Final - 3 Extra

So Queens Teens did wonderful presentation talking about what each religion is and about learning from their children's drawing and conversation. In the end, they were satisfied with this performance and very tired. Great Job you all!

Thank you so much for your support to all of the staff as well as each religious organization's parents.

Thank you Laura!

Final - 2 More Photos

Please check "Final" first.

Final

Today is October 14th. The day before leaving for New Orleans again for installing "Social Dress New Orleans" for Prospect .1 Exhibiiton. It's been while since we had opening, "Performance Day" for this project at Queens Museum. (May 18th, 2008) I looked through images and realized last time just before the opening, I also had to visit New Orleans. Pretty busy schedule past year.

Anyhow, I wanted to upload more photos especially at the opening. I have many things I like to describe as the record, but for now, I would like to upload images as many as possible so that you could see how the final phase of this project, "Performance Day" worked out.

So, Teens, please let me know if there are any issues on these pictures!

5/15/08 - Writing with Eric

Thursday was busy day, but we found time to sit down and talked about our experience with Jewish children.

I like to talk about this more, but I need to leave for Hindu Temple to meet with children.

TBC...

5/15/08 - Last Building Session

Thursday afternoon, I arrived LaGuardia Airport from New Orleans for my business trip.
Today was officially final last last day of building 5 religious booths.

We focused on Jewish temple, Hindu Temple and Muslim mosque.
I was so glad so many Teens came to work. 10 students worked on three booths,
and we finished 96%.

Saturday, Tessa, one of Teens will come finish 6% left of Hindu temple.
Also, Lily will come with me to meet Hindu Temple children at 2:30pm.

Although I have been totally exhausted, kept telling this to educator
Laura (laugh), Teens energy and great creativity embraced a lot.

Oh, Eric and I sat down worked on writing of what we learned from Jewish Temple visit the other weekend. I was curious what he learned from such crazy screaming kids never ever being quiet while some of children excitingly pointing out and explaining many things session.

As he was quiet and listened to them, he learned a lot.
I like to talk about this more later by separated blog.

5/08/08 - Building Session Images

Content will come later. Just images.

5/6/08 Temple Gates Meeting/ Learning Session

Eric, one of Teens from the Queens Museum after School program, came to Temple Gates this evening. Unfortunately, he misunderstood when I said to meet at 7 o'clock and came at 7 AM instead of 7PM. So he went to the museum quite early this morning. Then, this evening, he went to the wrong synagogue! I was terribly sorry about that. Quite honestly, I was like him when I was young, so, I totally understand that. However, it did pose a problem as he was having to run to the temple and we were told we had only 15 minutes to do the session! Oops! But actually it went super well, and ended up being more like a 30-minute session.

The Jewish temple's youth program, made up of kids around 10-12 years old, is absolutely active. Boys and girls are all together playing dodge ball and other games in a small concrete underground space. Screaming, screaming and screaming to me. I have a bit of a hearing problem, and my ear was totally malfunctioning.



Eric was just quiet.

We started the session, and I just gave him the floor and started videotaping them.
Half of boys just played around, joking so loudly. Two girls and one or two boys were very excitingly answering all of what they knew about their religion by pointing out the drawings. It is interesting. Some of the drawings seem like pretty secret symbols to me. But, other children were able to point out and comprehended what they were even though that was by their friends.

At the Muslim center, the educator explained how much each age group of children understands their own religion. Similarly to what she told me about the Muslim children, I guess Jewish children do not know so many alters, artifacts, or parts of objects. Since Eric was not interested in such things or else did not have the chance to ask them what each of them means, they did not discuss such artifacts so much. I was almost wanted to ask why and what it means for each of them out of my own curiosity. However, this time, I had set up this system so that I am not doing the questioning or answering, but am simply observing what is happening.

These are just my thoughts, however, I remembered that when I was little, I wrote out Buddhist Sutras without understanding them. I felt "cool" about it. Japanese Kanji characters were pretty difficult, therefore I felt cool and very adult-like. Anyhow, I think in most cases, we learn one religion in that way, without doubting or thinking about what's behind it until we are much older. Then maybe we make a conscious decision about it. My grandma sometimes told me later that you did not have to understand the sutras fully, but that you should just chant them. That was all you needed to go to heaven.

Probably that would be fine, and certainly much easier. But, then, we live in contemporary society where there is always a drive to figure out why we do what we do. In that case, unquestioned belief is difficult. In a good way, I think that is the beginning of the really interesting or insightful religious thought and philosophy. The Muslim center educator said that is probably around the beginning of Junior High when kids reach that level of thought about religion, but it is still tough.

Without knowing everything about it, we probably usually belong to some group - that much is not just unique to religion.

5/3/08 - Building Session - Get Excited!

We are running out of time!!!!
Laura, the education staff, and I did not want to push or rush the Teens group.

