Let’s try! 2022

PARADISE AIR has been working with the Matsudo NPO Council’s “Let’s Try! 2022” event, which helps people find out what they want to do and what their potential is through various volunteer activities in the environment, multiculturalism and community development, and for the first time in three years welcomed junior and senior high school students to a variety of activities over two days. The theme of this year’s conference is “Let’s interact with artists from abroad visiting Matsudo!” . Children interested in communicating in English and children interested in art participated with their own goals.

 

Day 1 started with self-introductions and an explanation of PARADISE AIR for getting know each other. The three artists from Spain, Nora, Maite and mawa, who are currently staying at PARADISE AIR, then joined us for an ice-break game of picture messaging. The participants, artists and PARADISE AIR staff all became closer to each other through communication using pictures instead of words.
In the afternoon, each artist gave a presentation on how their interests and ideas have changed and how they are currently making work, and we also visited their studios where they are working. The day was rounded off with an activity in which the participants had the opportunity to express their feelings and questions to the artists in their own words. It was very impressive that they were asking straightforward questions, such as ‘Why did you want to become an artist?’ ‘Where did you get the material (hair) for your artwork?’ ‘How long does it take to make a piece of art?’ that they were asking straightforward questions that an adult would be a little hesitant to ask.

 

The second day, 10 August, is the day of “Kento-matsuri “(votive light festival). This festival is held to express gratitude to nature’s blessings and to the ancestors who opened the Saka-gawa by floating lanterns and lining up lanterns along the Saka-gawa, which flows near Shoryu-ji. Surprisingly, most of the participants were taking part for the first time, and one by one they made lanterns to be floated. The lanterns were painted with a lot of thought and care, including what to use, what colours to use and how to paint them, and were floated down the Saka-gawa with everyone’s memories of the summer or prayers for peace and so on.
Finally, Nora, Maite and mawa decided to make one big lantern together. In order to complete it within the limited time, everyone worked together to create a huge lantern with the words ‘Paradise’ written on it. Unfortunately, we could not actually float the lanterns, but artists were very happy with the result, as mawa saying, “We often plan and create artworks, but sometimes we make them on a spur of the moment, as we did this time. It’s very gratifying to have people who are willing to lend a hand at those times. You were the best team I’ve ever had, thank you.” It was lovely to see the connections being made between the participants and the artists in unexpected situations.

 

Although it was only two days, it was very impressive to see how hard they worked to express what they felt as pictures and to convey it in their own words. Matsudo City has no art museum. In this context, we hope that the experience of visiting PARADISE AIR and coming into contact with art and artists in the city will open the door to an interest in the arts.

Intern: Hana Watanabe