LEARN

WORKSHOPS

Since 1997, workshops have been held for all those working with people with disabilities to engage them in the creative process and broaden their view of art. Others have concentrated on training workshop leaders who can bring out the potential of people with disabilities.

No.1	Mar.28-30,1997
No.2	Mar.20-22,1998
No.3	July.18-20,1999
No.4	July.21-23,2000
No.5	July.26-28,2001
No.6	Sep.21-23,2002

Energizing Art Workshop participants of "painting with the heart"

"Able Art Workshop" Mar. 28-30, 1997 place: Fuji Xerox, Inc. Tsukahara training center (Minami Ashigara, Kanagawa) sponsor: Association of Art, Culture and People with Disabilities, Japan co-sponsor: Japan Foundation cooperation: Fuji Xerox, Inc. Fuji Zerox Tansu Club project cooperation: Tanpopo no Ye

Through art, a new "spirit" inside people are brought out and livened. And the experiences are shared by people with disabilities, the aged and the young, at scenes of welfare, medical treatment and education. This kind of art and its possibilities are getting a great deal of attention lately.

We have left the activities of expression and creation up to special people, called "artists", and "art" have slowly become a faraway existence from daily life. Don't we all need to recover the acts of expressing through various means the emotions which arise in everybody? This workshop aims not to teach detailed techniques or methods, but to awaken sensitivities of creation by experiencing happiness and freedom of expression, and also to learn various collaborations through art.

* Introduction of programs and lecturers

** Key lecture "Art Activities of the Life"

How does art give power to the "spirits" of human beings?
Art has the power to heal and bring out energy of people.
The various powers of art are being re-evaluated in order to spend healthy and enriched lives.
We propose the new possibilities of art from the point of view of "able art" advocates.

{Harima, Yasuo}

** Case Study Report "Art Collaboration"

At "Okura", a clothing and sundries store in Tokyo, works designed and created at a facility for mentally handicapped people are very popular with young women, such as high school girls.
How did the works come in contact with the society?
What is needed, and what is not? To answer these questions, we will study the process of collaboration between the creators and producers.

{Sekine, Motoshi}

**Special Lecture "Art is the Greatest Work of Human-beings"

How much possibilities does art posses to revive the "culture of the heart" that we have lost from chasing productivity and effeciency? What kind of art gives us energy and corrects this unbalance of the mind? We will study what points of view are needed to find this out with our own eyes.

{Takahashi, Naohiro}

**Free Discussion "Art Gives People Energy"

**Interchange Party

**Energizing Art Workshop

We approach the human senses and wake up the sensitivities using various means such as sounds, the body, clay, paint and ink. Let go of fixed ideas and experieuce and happiness of creation.

(a choice of 3 programs from the 5 workshops below)

□"Molding with the 5 Senses" plastic art using clay 　　

We will mold shapes with eye masks on, not relying on sight. Unconsiously, we have given sight too much burdens. Break off the common sense that "art is for seeing". By using our senses of touch and hearing, we were able to see with the hands in this creation.

{Nishimura, Youhei}

　

*"Interchange with Ink" Calligraphy　

Do you have the image that calligraphy is simple copying of the model? By removing the stereotypes of calligraphy, new possibilities are born. This is not learning to write. Daring expressions full of spirits were born on the Japanese papers, using brush and ink.

{Minami, Meiyou}

*"Artistic Bodies" Body expressions 　

Listen to your breathing. Move slowly. Feel the presence of others. Wait for the sound to reach your eardrums.
Through various movements, we will try to communicate with the body.
-Slowly let out your spirit and keep the door open...-
By listening to the voices of the body, we are able to feel the heart. We found out the possibilities of expressions of bodies that does not dance.

{Kazehime}

*"From Sound to Music" Rhythm session 　

The sound of rain, wind, rocks... All music starts with a sound. Each let out different sounds and by feeling the rhythm, they somehow became music.

{Katayama, Bison}

　

*"Drawing with the Heart" Painting

Pictures with only circles, only lines, only dots. Kind feelings, Strong feelings. Pretty colors, ugly colors...
We shared a free period of colors and shapes, free from knowledge or techniques.

{Simon, Junko}

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