Codex Apparition | Michael Rogers

A Walk to a Nearby Buddhist Temple.

marsac — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 09:31:56 +0000

Today Bette and I took a walk in the neighborhood and discovered a beautiful Buddhist Temple. I became especially interested in the lichen covered Jiso statues and the lichen covered text cut into the stone. We met a friendly farmer on the way back who gave us a huge daikon radish. A quick stop to the hardware store and back home. It is amazing what can be seen and experienced in what one suspects is otherwise a routine or ordinary outing. The last two images are of logs sold at the hardware store that are drilled with holes, filled with mushroom spores and capped with styrofoam plugs. The mushrooms grow and push out the plugs. If you look closely at the last image you can see a mushroom has grown out of the log.

Toyama City Institute of Glass Art

marsac — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:35:52 +0000

Toyama City Institute of Glass invited me to lecture this past December. It was really a case of visiting old friends as I’ve known many of the instructors there for over 15 years. TIG has long been a leader in glass education in Japan and have invited artists from around the world to lecture and demonstrate at their excellent facilities. The Head Instructor of TIG Ryoji Shibuya is also a practicing artist as is Senior Instructor Jin Hongo and Instructor Makiko Nakagami/Ivy. Visiting Instructors Lada Semecka from the Czech Republic is teaching casting and Robert Lewis from the USA has been teaching glassblowing at TIG. Other teaching assistant staff are Mami Tokizawa and Chicaco Ogawa. I will introduce Makiko Nakagami/Ivy’s and Mami Tokizawa’s works along with TIG Advanced Research Student Work and TIG 2008 Graduation Works first and add images of the other instructors soon.

Makiko Nakagami

Mami Tokizawa

Ai Umino

Kyoko Sano

Erika Asano

Marie Imai

Fumi Amano

Saki Nishio

Tae Kajita

Tamaki Yamamoto

TIG 2008 Graduation Work

Hiroyuki Kawaharabayashi

Itsuku Hosokawa

Kao Asada

Kazuya Yoshimura

Kei Yamaguchi

Keiko Yoshimura

Kouhei Kishimoto

Runa Kosogawa

Youhei Goto

Itaru Miyazaki

Haruka Ishizuka

Bonenkai (Forget The End Of The Year Party)

marsac — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:21:17 +0000

Recently I was fortunate to be invited with Hiroshi Yamano to attend Hiragane Sensei’s Bonenkai or “Forget The End Of The Year Party”. Hiragane sensei is a well known fabric artist and kimono maker who after years in his successful business became involved in the Osaka University of Art. It was Hiragane sensei who spearheaded the idea of adding a glass program to the university and who sought out Hiroshi Yamano to head the OUA Glass Program. Hiragane sensei lives in a traditional Japanese home in urban Osaka in a quiet neighborhood with his wife and daughter. It is not often one is invited into one’s home in Japan so this was a very special experience for me. The dinner was an exceptional feast! Hiragane sensei shared with us a private showing of his work some of it not yet exhibited. The photo of the hanging scroll painted by Hiragane sensei in the living room is the Kanji character “Michi” which means “way” or in this case one’s road in life and I believe this is his trade mark or sign as he also wrote this in a book of his work which he gave to me. This evenings wonderful event brought to mind another Japanese kotowaza “Ichi-go Ichi-e” which means “One Meeting, One Chance” the Japanese version of Carpe Diem or “Seize The Day”. In short this is one forget the end of the year party I’ll always remember.

Kookmin University’s Glass Program, Seoul, Korea

marsac — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:54:04 +0000

Kookmin University’s Graduate Glass Program is vibrant and active. Program Head Ki-Ra Kim one of Korea’s best and brightest educators is working with some of Korea’s most talented and experienced artists to educate the next generation of Korea’s artists working with glass. Kookmin instructors include Joon Yong Kim, Hyewook Huh, Kyou Hong Lee, Hag-Ju Lee, Sunho Lee, and Jung Sun Oh.

Korean Glass is on the rise!

Former Graduate Students include Kyoung Ryoung Kim, Dong Sun Kim, Myong Ho Kim, Seon Min Park, Jung-hun Yoon, Jiin Kim, JoonHo Hwang.

Currently Graduate Students are Seung Hee Jung and, Won Hee Cho.

The following is a visual introduction to the program.

Ki-Ra Kim

K Hyewook Huh

Joon-Yong Kim

Hagju-Lee

Kyou Hong Lee

Sunho Lee

Former Graduate Students at Kookmin University.

