New Wisdom From The Old

こんにちは！
After our daily morning classes, we received another lecture from one of our staff members, this time on traditional Japanese music, as well as its modern applications. The group’s favorite example was the band Wagakki, which combines traditional instruments with modern rock and pop melodies. One student, Noah, said he especially liked the band because it follows our Academy’s motto for this year, おんこちしん（温故知新）, by taking the old (traditional instruments), and turning it into the new (modern rock music). We highly recommend checking them out!

Over the past week, we have learned about the art of traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking, and have been working on designs to create our own prints. Many students drew inspiration from Kawase Hasui, an artist from the early 1900s whose original prints we were able to observe both in an exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in person from Randolph-Macon’s private collection. Our students created many different designs, such as the Itsushima Torii Gate, koi fish, or even the kanji for their family names. Today we began carving our designs into linoleum blocks rather than wood, in the interest of safety. We’ll soon be applying ink to our blocks and creating our actual prints; we can’t wait to share the finished products with you!
Here's Randolph-Macon College's collection - please take a peek!
https://japanesewoodblockprints.rmclibrary.reclaim.hosting/exhibits/show/via-japanese-art-collection/japanese-woodblock-prints

As always, see you next time! じゃあ、また！