Welcome to the July 2015 edition of Friends of Japan Featured in this edition: - Canberra 2015 Australia-Japan Goodwill Golf Tournament Cowra Kensuke Todo Sculpture and Drawings Jervis Bay Lois Johnson in Translation Sydney Japanese Paper Marbling (Suminagashi) Workshop Performance: Akio! Photographs of women by women, from the Gallery’s collection Exhibition: Go East - The Gene & Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Collection Film Screenings: Departures (Film series: Taking flight) Japanese Textiles and Fashion – Envelop Evoke Embrace Study in Japan Fair 2015 Conversations through the Asian collections Art Speaks Japanese Comes Alive! Student Contest Brisbane Study in Japan Fair 2015 We can make another future: Japanese art after 1989 Film Screenings: Cult Japan WABI SABI: THE BEAUTY OF IMPERMANENCE Adelaide The Dutch VOC and Japan Japanese Cultural Day Contemporary & Calligraphic Artworks: A Sumi-é Exhibition by Junko Oka Perth AJS Tomodachi Lunch Bonsai Society of WA and Bonsai Workshop Inc. Perth Kimono Club Broome Shinju Matsuri Page | 1 Canberra 2015 Australia-Japan Goodwill Golf Tournament Date & Time: 20th July 2015, Shot Gun Start (Meet at 11am for a 11:30am start) Venue: Federal Golf Club, Red Hill Cost: $55.00 (Australia-Japan Society Members-$50 / Federal Golf Club Members-$35) The Australia-Japan Society (ACT) Incorporated is hosting the 2015 annual Goodwill Golf Tournament. We hope to enhance friendly relationship between Australian and Japanese people through playing mutually loved game of golf. I am pleased to invite you and any other interested people to participate in the Tournament. Your nomination fee includes green fees, competition expenses and finger food at the prize giving ceremony and social gathering. Any surplus funds will in the most part be used to help send young Australian students to Japan and the Tohoku Youth Program (an initiative of the Australia Japan Society (ACT) assisting young survivors of the Tohoku earthquake and Tsunami). As in previous years, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, an excellent range of prizes will be competed for on the day. To participate in the Tournament, please contact the organiser written below by Friday, 10 July 2015 and request a nomination form. After completing the form, please return it together with the appropriate fee by Thursday, 16 July. RSVP: Eriko Prior on 02 6231 5368, 0412 910 647 or [email protected] You may also submit the form and the fee at the Pro Shop, Federal Golf Club. Cowra Kensuke Todo Sculpture and Drawings Dates & Times: Now showing – 26 July 2015 (Tue-Sat: 10am-4pm, Sun: 2pm-4pm, Mon: By appointment) Venue: Cowra Region Art Gallery (77 Darling Street, Cowra 2794) Admission: Free This exhibition examines the paradoxical works of Canberra- based sculptor Kensuke Todo. Born in Kyoto, and educated in Japan and Australia, Kensuke Todo extends his bi-cultural perspective to sculptures and drawings that gesture towards Kensuke Todo, Takashimaya (Takashimaya Department imaginary architecture, with rigorously considered in- Store, Kyoto), 2007, mild steel, 43.6 x 71 x 16.3 cm. between spaces that function ambivalently as voids and Private collection. energy fields. Curated by Peter Haynes, Consultant Curator, Art Writer and Art Historian. For more information, visit here. Page | 2 Jervis Bay Lois Johnson in Translation Dates & Time: Now showing until 30 September 2015 (10am – 4pm) Venue: Jervis Bay Maritime Museum and Gallery (Woollamia Road and Dent Street, Huskisson) Admission: Adults: $10, Concession: $8, Children under 16 free when accompanied by an adult (For temporary exhibitions: Adult: $5, Concession: $3) Lois Johnson is a local South Coast artist, her work encompasses illumination, painting, sketching, and drawing but she is especially acclaimed for her work in the traditional Japanese medium of woodblock printing. Lois lived and studied printmaking in Japan, working under the guidance and tutelage of world- famous printmaker Yoshisuke Funasaka. Lois’s woodblock prints produced over this period are the subject of this exhibition. Lois Johnson followed the traditional woodblock technique used by the great masters of woodblock printing such as Hiroshige. But Lois Johnson’s prints are individual and distinctive. Japanese printmakers traditionally portrayed landscapes such as forests, snow-covered mountains, and castles. But Lois used characters from traditional and modern Japanese culture as subjects, such as kabuki players, sumo wrestlers, courtesans, kabuki actors, and yakuza gangsters. She portrays three subjects with a distinctly western eye, commenting on the quirks and contradictions of Japanese culture, but always with affection and humour. Lois Johnson In Translation is the first in a series of exhibitions celebrating and showcasing the work of prominent Shoalhaven artists, to be held at JBMM. For information, visit here, or contact at 02 4441 5675 / [email protected]. Sydney Japanese Paper Marbling (Suminagashi) Workshop Date & Time: 1 July 2015 (10am – 12 noon) Venue: Penrith