But, we have no time left!
Okay, I am pretty tired by the end of day, but I got myself energized and decided to say this to the Teens:

In the reality of Art as a Profession, most of the artists in any media do not have time. It's actually amazingly similar to what most students are dealing with at High School. For some reason, always we have less time than we ideally want. Also, if you are able to establish yourself in the art profession, you might be able to make enough money to hire assistant staff. Then you are able to focus on the production while staff looks for materials, prepares certain materials, and sometimes manages your other administrative or menial tasks.

So, Laura and I will be your assistants. You will focus on reading the drawings, understanding what you do understand and how, as well as what you did not understand and why. Then you will sketch the design of the booth. Ask for what you need as far as materials so that we can prepare them for you and you just keep making the works. Meanwhile I will let you know how much time we have left and where you are supposed to be.

Since I am a bit on the slow side pace-wise, I felt it was pretty hectic, but it turned out not to be so quick for the New York Teens. Laura later told me they enjoyed it a lot. Some students expressed that was fun in their emails. We actually took pictures each other. Some of the shots were by the Teens.

Grey fabric will be used for the Muslim mosque booth.
Reddish brown fabric is for the Hindu Temple.
But, shhhhh, the Teens have not heard which religions are which, and they won't know this until they meet the children at their organization.

4/20/08 - Meeting Session at Sikh Center

This Sunday, at Noon, Susan and Daniela from the Queens Teens program came to the Sikh center for our meeting session. They were excited to learn about the religion and be able to ask questions they had from studying the kids' drawings when they did not know which religion they were encountering.

First we greeted Mr. Singh at the prayer room and talked about today's schedule. He offered us food and drink from the hall downstairs. He kept telling us about the food. In Sikhism, he said, everybody equally can receive free food and that is unique to Sikhism. I think sharing food must be a very important mission for their religion.

Then, we went to downstairs to share in the food. Daniela happened to see a classmate of hers there. They were very surprised to see each other. Well, I guess it does make sense. Unless they talked about religion to each other, they might never know what religion each believes in. Clothing between Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism and even Muslim could possibly be similar.

They liked their food a lot. I like the fried vegetable one. It's kind of like Japanese tempura.

We then went upstairs to meet with the children.

The children were very quiet. They made a large circle and mainly three or four children talked a lot as well as two of the educators. Daniela started from the Sword drawings because we received more than three sword drawings. In one sense, because kids like guns and swords, they tend to draw them. However, in this case, that was NOT correct. I should be very accurate but let me summarize a bit.

They talked about long history of hostilities between Muslims and both Hindus and Sikhs in India, and how the Sikhs defended themselves. To defend themselves, they had to fight against the other group, and they had to insist upon their religious beliefs even in the face of violence, leading to a history of martyrdom. They showed us their religious flag. It has a mark with two swords crossing and the edge of the flag is also like a sword. Female educator showed us a very beautiful, but looks like dangerous knife-like dagger called a kirpan. My wife later wondered how she could travel by airplane with the kirpan. It was originally from the idea of self defense, but now it is part of symbol and parts of items they are supposed to wear to remind them to be pious and defend, not hurt, others.

They also explained that there are other symbolic objects the have to wear. They have to wear a comb, reminding them to keep their hair clean and combed, and they have special underwear that they make themselves. They cannot cut their hair, as it is a symbol of their spirituality, and all men as well as some women wear it tied up in a turban. Then there is the steel bracelet, the kara, that they wear on the wrist of their dominant hand to remind them not to use their hand in violence or anger. We were all amazed and appreciate the meaning of Kara.

One of educators asked about the Teens' drawings for the booth. There was an area with creature-like figures and weaving green ivy. She said we do not have such things in our religion. It was not easy for her to understand why it happened, but the Teens explained that it was based on what they thought they understood from the children's drawings but went a bit beyond the actual imagery of the drawings as they tried to express what they thought the drawings referred to.

It could be a bit cliché, and something to do with Artists' imagination, but I felt this is something we all, artists or not, often do in our minds and it might be the beginning of misunderstandings.

Toward the end of the learning session, one of girls got excited about topic of marriage. The girl said her friend had to do an arranged marriage. It was a pretty tough dispute. One of the educators and another girl had different interpretations of the religion on this point, and their views seemed based on their generations. The one teacher felt that it was disrespectful and not improper for the children to disregard their parents' choice regarding arranged marriage while the younger girl seemed to feel that arranged marriage was an old custom that was no longer appropriate, as long as the parent and child had come to an agreement. On the brochure I received from the center, it says arrange marriage is NOT religious, but rather a cultural tradition. After the session was over, another girl started talking very excitedly about this issue. Since the Teens this time were both female, it seems they were easy to talk to about this issue, and the group got excited about the topic. From American cultural aspect, this arranged marriage idea must seem outrageous. But in Japan it even still exists, though not as commonly any more, and not because of any religious connections. I just thought in Sikhism, it must be difficult to distinguish whether this is a religious or cultural tradition.

