“結 MUSUBU” Mother-Daughter Exhibition

I would like to let you know details of Mother-Daughter Exhibition. It’s a busy season, but please set a schedule to visit us.

Title of the exhibition: “結 MUSUBU” Mother-Daughter Exhibition by Hisako Shinozaki and Miki Otake

Period: August 12 (Tue) – 17 (Sun), 2008
10:00 – 18:00 (-17:00 on the final day)

Venue: Gallery 1, Elgala Hall, 7th floor
1-4-2, Tenjin, Fukuoka
phone: 092-711-5017

Content: About 40 works of Hisako’s ink painting and Miki’s calligraphy

Mother-Daughter Exhibition is held on “Obon”, when my mother who passed away 7 years ago will come back again this year. My mother has left ink painting, and I live in the world of calligraphy. While organizing works, now I realize – many deep and strong things that connected me and my mother. Mother-Daughter Exhibition has been named “結 MUSUBU”.

I am looking forward to seeing you at the venue☆

Busy, busy, busy

For Mother-Daughter Exhibition of my dream, I keep thinking and keep imagining, and only time passes by. In the meantime, I don't have a brush. Thinking about this and that…
My mind is very confused because of setting up the exhibition which appears to be the first and last for my mother.
Hmmmmm!!
I have just dropped light ink from heights of 2 meters, and now I am waiting for it to get dry. Whether the ink will spread well….I am patiently waiting…with pounding hearts.

Meanwhile, a picture from the awarding ceremony at “Mainichi Women’s Calligraphy Exhibition” has been finished (but…it’s out of focus). Not-Otake-like = I attended in a feminine pink suit in a pure and beautiful manner.
Although I don’t get nervous at all and I didn't get nervous, my mouth was dry when I read testimonials. (Could it be that I am timid?) Anyway, having carried out an important duty without any trouble, now I am relieved.

Japan is in the midst of the rainy season and every day is gloomy. This is the season that I don’t like most, but I shouldn’t feel that way this year. To create a collection of works in commemoration of Mother-Daughter Exhibition, I am in a hurry to writing up.
I am telling myself “fight!”

I want to be more novel than anybody

Today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today.

I always hope to become a brand-new me everyday, newer than anyone else.


Can you imagine me (and yourself) in ten years or twenty years from now?

Heavy schedule!

[July]
From July 1st to 6th, “Japanese Calligraphy Exhibition, Kyushu Exhibition” will be held at Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art. I will attend the celebration at Hotel Nikko on July 1st.

From July 8th to 13th, “Exhibition of Representative Works by Japanese and Chinese Female Calligraphers, Tokyo Exhibition” will be held at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. Last year, Beijing Exhibition was held and I flew from Kyushu to Beijing by myself (I will write about this incredibly interesting and scary trip sometime later…)
Keeping the promise to “meet in Tokyo next year”, I will attend the celebration on July 8th.

From July 15th to 21st, “Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition, Kagoshima Exhibition” will be held. I will attend the eve party on July 14th.
On July 21st and 22nd, “Yoshin Summer Training Session” in my area, Fukuoka.
From July 27th to 30th, “Sogen-Shodokai Summer Training Session” in Atami.

This is very hard, isn’t it? I have many other meetings too. Moreover, I have to finish work for “** exhibition” held in August.
Please pray for my health.


[August]
In August, which is suggestive, there is big, big news!
Suddenly, it was determined that "Mother-Daughter Exhibition” of my dream will be held at Elgala Gallery in Tenjin, Fukuoka from August 12th to 17th!

I think I wrote in my blog, it has been 7 years since my mother passed away. My mother was doing ink painting before her death and has left many works. I have wanted to hold an exhibition together for 7 years. It may have been the guide of my father and mother that the unexpected chance came to me. It is because this period just falls on “Obon”. “Obon” is the day that has been said spirits of the dead come back to home once a year in Buddhism. Relatives gather to hold a memorial service for their ancestors.
My father, mother and ancestors will come to visit the exhibition of my mother’s and my works all the way from Jodo (Pure Land)…I believe so.