Regional Gallery (86 River Rd, Emu Plains, NSW) Cost: 7 - 10 yrs $20 per child (Bookings on 02 4735 1100) Using Japanese Paper Marbling techniques this class will create A3 artistic backdrops inspired by Justene Williams’ Volcano Tree. Tutor: Paula Perugini For more information, visit here. Performance: Akio! Dates & Times: 4 July -12 July 2015 (11am, 2.30pm and 7pm) *Please check website calendar for daily session. Latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance. Venue: Hayes theatre Co (19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point NSW) Ticket: Please visit here. Join Akio on an epic adventure! A shy young boy who is bullied at school, he spends his waking hours immersed in his video games – the ONLY thing that can draw his attention away is Harumi, the girl of his dreams. One day, his adventure begins, a strange chain of events find Akio and Harumi sucked into his video game world, Page | 3 but Harumi is then kidnapped by a powerful, villainous creature! Akio has to save her… but where will he get his strength? Where will he find his bravery? How will he stand up and face fear head on? in his quest to rescue Harumi, Akio will meet wise friends and terrifying monsters, all the while learning what makes a hero, what defines a villain; and perhaps how the two are not so different after all. Through power of will and strength of heart, Akio learns the most powerful weapon of all… Akio! is a physical theatre piece, which combines the crafts of acting, dance, choreography, movement, sound and audio-visual design, to tell a universal coming-of-age tale. Inspired by Japanese theatre-maker, Tadashi Suzuki and his philosophies of theatre performance and culture, Akio! is a marriage of cultures into one uplifting story of love, bravery, courage and discipline. Theatrically, it explores the beauty of the human body, as it weaves Japanese mythology and gaming culture into an advetnure to be enjoyed by all ages. Akio! is a celebration of childhood, of growth, love and learning to understand and accept your enemy in the face of viloence. For more information, please visit here. Photographs of women by women, from the Gallery’s collection Dates: Now showing until 5 July 2015 Venue: Art Gallery of NSW Admission: Free Commanding and demanding, this compelling group of works has both a humorous and a dark side. Most have been acquired recently and are being shown for the first time. Artists include Miwa Yanagi, Yvonne Todd and Anne Zahalka, among others. The exhibition examines the importance of photography as a medium for the construction of personas and the tension between photographic truth and its wilful manipulation. Miwa Yanagi Yuka 2000, printed 2007 from the series My grandmothers, type C photograph face-mounted onto Diasec, 160 × Featuring works from Australia and overseas, Loud! also celebrates 160 cm, purchased with funds provided by the 40th anniversary of International Women’s Year, 1975. Geoff Ainsworth AM 2014 © Miwa Yanagi Exhibition: Go East - The Gene & Brian Sherman Contemporary Asian Art Collection Dates & Time: Now showing until 26 July 2015 (10am – 5pm) Venue: Temporary Exhibitions Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales (Art Gallery Rd, The Domain) Admission: Free ‘Everything is art. Everything is politics.’ – Ai Weiwei Go East presents a rare opportunity to view significant contemporary Asian artworks from the private collection of Australian philanthropists Gene and Brian Sherman. This collection of provocative and compelling works weaves a rich tapestry of different histories, speaking to one another of co-existing, often-times colliding worlds. The works reflect the Shermans’ long-standing fascination with art built around text and textiles, and their commitment to works that address issues of social justice. Featuring artists from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, and Vietnam, many of the artworks in Go East have never before been seen in Australia. See works by artists such as Ai Weiwei and Lin Tianmiao, as well as the monumental installation Public Notice 2 2007 by Jitish Kallat at the Art Gallery of NSW and Yang Zhichao’s Chinese Bible 2009 at Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) in Paddington, Sydney. Page | 4 Go East is presented in partnership with the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney. For information, please call 1800 679 278. Film Screenings: Departures (Film series: Taking flight) Dates & Times: 29th July 2015 (2pm-4.10pm), 29th July 2015 (7.15pm – 9.25pm) & 2nd August 2015 (2pm – 4.10pm) Venue: Domain Theatre (Lower Level 3), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Art Gallery Rd, The Domain) Ticket: Free Films start at the advertised time. Doors open 30 minutes before. Tickets are issued at the Domain Theatre one hour before. Latecomers not admitted. This is a specialist program designed for mature audiences and is generally not suitable for children under the age of 15. We cannot admit anyone under the age of 18 to films with an R classification or without classification.