I feel as though I was overwhelmed with information at this session, however. At some point soon, I would like to listen to the videotape again to understand what they spoke of more accurately.

4/19/08 - Drawing Session at Hindu Temple

Spring is the best season for everybody, including religious organizations!
So many activities are happening every weekend, and even on weekdays.

Although the Hindu Temple welcomed this idea of the project, it took a while
to find the time to do the drawing session.

This Hindu Temple is the biggest and oldest temple in North America,
according to their explanation. It is huge! They are under expansion/construction.
Mr. GP, their PR person whom I mentioned before, was delighted to explain all the details.
Every time I am also excited to see the newly completed parts of the building.

Okay, so finally we found time to do the drawing session.
They have a Sunday elementary School, and the educators were
very nice and serious about what this project is about.

This time, I got a better idea of how to explain the drawing process to the children. I asked the children to explore their temple first, and come back to another quiet place. I asked them to close their eyes and imagine what they saw, learned, experienced or thought about their religion or religions.

Many children raised their hands to get ready.
It was really fun! They were amazingly enthusiastic.
They individually went into their drawings further and further.
I guess they got used to seeing so many objects and letters. Although we were in a classroom-like place that did not have much in the way of Hindu imagery, many were drawing Ganesha (an elephant-like god) and a beautifully dressed woman or vibrant greenery.

At the Muslim center, many children chose crayons and thick, bold colors.
Here at the Hindu temple, many used pencil colors. In the beginning, educators were concerned about making a mess on the carpet, so maybe because of that the kids chose lighter materials, or perhaps it is simply their sort of "trend." The boys and girls sort of worked separately although there were only a couple boys there this time, so they did work a bit with some girls.
In the Sikh temple, boys and girls seem to have to maintain a certain distance. In this Hindu temple, it does not seem strict. However, I remembered when I visited another Hindu temple near there, the girls told me boys are not allowed in their dance classes or lessones. I am just saying that there was a subtle difference in the type of distance between boys and girls. In Sikhism, you have to sit down in the prayer room separately. In this Hindu temple, everyone seems to be roughly all together.

4/10/08 - Building Session (Kneeling or Standing?)

This evening was, I guess, the first day of building after the high-school students began analyzing the children's drawings and listed out what they saw. I would like to share their commentary sheets but I am still in the process of catching up on everything day-by-day as a part-time installer and full-time artist. Please wait, or you can come check out the work-in-progress at the exhibition in the Queens Museum of Art.

6 Teens came this time - that made me so glad. They have extremely busy schedules, almost like top-notch business people, so coming to the museum three times a week is too much. Almost all of them looked ready to nap when they arrived. I felt sorry, but we went to my exhibition space to check out the booth they will be decorating.

It is very tiny.
Only one person fits inside, but that is plenty of space.

We then discussed what they want to draw.
Fairly quickly, the subject settled on one portrait each of a man and a woman, based on the children's drawings as well as the symbol of the religion and calligraphy that the children had included.

One thing I got interested in was:

Hannah asked me if the woman, who would be kneeling down and praying, should be
much larger than usual size or not because the man, who would be holding a sword, will be standing and thus much bigger than the woman. She does not want to draw the woman smaller than the man, feeling that that would make her subordinate. She wondered if she should draw the woman standing instead. I felt that her description and question accurately indicated a female's feelings about that matter.

So, I said I was unable to answer that for her, but that she herself just now answered
what she thought and that is a great and understandable reasoning, so she should consider how important that is to her in making her decision.

I cannot explain this moment as precisely as I wish I could. But, it was very curious.

In the end, she and her classmates drew a slightly larger woman kneeling while other student drew a man holding a sword.

4/7/08 - Drawing Session

Today, I visited the Muslim center of NY in Flushing. The elementary school principle Mrs. Farooqi nicely discussed my project with their educators and found time for it. I went to the class room and about 20 or so students waited for me. Their smiles never made me nervous. So amazing. I am usually becoming quite nervous in front of people.

I explained the overall exhibition concept and the reasoning behind it and then, asked them to

"Please close your eyes and imagine what you feel about your religion, think about it or what experience you had before with or without friends..."

I also closed my eyes to think about it together. Then letting them remember what they saw in their minds I asked them to draw it.

Amazingly, they were quite excited. I am glad.
The girls and boys both asked if they could worktogether with friends.

"Yes!" I answered.

"Yaay!"

Most of girls went to the far back of the room on the floor. The floor was carpeted with a nice pattern. The boys stayed on the table to work together first, and then some spread out.

I asked the teacher how old they are when they generally understand the concept of their religion and apply it more to their daily life. She thinks mostly around junior high level but that before that, students will comprehend one-by-one literal knowledge. The practice of the religion, itself, will begin after 10th grade. (I did not write it down, so I might not be 1oo% accurate in terms of what she told me, though.)

