Lurking Local
This post was meant to be published roughly three weeks ago. I was three-fourths of the way through writing it when the phone rang with awful news that swept me out of town. I’m not ready to talk about that trip right now - and honestly, I’m not sure if I ever will be.
The delay changes two things:
The event at Hamate Kominkan already wrapped up. A shame, but the sentiment still remains.
The (bad?) pun I originally used as an intro feels out of place after this paragraph, so I’m moving it into the body. Somewhere.
One thing it hasn’t changed is this nasty cold, which is still hanging on. Persistent little bug.
One of the first droplets of advice art career books and courses offer up is to target locally. Look for local venues. Get the art in front of local collectors. Join regional art societies. Doubtless, this is good advice. It’s especially good if your work celebrates local issues, landmarks, or people, or follows local traditions.
My artwork isn’t “local” in a conspicuous sense - I generally don’t depict famous people, events or places in the region (although I’ve had an idea to do a twist on this for a while…). Having said that, artwork can’t help but be influenced by the environment it’s created in. I think that influence reverberates out from the work to the people viewing it, echoing through the viewer in much the same way it was absorbed by the maker.
I’ve found that my artwork appeals to like-minded people peppered all over the globe, and I spend a lot of my time trying to show it to art lovers in other countries and continents. The chance to put that same work in front of and surprise the neighbors is exciting. It’s an opportunity to begin a weirdly wonderful conversation about art and the world. Not to mention it’s a chance for me to show another facet of my life and personality - more than a customer, or the Dad with the cute kid, or the guy who needs to study Japanese a bit more.
Technically, I live in Osaka, the second biggest city in Japan. Except, I actually don’t. I’m further south in, I guess, the suburbs, in a city called Kaizuka. But in my quest to be as far away from the center of anything as possible, I actually live on the very oceanside edge of the city, sorta on a peninsula that’s locally referred to as Parktown. We have a big park here.
Not far from the “mansion” we call home is the 貝塚市浜手公民館 - the Kaizuka City Hamate District Community Hall. Japan’s community halls are a miracle of activity - small concerts, lessons and classes, and sanity-saving activities for parents to take little kids to. And local art exhibits. I was invited to share some of my work at the most recent one.
The 30th Anniversary Hamate District Community Center Art Exhbition
dates: Fri. January 17, 2020 - Fri. February 7, 2020
times: AM 9:00～PM 10:00 • Sundays AM 9:00 ~ PM 5:00
closed Wednesdays and national holidays
closes at PM 2:00 on final day
place: Hamate District Community Center Lobby
tel: 072-431-0926
日付: 2020年1月26日 (金) ～ 2020年2月7日 (金)
時間: 平日 午前9時～午後10時 • 日曜日 午前9時～午後5時
休館日 水曜日 • 国民の祝日
2月7(金）午前9時～午後2時
住所: 浜手地区公民館 ロビー
電話: 072-431-0926
貝塚市市民文化祭2019 • The 2019 Kaizuka City Culture Festival
Autumn might be my favorite time of the year. While Osaka doesn’t have the amazing multi-hued vistas of the American Northeast of my childhood, the park nearby has beautiful Japanese maples.Once September is in full swing, the humidity and heat of the summer fades away, and the next few months are just luxurious. Best of all, I also don’t even need to wear a jacket until pretty much December.
Back at the beginning of November 2019, Kaizuka City held their annual Bunkasai 「文化祭」, a culture festival with exhibits spanning painting, calligraphy, pottery-making, woodworking, music, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, and so much more.
I was very happy to have some of my artwork accepted and displayed at the festival and shared with the community. I got some great feedback, met some very cool people, and pretty much just had a whole lot of fun.
My daughter (who is now 3) loved it too. She didn’t have a whole lot of patience for my art, but went nuts for the crafts table, where she made a kaleidoscope, a flower display, and a picture frame which she sleeps with every night.
If things work out, I’ve got another local event coming up in the next coming months.
Incidentally, my first (cheesy) impulse was to title this post “Living La Vida Local”. I didn’t, and you’re welcome. Not only would that have been a horror that you now don’t need to bleach from your brain, it would have also made translucent my age. We dodged that one, didn’t we?
