I love going into schools and working with pupils on Japanese culture, I particularly enjoy running workshops around symbolism in Japanese design. These Kimono book covers have been produced by some very talented year 3 pupils.
Japanese symbolism in design with fan making
It was great last week having the opportunity to work with a small group of children on Japanese culture again, this time at the lovely Pound Arts Centre in Corsham. We covered a lot of ground including facts about Japan, some basic language and greetings, looking at artifacts and their uses, trying on traditional clothes, learning about symbolism in design and making fans inspired by the symbolism. The girls learnt about fans and how they are used in dancing, they were eager to have a go at a fan dance themselves and asked if they could perform in front of the mums and dads and people in the cafe, which is exactly what they did, they loved every minute of it!
They workshop was a great success, we could have carried on all day!
If you are interested in Japanese culture and want to find out more about the types of activities I can offer, don’t hesitate to get in touch on paula@paulatew.co.uk or 07889119907 or look at the education and community page under Japan here.
The exhibition preparation is well under way and the pieces have arrived in Bath from New York so we are pleased to have them in the country. We have set up a website for the project atwww.foldingcosmosbath.wordpress.com
Our flyers have also arrived; we have met some lovely people on our journey distributing them so far…..
I very much enjoyed working with years 3 and 4 last weekend on a Japanese culture workshop. The theme was the ‘Tanabata’ star festival which the children learnt about and made their own festival decorations for the class tree. They all worked really hard and produced some lovely decorations. They also got to investigate unusual artefacts and learn about the country, try on traditional costumes, lean some language and greetings and play games. A lot of fun was had by all!
I went to the Japan Matsuri on Saturday, the weather was thankfully lovely and sunny. It was great to be immersed in the culture again, even for a brief time.
Whilst at the feastival I bought a Daruma doll (see photos) http://darumadollmuseum.blogspot.com/2006/02/papercraft.htmldoll, Daruma dolls are seen as a symbol of perseverance and good luck and are one of the many ways the Japanese make a wish. The doll come with two white eyes, you mark the left pupil when you make a wish and then the right pupil when the wish comes true!
I am really excited to have been working with Taki Togashi and the site decoration team for this year’s Japan Matsuri (Festival) http://japanmatsuri.com/ on the 18th September 2010.
I have been helping to make streamers which will be hung in the main market area of Spitalfields. These streamers are usually used in Japan for the Summer festival ‘Tanabata’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanabata
I am really looking forward to the festival, being immersed in all things Japanese for the day… Heaven!
Here are some photos from the couple of days I recently facilitated at Garway Primary School, the children were great and produced some fantastic work. By the end of the two days they were pronouncing their names in Japanese as well explaining aspects of Japanese life and what it is like there, it was great how quickly they picked the information up.