Then, I felt maybe they understand more unconsciously. She said it is possible, but then
probably they cannot express it themselves well. I guess that may be so.

When I asked what they drew and why, most of children answered me with:

"Peace"

I was so glad that is how I received from their drawings. Very peaceful drawings.

I cannot wait to share them with Teens and viewers at the Queens Museum of Art.

------------------

This project is an on-going collaboration with multiple religious organizations, being displayed at the Queens Museum of Art as part of their new exhibition: "This Case of Conscience”: Spiritual Flushing and the Remonstrance. It will concluded with a performance by the Teens on May 18, 2008.

4/3/08 - Second Building Session

A couple more high school students joined this project, so we started over the explanation from zero. Also we discussed how we would like to handle the process regarding their concerns from the last building session.

The more I work with the Teens (The name of the QMA program), the more I understand them closely. So, I think I got the point as to how quickly and slowly I should work with them to go through the process, step by step, without confusing each other.

We decided to analyze half the drawings knowing what religious groups they came from and half without knowing, but utilizing our analytical skills and imagination. Due to religious organizations' schedules, we might not be able to visit religious sites to meet and talk to the children and representatives, although we are trying to arrange this. So, as much as possible, we are listing what we get and how we think we could build their booth and get ready for a meeting while slowly start building the booths.

We went down to the exhibition space, from the education department studio. We pinned up all the drawings we received so far and discuss about what we think about these works and their meanings.

The Teens are quite observant and serious. They found common colors and certain symbol and letters that appeared in several drawings. They were not sure about the religion. I thought that was quite accurate because they addressed that it seemed Buddhist or Muslim, but they did not feel like either was quite correct. At this moment, I am going to share this blog with students. So, I would not like to mention the exact religion's name here. But, soon, they will meet the children at the temple (Sunday, 4/20).

Meanwhile, we keep building.

4/4/08 - Revised Project Detail

Takashi Horisaki
"Meet Me at the Unisphere," 2008

Children’s Drawings, Presentation Booth structures, Internet-based Artist Blog, High-School students’ sketches, materials, and work-in-progress


An on-going project culminating in a performance during the opening of “This Case of Conscience: Spiritual Flushing and the Remonstrance” on Sunday, May 18, 2008

Meet Me at the Unisphere is a performance-based community-interactive investigation of the way in which we communicate about our religions. The documentation and artistic creations you see here at the Queens Museum of Art are being added to over the course of the exhibition until the final performance on May 18, 2008.

Visiting a variety of religious institutions in Flushing and co-operating with children’s groups at the institutions, the artist asked the children who attend these programs to draw pictures of what they think about when they think about their religion. Asking them not to limit themselves to symbols or even objects, he has received the colorful variety of responses showcased in this display. As they are received, these drawings are separated out by religion and passed on to a group of high-school students without specific indication of which religion they belong to.

The High-school students study the drawings, begin making plans for booths intended to represent the children’s ideas of their religions, and list questions about elements of the drawings that intrigue them. As these high-school students are completing the construction of these booths, they will meet with some of the children who drew pictures for the project, as well as representatives of the various religions to learn more about the religions and ask the questions they have been compiling while constructing. For the final presentation on May 18th, the booths constructed by the high-school students will be placed outside, facing the Unisphere. Based on the information the students have gathered from the children and other representatives of the religions, they will then present their experiences from learning about these various religions to Museum visitors.

The focus of this work is on the process of learning about each other’s religions, as well as the give-and-take inherent to a community-interactive performance work, thus the process is also documented by the artist’s blog at www.unisphereqma.blogspot.com, viewable on the computer station included in this display. Additionally, all children’s drawings collected for this project go on display as they are received, along with documentation of the booth construction as a work-in-progress.


Please compare to the original project detail to see how this project has been progressing. Through interaction with community members, children, teens, museum, this project has been evolving. Check older blogs to see how it has been changed and edited.

4/1/08 - Thought after meeting with High school students

Over the weekend while I de-installed the piece from my previous show, I have been thinking about last Thursday's meeting with the High school students.

When I visited Hindu temple last Saturday for a meeting with educators about the drawing sessions, I talked about this.

I guess it would be fine one way or the other. That is my current feeling. However, I am would like to hear students give some of their own feedback before receiving instruction. If they just do whatever they are asked, although they may be more correct, that is not really showing how one learns or thinks, and that is not what I wanted to do with them.

Then, I thought it might be more interesting and constructive if students discuss and list up what they are not sure about with the drawings and meet the young artists (children) to ask them those question and then talk further about the drawings and their religions.

Due to the program's schedule, it could be just after they started building or, in a few cases, before, though. I called Laura, the education dept. coordinator at QMA. She was fine and a bit relieved since she got the feeling and feedback from the students about their confusion after the last session. Also, she said they also learn and are trained how to critique and analyze other artwork through their program, so this relates to what they generally do in this program. We thought this might be interesting opportunity, then.