I am sensitive to summer.
I have been physically weak since my childhood - so-called physically fragile. It hasn’t changed that I easily get tired and suffer from headache even after I reached adulthood. And it hasn’t changed that my body feels itchy particularly in summer. I believe I am a fungus such as penicillium and fusarium. I am vulnerable to healthy rays of the sun in summer.
I have never experienced super busyness like this year in this harsh season. Changing sighs into willpower, I will overcome it calmly with a light hand! (I suppose so...)

I will let you know the detailed information of “Mother-Daughter Exhibition”. Please come to visit us if it is close to you (and even far from you if possible). I would like to see you at the venue!!

June

From June 10th to 15th, “The Exhibition of the World of Japanese Poetry and Calligraphy” will be held at Tokyo Central Art Museum.
(I am sorry that I will be absent from the celebration. The reason is described below.)

During the same period in Kyushu, “Mainichi Women’s Calligraphy Exhibition” will be held at Fukuoka Prefectural Museum of Art.
Followed by the audition in April, I will attend the awarding ceremony on June 15th to award prizes to awardees.

This year Mr. Shoichi Nishibayashi has been invited as a special judge.
He is my teacher when I was in university. Without accepting pupils for about 15 years, now he has been active as a researcher of calligraphy as well as a university professor.
His many specialized books published always get attention in the world of calligraphy. It is meaningful that I was strictly instructed by Mr. Nishibayashi and could learn what “calligraphy” is when I was young. His word 30 years ago - “don’t think you are writing calligraphy but think you are embarrassing yourself”, is my origin living in the world of calligraphy.

My teacher, whom I met after a long time, was very fine. I was glad that his lively way of talking implied that he was engaged in fruitful work.
Around that time, I received a picture taken by a person from the newspaper company. It was huge in B4 size. I laughed in spite of myself because it was so big. It is needless to say that I had a big smile in the picture with my teacher.

0509

My birthday has come!
May 9th. Again this year, I received red roses from my daughter together with white Casa Blanca lilies.

Last year, 100 roses sent by air from Tokyo had withered before blooming because of fatigue of traveling.
My desperate efforts of cutting the stems in water to keep the flowers fresh were useless, which let me greatly down.
This year, the roses looked vigorous, which seemed she ordered them from a local flower shop, and again they brought bright morning to me today.

At this age, innocent joy of the birthday fades. We notice that we have reached the age to count the remaining lifetime. If it is another 20 years left when my body is free to move, time left for me is not very long.
Having lived till now, regrets are countless. So I will try every single thing I can think of. I will carry it out. I will reduce the number of regrets.

I lost my father 25 years ago and my mother 7 years ago.
I must have nursed them as best I could at those times. Nevertheless, I have regrets. Now my casual remark and action are strangely coming back to my mind and blaming myself. “I had no room to breathe in my heart”- would I be forgiven with such a remark?
I know both my father and mother were praying behind my back (even my father, who believed in neither God nor Buddha…). “I am not Buddha yet,” I laughed and held back my tears, but they forgave and thanked me for who I am.

I thank my father and mother, who cared and raised me.
I thank my ancestors, who delivered me into this world.
I thank everything in this interesting world – giving us a number of sadness and pain, and more joy and happiness than that.
I continue to clean their graves every month just like expiation of my sin. Also on my birthday and my brother’s birthday, I clean their graves carefully and tell them “thank you”. I feel lonely that now I can express my feeling only in this way.

Without any trouble, I have completed placing my work on Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition!
I have many things to care for placing work on calligraphy exhibitions of the principle school. I am practically convinced that having no freedom to write uninhibitedly is a lesson.
Little rebelliousness in many rules is my only joy.

On the next day of placing my work on the exhibition, I went for a horseback ride after a long time.
And the next day, I got a fever and knocked out.
And the next next day, a chalazia appeared on my left eye.

Does this mean I should think about my age??

Feeling for "壊 kowasu"

The word "壊 kowasu" means destruction.
However, I would intentionally like to subtitle it "departure".

When we are starting something new, we hesitate to no small extent. It's because the current
environment around us may drastically change. I believe you are not prepared if you proceed to something new without making a sacrifice.





I believe it's a true "departure" if we have determination and courage to break the present.
When we are not afraid of the risk of losing something important, a new world will unfold.

By coincidence, "壊 kowasu" is pronounced "kai" in the Chinese-derived reading, linking to "開 kai"