11/Nov, 2013 0 Comment

On Oct. 31, the Itako team carried out a Halloween event, “Workshop: Making masks with paper bags”, for the 4^th graders of Itako City Hinode Elementary School in Ibaraki Prefecture.

The elementary school children full of energy made their original masks with paper bags, and they will be photographed with their masks on. The art club students at Hinode Middle School, who had done the workshop in August, also came with the CR students to help the elementary school children.

The Itako team’s theme is to strengthen the ties among the new residential areas, an issue that was revealed after the earthquake, and is planning on workshops that join together the elementary and middle schools, which are the region’s educational centers. Scenes from this workshop were shown at Hinode Middle School Festival on Nov. 9, and drew the attention of middle school students as well as the parents and elementary school children who came to the event. (Iida)

Autumn 2013, Encounter with Art in Minami-Soma

By CR in off-campus Challenge assignments, Lessons 24/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

Students of the Carving and Modeling course and Western Style Painting course will be organizing an exhibition of stone carvings and a variety of workshops in Haramachi-ku, Minami-Soma, Fukushima.
There will be many programs that both adults and children can enjoy including an exhibition of stone sculptures using Ukigane stones from Fukushima Prefecture, demonstration of head statues, making accessories by polishing pieces of wood, making objet d’art by combining pieces of leftover stones, a chance to try carving characters on stone slabs, portrait artists, and many others. It will be held at the same time as the Minami-Soma City Art Exhibition. Please come and participate in both events. (Akagi)
”Autumn 2013, Encounter with Art in Minami-Soma” 
Venue: Fukushima-ken, Minami-Soma-shi, Haramachi-ku, Ogawa-cho 322-1, Hara-machi Lifelong Learning Center
Date & Time: Nov. 16 (Saturday), 10:00-17:00; Nov. 17 (Sunday), 10:00-15:00
For More Information:University of Tsukuba, School of Arts & Design, Shibata Laboratory, shibata@geijutsu.tsukuba.ac.jp
For details, please click on the flyer below↓.

Weekend Art School Exhibition

By CR in off-campus Challenge assignments, Lessons 23/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

The exhibition of the “Weekend Art School in Tsukuba: Feel, See and Be Leonardo da Vinci!?”, which was carried out on July 27 (Saturday) and 28 (Sunday), is being held. THE PARTY’s “Da Vinci Exercise”, which was hugely popular, and drawings by the children are on display. Please come and look at the works of art.
Date & Time: Oct. 21 (Monday) – Oct. 31 (Thursday), 9:00-8:00
Venue: 6A Entrance Gallery (Hashimoto)

Nawatobi (Jump Rope) Project in Onahama!

By CR in team, off-campus Challenge assignments, Taikan Taiken Lab 21/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

The other project carried out by the Taikan Taiken (Feel & Experience) Lab Team during the Onahama Hon-cho Street Art Festival (Oct. 13 & 14, 2013), the Nawatobi (Jump Rope) Project’s final video, was uploaded to You Tube. The students asked people in Onahama to jump rope. They filmed each person jumping once and connected the jumps of all the people that they had met to create a movie. Please watch the energetic rope-jumping of a total of 200 people. (Iida)

Hop Stop Animation! Go Forth, Onahama Explorers!

By CR in team, off-campus Challenge assignments, Taikan Taiken Lab 17/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

As part of the program for the Onahama Hon-cho Street Art Festival 2013, the workshop “Hop Stop Animation! Go forth, Onahama Explorers!” was carried out by the Taikan Taiken (Feel & Experience) Lab Team. Using the stop motion technique of animation where images shot one by one of each movement are put together to create an animation, the participants and student staff members explored the town of Onahama. Many people came to the showing and let out a cheer when they saw the curious movements of the stop motion images, but also seemed to be watching intently at the scenes of Onahama and the smiles of children that could be seen in the background.

In the “Nawatobi (Jump Rope) Project”, held at the same time, the students asked people in Onahama to jump rope. They filmed each person jumping once and connected the jumps of all the people that they had met to create a movie. The video will be uploaded to You Tube later. (Iida)

”Our Own Laputa Strategy” is on!