I myself learn and am learning so much about how I can read kids' drawings and for some reason I found that the same eye can be applied to contemporary artwork, too.

Just before this phone conversation, I was able to get in touch with an educator at the Muslim Center in NYC and confirmed the date of the drawing session at the mosque next week.

This Thursday, the High School students and I will closely look at the drawings to try and read further information from them and list up questions, while I will finish up the frames of the pavilions.

Now this project seems to be moving forward a lot.
We'll see how the High School students (teens) work on this.
Exciting!

3/28/08 - First Building Session

After visiting Materials for the Arts to get as many possible construction materials as possible for this project, I ran to the Queens museum.

Laura, the educator at the QMA, very nicely organized and called up the teens (High school students who are participating in an after-school program there), so 7 students showed up today. Normally they have sessions on Wednesday after school. I appreciate Laura's quick coordination.

Thanks a lot Laura!

Although it was very short notice, they very nicely came and had an active discussion.

One of the very interesting points in their observations of the drawings were: they did not feel that drawings were so much about the religions. Rather it was about the culture, as though we looked at some sort of traveling guide. Temple-like buildings and people wearing turbans and particular clothing... The teens asked, "Was it Hinduism or Islam that this drawing came from?" as they pointed out the temple image and person wearing a turban.

In my mind, though, I felt that it had something to do with the young children's level of religous enlightenment. Even if they have been in the religion, that does not mean that when they express themselves regarding religion, that it will be about the spirituality and other such adult concepts. Not only does their level of drawing ability limit them, but also their level of experience of their religion might also affect the drawings.

By the way, Drawings at Jewish temple, one boy drew large Jacob's star and in the center he drew Mt. Masada based on his recent experience of trip to Israel.
He kept talking about food chain stores previously and mentioned the mountain, but maybe that was something for him. He was much older around 12. I am sure it defiantly reflects on their experience, but probably subtle. Without knowing the drawing process, we never know why Mt. Masada and what the brown color in the center of the star is for High School students. This is the interesting element, though.

Also, the High School students have gained a notion of what each religion is through their schooling and experience. So, they know what they are "supposed" to do for the building. But when they look for such resources from the drawings and cannot easily see them, they are confused. I just realized I have to explain we are not exactly building their replica of the temple.
They are building image of the temple based on the drawings.

That temple (Sikhism) particularly does not have so much items that could be great icon for the religion at the pray room. That might also be affected to the drawings.

Then, one of students strongly addressed concern:

"I do not want to build a religious organization's pavilion without fully knowing the religion, because I do not want people from the religion to get offended by our pavilion mis-representing them."

That reminds me of the words from the instructor at the Jewish temple's youth program. She told the kids to draw something that represents their religion well. She meant to encourage the children, but it is a bit different from the concept of the project.

Well, I like to let children and young students express what they see, feel and think. So, I tried to protect the children at religious organizations, encouraging them to do just what they wanted as a drawing. One boy even started drawing the world trade center and another girl complained to him about it since she thought that it had nothing to do with their religion. I smiled and let him do what he wanted.

I still feel that that must have something to do with his own expression, whether or not he truly got what the goal of the project is. Am I afraid such drawings lead in different directions, away from my own original idea? I do not think so. It takes time to find out what exactly it may means, but I still have faith that they all have some meaning, even beyond the level of consciousness.

Anyhow, back to teens, they were not sure if they were fine with continuing before further research. They thought they should go visit the religious leaders or at least go research it on the Internet....




After coming back to home and relaxing (now), I got some directions.

My filmmaker Rishi, actually gave me wonderful input right after the session.

He told me that in US High Schools, there are many many assignments, and each most likely has specific guidelines. Also, the teens are very smart and can see some worst case scenario before it happens so they want to address the potential issues beforehand....or something like that.

I thought that their point about the drawings perhaps addressing not so much religion as culture was very good. But, therefore they "cannot" build the pavilions because they worry that they get it wrong? I thought that, itself, is wrong.

Children at the religious organizations expressed their religion in their own way. That is not misrepresenting their religion. That is what the religious experience is for them. Then, I would just like the teens to explore via their own imagination from the childrens' drawings. It is not misrepresenting the religion, and should not offend others: it is simply based on the childrens' drawings.

Then, most importantly, they will be going back to religious sites and talking to the kids, and hopefully the religious leaders as well. That point becomes more critical. That part of the project is not just based on your own concept of the religion, but is trying to represent the religion. Teens can find out about such unclear parts of the childrens' drawings by themselves from the "real" first-hand resource.

They can even have the opportunity to talk about it in their version of the pavilion, in front of the kids' drawings.

