Education & Family

Student Exhibition: Responding To... Awakenings

Works by students from PS 371K – Lillian Rashkis High School & Hunter College High School

June 8 - 17, 2007

A Responding To... student practicing sumi-e painting.

The artwork shown below is the result of a collaborative project between Japan Society and students at PS 371K - Lillian Rashkis High School in Sunset Park, Brooklyn & Hunter College High School in Manhattan.

Students explored cultural, technical and art historical topics related to the Japan Society Gallery exhibition Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan, including the origins and development of Zen Buddhism in China and Japan, Zen Buddhist doctrines, deities and communities, and the materials and techniques of sumi-e painting. The program included gallery visits, visits with a sumi-e artist, and a lecture by Professor Yoshiaki Shimizu, Senior Advisor to the exhibition and Frederick Marquand Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University.

Collaborative project.

Under the guidance of Margo Magid, a sumi-e instructor, students painted together in small groups. These collaborations served a dual purpose: they encouraged students to get to know each other better while reinforcing their understanding of the techniques and concepts they had been studying. The result is the collection of paintings presented here. We have also included some of their individual practice pieces.

Click here for information and educational resources related to Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan.