International Arts Consortium Japanese Calligraphy and Brush Painting

Oct. 2001 - Jan. 2002

International Arts Consortium activities for school year 2001-02 began with a residency by artist (and Wallingford neighbor) Midori Kono Thiel. During October Thiel gave all JSIS students four to six lessons in Japanese calligraphy and brush painting. She also offered extra classes for teachers (how to make ink and paint nature symbols) and for parents with students (how to write names in Japanese and paint haiga). You can see an exhibit of student work in the JSIS "gallery," on Tuesday evening, January 29th, from 6:30 to 9:00: please join the JSIS community for the display, and performances of Japanese taiko.

Students began each lesson by assuming a polite posture on the floor (the seiza, on knees with bodies erect), taking in three deep even breaths (with mouths closed), and bowing to the teacher, with a greeting appropriate to either morning (sensei, ohayo gozaimasu) or afternoon (sensei, konnichiwa). Midori explained that this procedure allows students to compose themselves and focus; it provides "a definite break between outside and inside the classroom."

Midori introduced the "Four Treasures" of calligraphy and painting-brush (fude), ink stone (suzuri), ink stick (sumi), and paper (kami)-and demonstrated the precise ways in which they are laid out and used. Even very young students can grind their own ink, a process which helps to "settle the mind" before painting.

Students learned to hold the brush properly, not like a pencil, but upright or just slightly tilted, so that "the point does the work, rising and pressing down." Start by making the smallest dot, then press for larger and larger dots; start by making the thinnest line, then press the tip down for a thicker line. For the youngest students, Midori reinforced these instructions with sound: "ten ten ten ten" in a small voice for the smallest dots; "ton ton ton ton" in a medium voice for larger dots, "don don don don" in a loud voice like a drum for the largest dots. Before learning lines and strokes, students practiced movements in the air, using their whole arms, and learning Japanese words for movements: hidari-migi for left to right; ue shite for top to bottom; naname for diagonal movements or flyaway strokes.

As they began painting, students were introduced to the concept of cultural transmission: the transition from pictographs, scratched on bones and tortoise shells in China thousands of years ago, to written characters, which had developed by about 300 C.E. and were adopted/adapted by the Japanese as kanji two centuries later. Students first painted numbers (while counting in Japanese): Midori used these exercises to point out differences in length of strokes and stroke order, and similarities to line drawings familiar to young students (one character was likened to "Santa Claus with his legs down a chimney"). In Japan students might practice just one character for a week or a month on newsprint to perfect her/his strokes before producing "best work" on hanshi, or calligraphy paper.

In the following lessons, students painted such popular subjects as trees, dragons, flowers, and mountains. Through these subjects Midori discussed with younger students visual arts concepts such as asymmetry, soft and rough lines and sweeping curves. Older students learned more advanced techniques for pressing and pulling the brush off the paper to paint leaves and the nodes on bamboo; students also used wet, spreading strokes (nijimi) and dry, rough strokes (kasure), as well as producing gray tonal values by dipping their brushes in water but only the tips in ink. During the lessons Midori encouraged students to look at what was right outside their classroom window, to understand why a Northwest conifer is painted with different strokes than an East Asian cherry or a palm tree.

As a musician and dancer, as well as an award-winning calligrapher, Midori punctuated her painting lessons with introductions to traditional Japanese musical instruments and kyogen dances. She played songs on both the koto and the shamisen, demonstrating the different sounds produced by scraping or plucking and showing how the notation for each instrument differs from Western practice. Using the koto's thirteen strings on bridges, Midori led students in counting exercises (in Japanese) and recitation in unison-the way sounds are learned. She also contrasted the koto with the piano, and admitted that, today, most Japanese children play either piano or violin rather than koto. Before the final painting lesson, dressed in a traditional robe (kimono), Midori performed serious and comic kyogen dances and discussed dance fans-the motifs painted on them compared to designs on the kimono, and the ways in which fans, open or closed, are used in each dance to enhance the mimed gestures.

Thanks to Florence Knowles, JSIS music specialist, who hosted the residency during her instructional time, provided set-up and instructional support, and documented the project. Thanks also to: International Arts Consortium staff representative Nani Castor-Peck and JSIS librarian Shay Eisenbarth, who took on the time-consuming task of scheduling; PTSA representative Polly Young, who attended trainings and scheduled classroom volunteers; Sue Ranney, who kindly continues her Website work on behalf of the International Arts Consortium at JSIS.

The International Arts Consortium is a partnership of John Stanford International School and Hamilton International Middle School with a variety of arts organizations, individual artists, arts consultants, and community representatives, led by Seattle International Children's Festival. Major funding for the Consortium comes from the Washington State Arts Commission Community Consortia Grant program, with matching funds and services from Seattle International Children's Festival, the PTSAs at JSIS and HIMS, and other grant funding. Midori Kono Thiel's residency was sponsored by King County Arts Commission, with funding for Japanese calligraphy supplies from The Freeman Foundation.