This final step finally completes the project and process. It will never offend viewers since they will not be given the chance to experience the pavilions without an explanation that they were based off of the childrens' drawings (which will be on display), but that the teens later learned that x, y, and z were true of this religion. Thus the teens are not purposefully doing anything misleading or making fun of the religion.

Rish said, "The next few coming sessions for building together with the teens will require some patience from both you and them, but we need it."

That is true about most art-making processes as well. You never know what's going to be completed until you are finishing up. Yes, you can imagine how it might turn out, but it will never ever be the same as you had imagined.

(Well, I am not that far along in my career as an artist, though, and can't claim to have a ton of experience to draw from...In fact, I was totally focusing on the discussion with the High School
teens and forgot to take some pictures! No pictures today.)

3/26/08 - Things are constantly evolving

As I mentioned the beginning of this blog in February, Art projects like this - in which the piece basically consists of establishing a system and organization, then following it through production - are constantly changing as though the project itself is a living being.

The very first proposal involved more people from many different places. I was thinking about calling for children artists from all over the five boroughs. However, after visiting so many times and so many religious organizations I am more aware of their characteristics. Religious places are highly private, although that does not mean they avoid outsiders; rather welcoming.

So, bringing a bunch of kids from everywhere might disturb their practices. I noticed that my initial plan probably came from my idea of what religious spots are like from my experiences in Japan. Japanese temples are pretty much tourist spots. So, anonymous people come in and out on a daily basis. We never felt anything odd.

But, here at least in Flushing, Queens, the religious organizations are very actively engaging with their believers, also holding many youth group activities such as dance, sports, music, etc. beyond their service.

I paid attention to their youth programs. This was also one of the good suggestions from the exhibition curator, Hitomi. While visiting and understanding each religious organization, I talked to each youth program/school director. This process required a good one month to meet due to their busy schedule and other elements.

After experiencing with the children, I was interested in the honesty of their voices and interactions with me as they worked on their drawings. That gave me a new idea.

What if the High School students who are going to build small pavilions about each religious site, will meet the children who drew about their religion instead of with religious leaders?

And, instead of learning the ABCs of each religion, why don't I let them talk to each other based on the children's drawing?

As the high school students are developing ideas through the building sessions, they will have more and more questions about and interest in each religion. Then, having them talk to much younger children might give us another idea, revealing a different facet of each religion in the end.

Today, I briefly discussed about some logistics with the curator, Hitomi Iwasaki, at Queens Museum. She questioned me about this process.

"Are you thinking about letting High School students meet the children who drew the pictures before the students finish building pavilions or after?"

This changes the effect and meaning of the project, I guess. As this project is intense schedule-wise, I might have to do it before the pavilions are done.

For instance, the Temple Gates (Jewish) have large holidays towards the end of April. We might have to meet children before then, during the time the High Schoolers are building the pavilions.

By the way, a huge issue is how I can manage to find a meeting time while many other religious organizations are also quite busy in the Spring.

Yes, High School students, too, are becoming busier towards the end of School.

Let's cross our fingers again.

3/24/08 - First and Second Drawing Sessions!

Today was very nice day. I felt fully embraced by the children's artistic expression.

At noon, I visited the Sikh Center for the first kids' drawing session. I was actually not so worried about anything, but I was at least worried that perhaps everybody would draw the same things if their teacher told what to draw or any other reasons...

Not really at all!
First I gathered all kids together and talked to them about what we would do. I had sort of started by talking to the boys. Then, their teacher called the girls over, and amazingly the boys' circle around me moved back and made a half boys and half girls circle. Their school are taught
separately, and the prayer room is also separated down the center by a yellow color carpet. I remembered the Muslim center school also separates boys and girls.

The instruction part was smooth. They spread out to work immediately afterwards. Some did group projects. The girls were working all together since an older girl, who seems like their leader, led them to make one group work (kind of like a patchwork quilt idea). One girl looked
very quiet and did not join in, but did her own drawing which was also very nice. Her brother was very unique and on his own. First he drew the World Trade Center and his sister and others made fun of him since it not exactly related to their religion. I was fine with it, however, because in some way he thought it was linked to his religion, and there must be a reason why he felt it was linked. Or, perhaps he just wanted to draw it, but that's difficult to discern. Later he drew one of the important items for their religion, which was quite nice. I was very impressed. (I will not tell you the detail to let you have fun at the exhibition.)

Two boys sat down chatting and not doing anything. I asked if they do drawings. One of boys said he cannot draw, that he does not know how to do it, so he won't. I asked if he would then consider writing something instead. He pulled his right hand into his sleeve and said "I don't have a hand so I can't do anything!"

That was good try, but I was prepared.

"Well, then you cannot have lunch today, huh?" I replied.

He laughed and sort of tried to figure out what he could do or wanted to do. Either way, I encouraged him to draw or write something - whichever he was comfortable with.

Half an hour later or so, I went back to him and looked at his stuff. He was coloring red with the crayon on the paper. I was curious about what it was. He explained it was carpet downstairs (in the prayer room).

