ART LIVES TORIDE Where Art Is Born

I came to Toride for my master program at Tokyo University of the Arts after finishing my bachelor in oil painting at Tama Art University. I have been involved in art projects since I was in school. And after graduation, I created a box gallery called “Ātoya Emaru” at the east exit of Toride Station with my friends and a local NPO. I have dreamed of becoming a teacher since I was a child, so I started drawing classes and children’s classes in 2006.

I was able to build relationships with people in Toride by having the residents as volunteers for creation, as well as by participating in creating the illumination on my own. They gave me a classroom as my work space, saying “there is no one to take this place, you can use it.” They sometimes even covered utilities bills too.

Some people say that they are contributing to society and companies by supporting me who contribute to society through art. Thanks to the strong bond with the community, I could come this far. I opened my studio/classroom at my home last march. Because it’s facing the street, whenever the door is opened, people drop by. It is interesting to hear stories about how someone’s grandson likes to draw pictures too.

As I obtain more experiences and the students gain age, I have more things I can teach them. When my own child got into kindergarten, I thought it would be fun to have something to do with these kids too. So I launched classes that both parents and children can join, and we also created an Artists class for junior high school students and older.

In the classroom, I am not expecting them to draw well. I just want them to enjoy it and like doing it. The more you like it, the more things you want to try will appear! And gradually they ask questions like “I can’t draw people very well, but what should I do?” In the process of doing it, their technique naturally improves.

I have confidence in giving compliments. I make art myself, and I also enjoy looking at various things, so I have plenty of things to praise. Not only the accuracy of form, but also the beauty of color. When I say “beautiful,” I don’t mean just beautiful in general, but austereness or coolness. People are happy when they receive compliments. I hope it fuels their energy to enjoy it even more.

I drew this picture, but I tried to draw on thick paper. I put origami or tracing paper on it and drew over it as well. You can look at it from any direction. It’s messy, but it’s good. I hope it conveys the idea that just drawing a good picture is not the right answer. You don’t acquire living skill by just believing in what is presented. I believe it is important to question the common sense we have now, or else not to be complacent with what we have now.

Speaking of my own production, when I was an undergraduate, once I decided on a concept, I shut down the interaction with others and focused on creation by myself. On the other hand, when I came to graduate school, I worked with art students and citizen volunteers to create murals. I didn’t like it at first because they don’t always paint as I was expecting. But I guess I have become flexible and acceptable. I cannot tell if the murals like this were good or bad, but as I got involved with various people in this way, I started to like to make something that was heavily affected by coincidences.

In the past few years, I have been using auspicious objects as motifs. I like them. I have a concept for each and every one of them, and sometimes I mix them with wordsplay and make it into”oyaji gags” (old people’s jokes), such as “omedetai” (meaning congratulations referring to the sound of sea bream fish in Japanese at the same time). This rake is made from materials used in children’s classrooms such as crumpled paper, tin tape, plastic boards, beads, and so on. It was interesting to me to make rakes in children’s class, because I like good luck charms, and it was inevitable that I would do it. Recently, I have been thinking that it would be more natural if I could merge my work and the classroom, rather than separating the two.