Gyotaku Rubbings

Gyotaku prints originated about 100 years ago in Japan. These prints were originally used by fisherman to record the size and species of their catches prior to the camera. After catching a fish, Japanese fisherman would apply a non-toxic paint or ink directly to the side of the fish and press a piece of rice paper or fabric onto its side to create a print. Once the print was completed, the fish would be washed and prepared to eat. Today, Gyotaku prints have become a popular art form all around the world. Prints are no longer plain black outlines, but colorful reproductions of various species of fish.

Murakami Murals

Takashi Murakami is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art. He coined the term superflat, which describes both the aesthetic characteristics of the Japanese artistic tradition and the nature of post-war Japanese culture and society.

The International Academy art students studied Murakami as part of our unit exploring Japanese Art. We looked at some of his designs fro Louis Vuitton, his videos for Kanye West, and his vast collection of deformed Manga characters. Each Academy class took a different Murakami print and divided it up into a large scale mural. This is a great collaborative project because students need to work together to make sure each piece lines up and all the colors match.

Notan

Notan is an arrangement of light and dark that creates an impression of beauty. Notan is a popular form of collage in Japan. Students focused on two art principles for this project- shape and space. Students were allowed to work with either realistic or abstract shapes when creating their collage. Notan collages are so unique and beautiful because they focus on a play of positive and negative space that create interesting shapes. We overlapped several different colors to create an even more dynamic and layered design.