I slowly noticed that there was a place down the middle he was not coloring, and that that was how the carpet would look if we saw the prayer room from above. Hmm, I guess then he knew something about drawing but simply hesitated to do it. I am glad I pushed him to do something.

Quite interestingly everybody did a great job and their works, or the way they worked, seemed to be reflections of where they are and who their parents are.

This evening, I visited the Temple Gates of Prayer (Jewish temple) for the next drawing session. That was also an interesting one.

One girl was absent because of a family gathering, so all of the attendees that evening were young boys. They just wanted to play ball, hide and seek, and whatnot so, it was a bit difficult to get them to focus.

Their instructor, Lauren was nicely leading the boys. However, I was afraid that giving them too much instruction would lead them all to do the same drawings. She said you (boys) are sort of representing the temple and the Jewish culture, or something along those lines.

Although it was good way of wrapping things up for the sake of time, I sort of wanted to wait till they themselves decided to draw what they wanted to, like at the Sikh center. It was nothing wrong. I even appreciate it since the boys literally wanted to get to play "ASAP!"
Yet, that inadvertently led most of the boys to draw the synagogue's alter.

To be fair, at the Sikh center, children also drew their flag and symbols, and other such marks
a lot whether or not anyone gave them a lead to do so.

The curious part was then how each drew the same part, only slightly differently. The each had a slightly different focus. We might not be able to say that is something important or that they had a different meaning, though.

Well, at least, High school students will be able to figure out what religion it is by the drawing without too much guessing.

Again, there was one boy who was wondering what he wanted to draw. He was uninterested in the drawing session. So, I asked him about his recent trip to Israel. He talked on and on about the chain store fast food shops there and here like Burger King and McDonalds, stuff not really related to his religion, which was totally fine for me. (laugh.) I rather had fun with his observations. So, I asked if he could draw all the food he remembered and experiences with them there on his paper. He slowly started working by himself, a bit away from the others.

When I came back I was quite surprised by what he was doing! First, he drew a big Jacob's star. At that moment, I was sort of feeling like, uh-uh! (honestly...) I did not say anything or even did not come over to him. Yes, as an organizer/artist for this project, sometimes I wish to be able to control the overall process more, to be honest with you. However, each time I stop
and let others do what they want to since that is the main concept of this project.

You might wonder then how one organizes everything to be in good shape and meet the deadlines. I would say that is the magic part of this type of artwork. I will not directly control it, but will very carefully organize it to be prepared for everything to fall together in time by being very observant of how things work with each of the participants.

Anyway, back to the boy drawing his big star, he then started coloring brown inside the star.
I asked what it was finally. He asked me if I remembered him talking about Mt. Masada. He said he went there and now he was drawing that mountain here.

Wow, that was an interesting jump!

I am running out of time for now, so I will draw to a conclusion here. He then drew a very nice Israeli flag and nice clouds and sky. I asked him where the people were.

"I cannot draw people," he answered. "I don't like stick figures, but that is all I can draw."

I encouraged him, and later he did two people on top of the mountain. That was terrific! I appreciated his courage.

Yes, I found out how many children hesitate to draw something they can draw. I assume that in their mind they have an idea of what good drawings are. They want to do them that way but cannot, so, they do not like to do it.

It's very sad. That's totally wrong.

If we all drew nicely in the way we see in our minds, we would all fail as artists for sure.

That reminded me of when I was little. I was like that and wanted to be good at drawing. But, sooner or later, I noticed that was actually a reflection of parents' or older people's expectations.

I hope I could help give the kids a bit of freedom from that to encourage their own artistic expression. Well, unfortunately, I am unable to provide three-dimensional artistic expression
for them at this time. I am sure, like myself, some of the kids are much better at expressing
themselves by 3D work. Ideally, all media, such as music, play and dance should be available to them, though.

These experiences have given me so many thoughts for my own ideas about Art.
Thank you for this time guys!

3/17/08 - How Much I know Little

I did not know Palm Sunday.
I did not know Purim.
I did not know Hamantashen.

Not knowing is not so much of an issue, though. I am sure I am familiar with so many things related to Buddhism since my Grandma was a serious believer and I majored in Buddhist Art History at college.

But knowing certain calender events might make one better able to respect and understand others, and feel something different.

I wonder then how it is different. Maybe not on our side, but rather from the perspective of those who believe that religion. Like if you speak Japanese fluently as the foreigner, Japanese will be surprised yet feel more comfortable and close to you.

Likewise, whether or not you address how much you know something about their religion, probably you will be better able to react appropriately and therefore give them less intenseness and nervousness.

I have not had any negative experiences through this project so far. However, that is something I am beginning to feel as I try to figure out how to organize this project with them.

When Laura instructed children to make Hamantashen, she made sure children make it triangular shape as she explained why. That way, children will learn the historical tales in their
religion without relying on rote learning.

