| 30th -Exhibition opening |
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Exhibition"Rodin and his anscesters" has opened at the Ishigami no Oka Gallery today. Full of figurative stuff, which Reminded me my student time.(HK) |
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| 29th - Cutting my marble block at Kanezawa`s factory |
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My marble arrived from the importers in Mie prefecture last week. Spent several days at the factory marking it up so that the main cuts can be done on the big diamond saw. Kanezawa and his masons are wonderful - spend hours setting the stone at awkward angles in order to make the tapered cuts.
I have to finish the marble light sculpture for the entrance to the hospital by Christmas - will have to work flat out in the cold weather! (KT)
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| 28th Nov. Ukishima Primary School Open Day |
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| Emily`s class presented their research projects on re-cycling and green energy. |
Sean`s class discussed the moral of a story about a fox learning not to be a bully from the example of a gentle bear. |
Then a volunteer group from Morioka performed a musical Japanese fairy tale. |
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| 27th Nov. - Emily`s birthday |
| Emily says that she has enough toys and things, so this year`s birthday present was a desk bought from a re-cycle shop in Morioka for her to be able to sort out all her stuff and establish her own working space in the office. Sean decided he also need a desk so we moved an old steel desk from the studio into the office for him. Ann chan and I spent most of the day cooking up a storm for the birthday party after school. Kata stopped work to join the fun and the 3 grownups worked hard to think up as many games as possible with balloons when the prepared parce the parcel, etc.. finished in record time. A great time was had by all. But now I am exhausted (was moonlighting all last night as a journalist to write an article on our experience at the Rachana Sculpture Symposium in Lebanon for the Japan Times which I promised to send a draft of this morning). (KT) |
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| Birthday presents from Scottish family included pretty new winter clothes, and English books. Thank you all. |
Scottish house elves hard at work preparing for the party. |
Happy Birthday to you... |
Emily`s friends from Ukishima Primary School. |
Balloon relay race. |
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| 23rd Nov. - 'Autumn' barbecue party |
| Our autumn barbecue party is a bit late this year (as we have been busy catching up with work after being away in Lebanon and Cairo). Kata`s parents brought scallops, squid and fish from Kesenuma, Ann chan and I cooked quiche, garlic bread, cake, etc. all morning. After being so cold for weeks the sun came out and the wind dropped so we moved all the tables and food outside and had a wonderful time. (KT) |
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| Relaxing with good friends on the deck |
Children`s table |
My mother in law came all the way from Sendai to be barbecue chef (and to say hello to Ann chan). |
Mrs Sakai samples apple tobacco in the nargileh water pipe Samil Basbous gave us in Lebanon. |
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| 22nd Nov. back up the mountain to Iwate Kodomo no Mori Children`s Park |
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Took Ann chan to see Kata`s "Symphonia" granite and wood sculpture (KT) |
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| 16th/17th Weekend programme |
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Saturday/After piano class in the morning, Kata took Emily to the optician, and then on to stay the night with her friend Miku in Morioka, while Ann chan, Sean and I did the household chores, including clearing and smoothing a sledge run.
Sunday/ Ann and I picked Emily up in Morioka and then went on to the Prefectural Hall Theatre to see Emily`s ballet teachers performing in the corps de ballet. (KT)
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| 14th. Kamakura project meeting |
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Kata went down to Kamakura for a meeting about a sculpture project. I stayed here to work on maquettes for a sculpture commission for a hospital in Iwate.
Ann cleared the snow off our tree saplings which were bent double with the weight of unseasonal snow on top of their autumn foliage. Very strange to see autumn leaves falling on top of a winter blanket. (KT)
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| 12th. First Annual General Meeting of the Ishigami no Oka Sculpture Park Friends Association. |
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A good turn out for the first AGM of the Friends formalising the ground work of the last few months to establish a support group for the recently re-newed Ishigami no Oka Sculpture Park and the new Museum. The directors were elected and ideas for involving a wide cross section of the local and visiting public, particularly young people were discussed, with the emphasis on making it lively and fun. (KT) |
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| 11th Sculpture and domestic finishing details |
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Ann chan made a new curtain for the house today - many thanks!! (KT)
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Kata setting the title stone for "Symphonia" his 9 metre high granite and wood sculpture in Iwate Kodomo no Mori children`s park, in Ichinohe town which opens on 5th May next year.
Amazing what an incentive the freezing weather was to work incredibly efficiently, and we had the concrete, setting, and cleaning done in record time to race back to put the car fan at full blast. (KT)
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| 10th.Nov. |
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Ann arrived from Scotland on 5th November after I had promised her that it never snows in November. We all awoke this morning to find complete white out, so Emily and Sean raced out with their sledges.
Then went into Morioka city for the opening of the 'Tono Original Scenery of Japan" exhibition which is on at the Iwate Museum of Art til 13th January. Quite a strange but interesting mixture of folklore artefacts from 1666 to 20th century, photographs taken by several talented artists, and Takeshi Honda`s incredible charcoal drawings, all representing the cultural life of the famous Tono region. Well worth a look.
A must see exhibition is Hisashi Momose`s exhibition at the Morioka Crystal Gallery which opened last night and is on til 8th December, showing his gorgeous collages of aluminium, silver, and gold leaf overlayed with increasingly thick layers of washi to form shimmering versions of his famous colour gradation compositions.
After the opening at IMA Emily and Sean decided to make a snow installation in front of the Museum building, and then more ambitious Goldsworthyesque pieces composed from the fast melting snow, grass, autumn leaves and berries once we got home to Ukishima.
Have just found out that my piece for the Ube competition was selected for the maquette exhibition next year, so am feeling quite chuffed! I am the only woman, the only foreigner and the only artist from North Japan to have got in. (KT)
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| 4th. Nov. |
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A brave but inadequate attempt to clear the jungle of Jerusalem root artichoes that colonised the garden while we were away in Lebanon and Cairo.
(KT)
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| 2nd.Nov. Ukishima Primary School Hapyokai |
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All the children have been practising hard. Music, very funny plays, and the Ukishima Kenbai dance.
For the first time the teachers all did a turn, totally played to the gallery and a good laugh. (KT)
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Pretty as this is it`s still supposed to be autumn!
(KT)
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