Creative Activities and Their Impact

2019/12/26

I usually engage in Nihonga creative activities, primarily for the Nitten exhibition. This summer, I was given the opportunity to hold a solo exhibition at Nihombashi Mitsukoshi. I teach classes at Yochisha and work on my art at night after returning home. Although I face a constant lack of sleep, the liveliness of the Yochisha students keeps me awake. This lifestyle has continued for eighteen years; sometimes, school is so busy that I cannot find enough time for my creative work, and I have had to taste the bitterness of being unable to exhibit. Some say I must be happy to do what I love for a living, but when you do it as a professional rather than a hobby, the hardships increase year by year.

The reason I never informed my students about my exhibitions in the past was that I didn't want to cause trouble for other exhibitors in group shows, and I wanted to prioritize my reputation as an artist over my reputation as a teacher. However, for my solo exhibition, it was featured in the Yochisha Newspaper, and many students came to visit. When students, who usually only see my side as a teacher, see me active as an artist, the atmosphere in the classroom improves.

There was a time when I realized that continuing my own creative work is more important than anything else for teaching classes. During a period when I was too busy with school to create art, I knew exactly where a student's painting needed improvement, but I couldn't find the right words to convey it. The words that used to come to me unconsciously simply stopped. Even if I use technical terms I haven't taught them, students understand when they are in front of a painting. It's mysterious, but that's how it is. I believe that when someone active as an artist teaches, they can convey countless things that cannot be put into words, compared to someone who is not. Since then, I have made it a point never to have a period where I am not creating, even if there are exhibitions I cannot participate in.

Many alumni also came to this solo exhibition. Some I hadn't seen since graduation, and others even brought their fiancés to introduce them to me.

I feel that the charm of Yochisha lies in the connections that remain after graduation. Since I teach all grades except for the second grade, I am the teacher who interacts with them for the longest period after their homeroom teacher. Therefore, I see my role as a bridge between the school and classes whose homeroom teachers have retired, or students who didn't get along with their homeroom teachers. During the exhibition, I went out to eat with alumni every day, and there are some I still meet every month. This is one of the rewarding aspects of this job. Surprisingly, many of my former students go into art-related fields, and our connections remain. Some are active as professionals, and seeing them pushes me to work harder as well.