| Wednesday 29th June, " Closed" |
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Exhibition is finished. We have packed up all and send them to Iwate and Gwangju. Mr. lee specially came to help us and went back to Tokyo by overnight bus. Akechi just came before the show closes, so he helped us packing and went to mexican dinner ttogether with mr. lee and Mr. Ando. Kate and me drove up back to iwate same night and arrived at 3 O'clock in the morning. (HK) |
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Mr. Asami, Sendai Daiichi High School Senpai. |
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| Tuesday 28th June, " Visitors" |
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Mrs. Saito from Numakunai specially came down yo see the show with her friends living in Sendai.(HK) |
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| Monday 27th June, " Italian" |
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Kate, Kim, Kouhei and I Visited Sendai city office to thank for attendance at the other night opening party. We also went Mr. Kato, the vice gouverner of Miyagi prefecture office, and Mr. Kim, the genaral consulat of Korea in Sendai. then in the early afternoon Kims took train down to Tokyo to catch plain back to Gwangju tommorrow. In the evening, we went to italian restaurant with Sukuki, the photographer, Ms. Kusaka, the sculptor and Ms. Kumagai, the violinist of Sendai philharmony orchestra.(HK) |
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| Sunday 26th June, " Visitors" |
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Onodera and Kouhei took them to show Matsushima around.(HK) |
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| Saturday 25th June, " Visitors" |
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| Tuesday 21st June, " Maze project" |
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3rd meeting of MAZE project at Iwate (HK)
4 young architecture sudents from the Industrial Technology School in Iwate are working with me to extend the cocept of my Relative Peceptions series to make a maze of frames for the Kohkaido exhibition in Morioka from 12th - 21st September.
I suggested that we work collboratively. Initially I think they were a little daunted by this. So I told them that if it works they will be able to claim equal billing, and if it does not I will take full responsibility.
They have gained confidence in dealing with this strange foreign sculptor and have come up with some great ideas and maquettes consolidating what we discussed before. We all then set too making the final model - work on the actual pieces starts next.
Watch this space for more developments, or better still come along to see the show in Kohkido in September to see the final result, and exciting new installation work by 8 other artists as well. (KT)
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| Sunday 19th June, "Katagiris' Dinner" |
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| Over 200 visitors to Song and my exhibition today. Some good feedback on the work helped me to survive sitting in the gallery from 10m until 7pm, although I was surprised to hear that one visitor thought my work like Richard Serra and another like Ben Nicolson!?
And a great chance to spend more time looking at Songs work - her prints are truly gorgeous.
Just by chance we managed to gather the whole Katagiri clan of siblings and children plus granparents for a Chinese meal out on our way back to Iwate from Sendai.
Our children were not too tired after sitting the United Nation English Test. D & E class for Emily and E for Sean (hope they were actually working for that), so all the cousins raced around the place after scoffing a huge amount of food, while the grown ups gazed at the empty plates feeling a certain affintiy with their state of exhaustion and grattitude that we did not have to wash up. (KT)
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| Saturday 18th June, Reception party for "Song Sook Nam's Pictures an kate Thomson's sculptures" |
| Mr Kato - Vice Governer of Miyagi, Mr Sato - Sendai City Treasurer, Mr Kim - Korean General Consul, Mr Yanagihashi - Chairman of Sendai City Chamber, Mr Teshima - Chairman of Sendai Daiichi High School Graduates Association, and teachers from two art schools in Sendai were among the speekers and guests at the opening reception. Sunny translated Song's speech from Korean into Japanese, and I had to do my best in broken Japanese, but I don't think I made any terrible gaffs and the whole event seems to have been a very successful piece of cultural diplomacy. (KT) |
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Song, Sunny and me with Mr. Hayasaka, who was my art teacher in High school and is now a retired professor at Touhoku Seikatsu Bunka University(HK)
A good opening, constructive speeches from all the politicians, and a great speech by Song, hope my attempt was understandable.
Followed by a reception downstairs
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and then on to a Karaoke bar for a more relaxed celebration with Song and her 3 lovely colleagues from Gwangju University, and several of Kata's classmates from Sendai Dai Ichi High scool who helped to organise the whole event as part of their project to improve international relations between Japan and Korea through their contact with contemporary graduates from Gwangju Dai Ichi High School.
A great evening with a really lovely group of people.
Usually I hate karaoke as I absolutely cannot sing - but my hammed up version of "My Way" let me off the hook of having to embarrass myself more than once. (KT)
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| Friday 17th June, "Show Time" |
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Kata went to fetch Song's remaining boxes from the Sendai Izumi post office at 7:00AM, then we raced to Sendai mediateque to start unpacking them. It was like 10 Christmases rolled into one - each package containing yet more gorgeous prints.
