from Noto : March 2017

31/03/2017

2017 April, Exhibition Notice—Haruko Yamashita

An Exhibition of Work by

Haruko Yamashita

“The Power of Sculpture— Artist’s Thoughts on Public Art”

Gallery A and B, Shiinoki Cultural Centre, Kanazawa

http://www.shiinoki-geihinkan.jp/about/english.html

Friday 14th April to Sunday 23rd April 2017

Haruko Yamashita has worked on many pieces of public art for sites all over Ishikawa Prefecture as well as for locations overseas. The exhibition includes information panels describing her thoughts and aspirations behind her work, some of which was made in Egypt for display at public facilities and elsewhere. The show also provides and opportunity to see some of her work in metal—a new departure for Yamashita.

Some pieces related to her work in stone are available for purchase.

This exhibition was organised by the Funa Asobi Gallery.

山下晴子彫刻展　「彫刻の力」

金沢市のしいのき迎賓館ギャリーA・B

http://www.shiinoki-geihinkan.jp

４月１４日（金）―　４月２３日（日）

舟あそびが企画し、彫刻展を金沢のしいのき迎賓館で開催いたします。海外をはじめ、石川県に多くのパブリックアートの彫刻作品を手掛ける、山下晴子さんの展覧会です。エジプトでの制作や公共施設などに設置された作品に、どんな思いを込めて取り組んだのか、作家の思いをパネルでご紹介いたします。それと合わせて、これまでの石彫を関連作品ごとに分け展示、販売いたします。また新たな試みとして制作された、鉄の彫刻作品もご覧頂けたらと思います。

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2017 April, Exhibition Notice—Takashi Shinohara

Exhibition of Work by Noto Potter

Takashi Shinohara

Kintetsu Department Store, Abeno Harukas Tennoji, Osaka

11th Floor Art Gallery

http://abenoharukas.d-kintetsu.co.jp/special/foreign/index.html

Wednesday 12th April to Tuesday 18th April 2017

10 am to 8 pm.

This is a good opportunity to see examples of a pottery which originated in Oku Noto on the Noto Peninsula. It was lost but its rediscovery was in no small part the result of work done by Takashi Shinohara and others dedicated to raising the profile of this distinctively black ware—elegant pieces of pottery with a dignity all their own displaying the “happy accidents” of a wood fired kiln.

珠洲焼　篠原敬　作陶展

4/12（水）4/18（火）

あべのハルカス近鉄本店ﾀﾜｰ館　11階　アートギャラリー

午前10:00～20：00

http://abenoharukas.d-kintetsu.co.jp

奥能登で生まれ現代によみがえった優美で気品あふれる自然釉・灰被り・火襷などの

焼しめ黒陶の数々をぜひこの機会にご覧くださいませ。

20/03/2017

The Challenge

The shore near Wajima is rugged and the sea looks clean. But is it?

The Challenge—Ocean Rescue

Mankind's current ignoble attitude toward the oceans, our scandalous waste of resources and poor efforts to recycle materials properly may well be our downfall.

Far too many product wrappers, for example, bear the tag “Not currently recyclable.” So why is their use allowed?

Coupled with such concerns, the horrifying increase in poaching and the rise in the number of animals and other creatures as well as plants on the endangered list is also very worrying. The abuse of our plant and all that abide on it should not and cannot be tolerated any longer.

It is difficult not to get angry about such subjects. What is really needed is a clear, focused holistic approach that is coordinated on a global scale.

What does this have to do with the Noto Peninsula?

During the day the fishing harbour is crowded with boats.

As the peninsula’s main city, Wajima is one of the many communities along the Japan Sea coast with a thriving fishing harbour.

There is no denying that the seas around Japan are bountiful. And there can be few countries as dependant as Japan is on the harvesting of the riches of the oceans both deep and distant as well as shallow and near. But the situation is probably changing much faster than we are aware.

No doubt very tasty but how much plastic have these beautiful fish inadvertently consumed?

Plastic is everywhere. But one place it should not be is in the oceans and seas of the world. Microbeads of plastic are finding their way into the marine life we eat and there are now a considerable number of beaches around the world that only consist of large and small pieces of plastic. Even plastic fibres from clothing are now being cited as polluting the sea.

Expanded polystyrene trays—light and good for keeping a catch cool. But it is difficult to recycle. I wonder if the blue wrapper is recycled?

Plastic of course is not the only material endangering our oceans. Chemicals and so much more is finding its way into the oceans of our Blue Planet.

We cannot and must not shrink from the challenge.

An attractive assemblage but what damage is it doing?

For more information on plastic in the oceans go to Sky Ocean Rescue:

https://skyoceanrescue.com

And Greenpeace:

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/what-are-plastic-microbeads-and-why-should-we-ban-them-20160114

03/03/2017

A Play of Light and Shade

The start of this play of light and shadow…….

CameraObscura

On the morning of 16th February this year, the sun rose from its usual winter hiding place quite a few degrees to the south of its mean position in the eastern sky.

Sometime after rising, the sun emerged above a nearby hill and its rays found a way through various pieces of foliage and squeezed through the narrowest of gaps between the frame of the living room’s French window and the door into the hall.

….and the end as the last vestige of light faded.

Essentially speaking the house became a camera obscura although not in the purist sense. A true camera obscura would project an inverted image of the outside into a dark room, in exactly the way that a camera and the eye works.

It was by chance that I took notice of the shadows that were being projected onto a bare wall of the hall. Standing in the way of the morning light were the newel post and banister of the stairs. As the sun rose and moved westward, the shadows changed and developed across the wall—light and shadow, both intense and vague, sharp and soft for the best part of twenty-five minutes.

At Fukushoji temple the floor was spotlit….

Since observing this pageant, I was reminded of the patterns of light I had the pleasure of seeing when I visited Fukushoji temple on the Noto peninsula.

That day the shadows lit up the floor. This was inevitable as the elevation of the sun in June in Japan is of course very high. Even in the middle of February in the UK, however, the sun traces a very shallow path across the sky and hence the way my hall wall was lit up.

….and the screen work described.

It is only really when something interrupts light that we notice what is happening. Without light there are no shadows. Without shadows we are not really aware of light. We must be thankful for both.

Check this site to know more about a camera obscura:

http://brightbytes.com/cosite/what.html