Dongsun Kim

Jiin Kim

Junghyun Yoon

Kyoungryoung Kim

Myongho Kim

Seounmin Park

Current Graduate Student at Kookmin U.

Seung Hee Jung

TAMA Art University Graduate Student’s Work

marsac — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:16:19 +0000

Here is an introduction to graduate student’s work from TAMA Art University in Tokyo. Tama has long been at the forefront of Japanese glass art education. Makato Ito, Japanese glass pioneer has headed the program for many years along with Kazumi Ikemoto who will be the next program head. Other noted faculty are Yoshihiko Takahashi and Michiko Miyake.

I must note here that Makoto Ito will retire this year from teaching at Tama! A milestone not only for him but for all of studio glass!

Recently I was invited to lecture and participate in a critique at Tama. I must say that to critique graduate student’s work with Makoto Ito was a great honor and a distinctly memorable experience for me. The following are works from Tama’s first and second year graduate students. The first two students are first year students and the rest second year students currently working towards thesis exhibitions.

Moe Hatanaka

Syogo Nakagawa

Hiroko Fujino

Kojima Natsumi

Sakiko Tsugawa

Akemi Kurita

Megumi Yoshida

Yasuhiko Tsuchida visits OUA from Venice

marsac — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:00:21 +0000

Yasuhiko Tsuchida is visiting Osaka University of Art from his home and studio in Venice, Italy. He is working on a large fused glass panel work with the help of OUA Faculty, Staff and Graduate Students. After fusing Tuschida will laminate the fused glass panels to a large sheet of plate glass for an architectural installation.

Tsuchida was born in Tennoji not far from the university. He has lived in Venice for the past 20 years where he maintains a studio for not only glass but also painting and multimedia. He will lecture tomorrow on his work and professional practices in Europe.

Here is documentation of his project.

Field Journal, Japan

marsac — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:53:49 +0000

Agricultural processes have always interested me. Such processes appear to me as seasonal rituals that sustain us as human beings. These processes bring us literally down to earth. The visual effects of plantings and harvests while connected logically with efficiency and production often result in what seems to me chance compositions. Often as not the visual effects are enhanced or thought out in such a way as to be visually pleasing and in harmony with the surroundings. I use similar strategies when thinking about installations or objects in relationship to each other in space, interior or exterior. I consider the following images “found compositions” or selected sketches for future projects. No matter where I traveled over the past 30 years I’ve taken such photos. I’m also interested in seasonal harvests and festivals as related to comparative mythology and religion. Works of mine like “The Keeper’s Lament”, “Offering” and “Neruda” are visually based and metaphorically connected to the idea of harvest and our connection with nature.

Osaka University of Art Faculty and Staff

marsac — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:56:42 +0000

There is Hiroshi Yamano, Yuki Uchimura, Etsuko Nishi at the top and Tsuyoshi Inoue, Kentaro Senuma, Toshikazu Kobayashi as part time instructors. The Staff here is phenomenal! Risako Yahagi, Ryo Sekino, Shohei Yokoyama and Misako Onishi facilitate everything and make sure the trains run on time! I feel fortunate to be working with such a talented group of artists. It’s an extremely serious pace they all set here but they somehow make it all fun and a really good time! Enjoy their works!

Yuki Uchimura

Etsuko Nishi

Toshikazu Kobayashi

Tsuyoshi Inoue

Kentaro Senuma

Risako Yahagi

Misako Onishi

Ryo Sekino

Shohei Yokoyama

A Day at Osaka Art University

marsac — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:58:11 +0000

Hiroshi Yamano demonstrates glass blowing and hot glass techniques in this case how to make a stingray. Yuki Uchimura is holding court in the casting studios. Students are working hard and I’ve never before seen such a busy kiln forming studio.

Uchimura’s Court

Kookmin University and Korea National University of Arts

marsac — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:28:55 +0000

From November 15 to the 18th Ki-Ra Kim the Head of the Glass Program invited me to lecture and critique graduate students at Kookmin University. My demonstration happened at K’ArtsGlass Studio facilitated by Vice dean and Glass Professor Park Sung-won. The studio photos with glass work towards the end of this post are Professor Park’s work. I was fortunate to meet several alumni from The School For American Crafts at RIT who are now prominently involved with the glass art scene in Korea. Check out <glassartkorea.org>

Highlights of this trip aside from meeting excellent students and artists working with glass was to see Seoul. Changdeokgung Palace built in 1405 was beautiful. The Lock Museum has a fascinating collection. Musee Shuim has a collection of funerary art and to my surprise a recent temporary site specific James Turrell work titled “Skyspace” (www.shuim.org). I had a great time!