In our final community workshop here in Kitakagaya (and the final event before we serve dinner at the world’s slowest restaurant) we put concepts from our previous workshops on making art with soil, and flower pressing, together in one event.
Our previous workshops here in Osaka were mostly populated by young 20- and 30-somethings who were interested in art and ecology, using natural materials, or just new inspirations for the art making process. This one turned out to be far more family oriented!
The kids loved every bit of the workshop, and everyone was amazed at how focused their wild energy became when you put them to the task of working with care and respect for natural materials.
The kids really seemed to ‘get’ the respect for nature part, as if it were some awareness that was inherently inside of them. More and more, we see that this ability to have a deep and compassionate relationship with nature is possible for everyone, but of course very young persons are closer to it, they’ve had less social conditioning to tell them they are ‘separate’ and ‘above’ nature, and so their ability to empathize with nature and see themselves as a part of it is more vibrant and easily accessible than say, a 30-something guy like myself 😉
The moms seemed to love the workshop too, not just because their kids were behaved, but because they had the chance to explore their own connection to nature and their own creativity in new ways.
Suhee and I were both glad to close out our workshop series with such an energetic group of people.We will hang the work they created in the gallery space at MinnaNouen so it can be featured as a centerpiece of our REALtimeFOOD dinner event next week, which takes place in the same space.
Please enjoy some more images from the workshop below!