Miyagi TV patiently waited over 2 hours while we frantically finished hnging Song's work before doing an interview with both of us. They did very good programme about the exhibition and the relationship between Sendai Dai Ichi High School of which Kata is a graduate, and Gwangju Dai Ichi Hig School of whcih Song's husband Mr Kim is a graduate. So hopefully the programme which went out tonight will help attract an audience for the show which is part of the Korean Year of Culture in Japan and celebrating the sister city relationship between Sendai and Gwangju (KT)
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| Thursday 16th June, "Custom" |
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phoning and talking to Tokyo custom & tax office all morning from the gallery while setting up Kate's sculptures and some of Song's prints. The customs people kindly promised to hurry up to get Song's boxes through check ups and pass them to the post office to send to Sendai. (HK)
We asked Mr Ando (left, exhausted and at last on his way home), the Director of Bansui Gllery in Sendai, to find us two young assistants to help with the setting. As he could only find one he came along to help himself as well, and was great - very glad to have him there, best assistant/adviser I have ever had for an installation. (KT)
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| Wednsday 15th June, "On the Truck" |
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scheduled to start loading Kate's works onto truck at 5pm but we actualy finished at 10 pm. Meanhwhile I recieved a phone call from Song saying they arrived safely in Sendai and also found out that she had sent 11 boxes of work from Korea fro the exhibition but only 5 boxes had arrived in Sendai! Where have the others gone?(HK)
Nothing like a bit of last minute dama to keep us all on our toes. (KT)
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| monday 13th June, "Bobby's New Friend" |
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Bobby found a new young friend, a pheasant.(HK)
If you look closely you can just see the pheasant about 70cm in front of Bobby. Thankfully it saw him about 2 seconds after Kata took this photo, so no game for lunch. (KT)
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| Sunday 12th June, "English Test" |
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The children went to Shirayuri School in Morioka to sit their japanese government English tests - Emily 3grade and Sean 5 (HK)
Think they both should have passed these, the United Nations ones in Sendai on 19th June might be trickier as they use even more odd systems to check their comprehension. But the goal of these tests has been a good focus to encourge Emily and Sean to read and write in English. (KT)
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| Friday 10th June, "Research Trip" |
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Scenery check with "Landscape Seminer Group" in Isawa, meant to be the best 3 typical Japanese country landscapes. (HK)
This group is part of the Planning Avisory Comittee Kata is on for Iwate Prefecture Government - much more dynamic than the Board of Social Education I am on - will have to see if I can persuade the prefecture government to give us more scope to research and present our findings. (KT)
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| Tuesday 7th June, "Cinnamon" |
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Injection day for Cinnamon, so I put her collar back on but she lost it again (HK)
Poor old Kata is having to do all the household stuff while I work flat out carving for the exhibition (KT)
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| Sunday 5th June, " Ukishima Primary School Sports Festival" |
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| Saturday 4th June, "Farming club" |
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Family gardening Seminar. We planted Beans and potatoes and late summer we are going to have a cooking session. (HK)
Meanwhile back at the studio I was literally at the grindstone trying to finish my two 1.8m high and one 1.5m high blck granite sculptures for the exhibition setting on 16th June. (KT)
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2nd MAZE project meeting - 2 of the 4 students working with me for the Kohkaido exhibition brought 4 different models they have each made. Some great interpretations of the concept here, maybe we should have booked a room each to make different installations. But spent the day working out how to combine and edit the ideas. (KT) |
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| Thursday 2nd June, "Andrew day 2" |
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In the midst of final panic to get my exhibition with Song Sook Nam and my catalogue ready in time it was great to have a relaxed break with a friend Kata and I have not seen since our wedding in Scotland 14 years ago.
Walking the lava stream to work up an appetite for a lunch of grilled eels before sending Andrew on his way to visit our friend Anton Manabe in Nikko.
Taking time off is the most fun when you can't afford to. (KT)
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| Wednesday 1st June, "Andrew" |
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Andrew Burton and I shared a studio in our final year at the Fine Art Department of Newcasle University. He is now the professor of the whole kaboodle. Now on a sabbatical to research sculpture in India, Korea and Japan he stopped off to see us and our local sculpture park, museum, etc.
I think the highlight of the day for Andrew was eating living octopuss for supper - it kind of clings onto your tongue trying not to be devoured. (KT)
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