By CR in team, off-campus Challenge assignments, Taikan Taiken Lab, Lessons 08/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

The workshop, “Our Own Laputa Strategy” was carried out at Tsuchiyu Elementary School in Fukushima-city. Based on their future dreams, children created a town on miniature islands and attached balloons to make them float in the air. The students gave their helping hand and support to create the children’s dream town. The children cheered when the islands floated in mid air. The finished work will be on display at Shakunage-sou during the Tsuchiyu Arafudo Art Annual. While the students felt a sense of accomplishment, they also felt the necessity to continue the activity. (Iida)
Information of the Exhibit
Date & Time: Oct. 7 (Monday) ~ Oct. 14 (Monday), 9:00ー17:00.
Venue: Shakunage-sou (Fukushima-shi, Tsuchiyu Onsen, Suginoshita)

“Wall Art Festival” Exhibition

By CR in Notifications, off-campus Challenge assignments 08/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

“Wall Art Festival” Exhibition”, led by Misayo Tanaka, a 2nd year student at the University of Tsukuba Graduate School, has started.
“India x Art x School, Wall Art Festival” 
Date & Time: Oct. 7, Monday ~ Oct. 15, Tuesday, 9:00~18:00 
Venue: 6A Entrance Gallery
: “Art inspired by communication and its possibilities”
Date & Time: Oct. 15, Tuesday, 18:30~20:30 
Venue: Tsukuba University, 6A208
Contents: A panel discussion will be held inviting as guests the organizers and participating artists of the Wall Art Project. After the event, a social gathering will be held at another venue.

Wall Art Festival is an art festival featuring the slogan, “Art x School x Support! Smiles connected by Art. Kizuna (Bonds of friendship) created by Art”. It has been held 4 times in schools in Indian villages where the educational system and infrastructures are still developing. The first one was held in Feb. 2010, and from then on, the art festival has been held once a year. The first 3 were held in the village of Sujata, Bihar, India, the 4th in the village of Ganjad, Thana, Maharashtra, India, and next year, in 2014, we will be holding it in the village of Ganjad again.
The story of this art festival began when 50 Japanese students donated a school building to a small village in India. It was some time after that they came to realize that the most important thing was not to construct a school building but to give support after the construction. “We must do something!” It was this thought that led to the art festival, where the walls of the school buildings are used as canvases. A festival that can be held anywhere where there is a white wall. With the theme, “Art x School x Support!”, our ambition is to spread, throughout the world, art that cannot be converted into money. (From “Wall Art Festival Book: the Miracle of the White Walls of India”.)
This project was not set up in response to the earthquake and its goal is not particularly about the earthquake disaster reconstruction. However, in terms of it being an attempt to study how people can be connected through art, the Creative Reconstruction and Wall Art Festival share a common goal. After the earthquake occurred in 2011, “Wall Art Festival in FUKUSHIMA” was held at “Big Palette FUKUSHIMA” in Koriyama-city, Fukushima, on May 28, 29 of that year. Messages from India to the refugees were delivered, and exhibitions, live shows and workshops by artists who took part in WAF 2011 were also held. The success of this event is based on the connections fostered by the “Communication through Art” carried out in India. Connections that developed through communication should naturally lead to the next connection and so on. It is this sort of sincerity and the cycle driven by the passion of the people involved that dynamically advance the art festival. Having been given the opportunity to introduce the activities of the Wall Art Festival at this gallery, it would be a blessing if every person who came by were inspired or touched in some way. Please take your time to look around.
Master’s Program in Art & Design, Plastic Art and Mixed Media, 2nd Year.
Wall Art Festival 2014 Report Program in Tsukuba University, Japan
Misayo Tanaka

Yui Team: Unloading of Kiln & Lunch Party

By CR in team, off-campus Challenge assignments, Lessons, Yui 04/Oct, 2013 0 Comment

Sept. 28 (Saturday), the vessels were finally done! Everyone was a bit nervous about unloading their works from the kiln, but everyone was glad to see that every single one of them had turned out great.
At the lunch party, using the dishes that had just been finished, everyone had kenchin-jiru (Japanese tofu and vegetable soup) and onigiri rice balls made of Hojo rice. In the lively atmosphere, the students were able to talk directly with the participants about the conditions right after the earthquake, their current life in Tsukuba, their anxieties and outlook of the future and other concerns that they had.
Many wonderful comments and about what they would like to make next were heard. Our next agenda then would probably be passing on this project so that it may be held again. (Akagi)