Tenth Annual children's block-printing
'workshop'
(Hamura community centre, Tokyo)
November 3rd is a national holiday here in Japan -
'Culture Day', and our community centre here in Hamura, as do all
such places around the country, holds many events during the week.
Art groups, theatre groups, dance groups ... photographers,
calligraphers ... you name it, and it's on show there.
There doesn't happen to be a woodblock printmaking
'circle' in our town, so ten years ago when I offered to 'show the
flag' for this craft and do some kind of event, the organizers
accepted right away.
To make a woodblock print takes time - at least
the carving
takes time - so for the kids to be able to make their own print
during the course of a single short visit to a community centre
seemed like 'mission impossible'. But I found a way to do it; I
prepare a carved set of four blocks and line them up on a long table,
each one accompanied with the necessary brush, bowl of pigment,
baren, etc. The kids line up at one end, grab a piece of paper from a
stack, and work their way along the row of blocks, putting on each of
the four colours in turn.
Of course, they don't have a clue what to do at first, so I
(and some helpers from the community centre) stand behind the tables
and guide them through the process. This event has become very
popular during the years, and during the two days that I do it, there
is a constant line-up of kids waiting to make their print. They have
a lot of fun, and are always very thrilled when the sheet comes up
off the final block and they can see what they've made.
Some of the younger ones need a lot of 'help' -
getting the paper properly placed into the registration marks, and
the pigment spread evenly, but many of the kids can do the whole
thing alone quite comfortably. But it doesn't seem to matter just how
much they did 'by themselves'. They go home proudly carrying their
'own' woodblock print.
By the end of the two days, I can no longer stand
up straight (those tables are low!) , but it is a lot of fun.
Kids come back year after year, and their mothers tell me that they
have the prints from each year all stuck up in a row on their bedroom
wall. And who knows, maybe some of those kids will find their
interest deepening, and will want to explore printmaking a bit
further as they get older. Stranger things have happened!
子供たちを私の作業台のまわりに座らせ、彼らが見ている中、４色を使って摺って見せました。（もちろん彫っている時間はありません。摺るだけです。）そうしている間私たちは冗談を言って笑ったりしていましたが、私は子供達が注意深く私の作業を見ているのに気づきました。実は子供達は、次は自分が実際に摺る番だということを知っていたからです。版画のデザインはシンプルな日本の昔話から来ていました。（日本の子供なら誰でも知っている昔話です。）