They were really enjoying making cookies (Hamantashen).
Their smile and joyful screams made me so happy either way.

Hamantashen Links -1 -2

http://kosherfood.about.com/od/glossaryofjewishfoods/g/hamantashen.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamentashen





Oh, today was St. Patrick's Day as well. I noticed when I saw Empire State building.

3/12/08 - A Bit of Progress (Temple Gates)

The Temple Gates is located in the very center of Flushing downtown, on Parsons Blvd., across the street from the Sikh Center.

I called the temple two days ago and Rabbi Thaler briefly talked with me and invited me to come to his office around four.

Security was very tight. The first door was unlocked, but the second one was like some private house: it had an intercom and I had to wait for them to unlock the door. Compared to any of the other religious places I visited, it was very modernized and well maintained with almost an hotel-like atmosphere. All the detail of the design looked very decisive. I was amazed by how organized-looking it was.

Rabbi Thaler came to greet me and invited me to his office. It was exactly like a professor's office at university. So many books in shelves around him. His desk was piled, full of books, note pads, pen and more.

He started out by asking me why the Queens Museum of Art was doing the celebration of the Flushing Remonstrance this year. The 350 years celebration was last year, he noted, and the religious community had organized so many events and even many symposiums at Queens College. Hmm, I had no idea how I should answer this. But, then I assumed the museum had their own events and program booked already and scheduled the show to fit into the museum's schedule, but once they saw the events, perhaps they thought it would be a great idea to do some community-based art projects. Thus we artists are now approaching these religious institutions. After talking with the Rabbi, however, I do wish they could have organized this project in time to coincide with the religious organizations' cerebration of the 350th anniversary of the Remonstrance document.

Well, maybe celebrating this important document twice might be good:)

Rabbi Thaler giggled that it was not my fault, so let's begin discussing my project.
I explained my proposal.

He was very thoughtful. First, he said in their religion, during services, no one can write or draw.

I was really surprised. I did not know that. (!!!!)

Rabbi Thaler seemed not so concerned. He suggested that we do drawings at the youth program. He also mentioned that the youth group recently visited Jerusalem, Israel. They probably have many fresh memories and experiences that they can express by drawing.

That sounds great!

Anyhow, we talked about the Wailing Wall briefly then left for today.
I will meet the instructor next Sunday, hopefully, and we will do drawing
sessions the week after that meeting.

3/12/08 - A Bit of Progress (Hindu temple)

Hindu Temple Society of North America is the one we visited as a group during the first trips. I got in touch with the public relation person, Mr. G.P. two days ago and visited there again. He said his name is long and difficult to pronounce, so I should use the abbreviation.

While waiting, I carefully walked around and observed each of the dieties and the relief sculpture. At a glance, it looked like casting of some sort, but when I looked through the connected elephants along the bottom of one of the sculptures on the wall, I noticed it was hand curved. Every single elephant is very much alike but slightly different. They must be handmade
one by one.

Later, Mr. GP told me it is a cement relief sculpture painted gray later. Personally, since I studied Buddhist Art History a long time ago, I was very curious about all the details. Since the room does not have so much light, you cannot see well, but that also makes it a good place to calm down.

He was very passionate about their current expansion project. He showed me the future entrance which has 16 columns that represent 16 gods. He said they hired sculptors to carve each god on them.

Back to my project with them, he was quite comfortably saying as long as I can avoid the busiest pray time, it should not be a problem to participate, and their school children might be able to visit other religious organizations to do drawings. Very nice.

Next Sunday, I am coming back to the temple to meet the educator and discuss the possibilities.

In Hinduism, they normally practice individually so there is no formal service. However, Saturday morning to 1 pm are quite crowded. Actually, the room is not so large, so if people walk around the dieties as well as sit down and pray, it must be quite packed.

I do not remember who said that, but I heard that the temple is very authentic, even more than the ones in India. Mr. G.P. proudly mentioned the temple is the oldest in North America.

The temple is located on the corner of Holly Avenue and Smart Street. Just a couple blocks from Kissena Blvd.

I am getting excited about meeting the children and the possibilities
of including drawings by them...

3/12/08 - a bit more Progress -1 (Synagouge)

Fortunately my current job is flexible because of my boss is very generous.
I truly feel lucky that I am able to focus on this project that requires so much
coordination. Thanks Carol!

Anyway, I went to bed late and got up early to visit Flushing today.
It was not sunny and it made me so blue.

First I went through all the religious organization lists that I had
researched through the internet over the past three nights to make certain
my map was correct. For the best luck, I decided which ones I should go to first
and marked them in order. By the way, Flushing is very much an Asian town right now,
so it is pretty easy for me to find a quick rest at bakery/coffee shops which are
similar to Japanese ones. In this case, as an Asian, it is a pretty convenient town.

I went to a couple of places that I already visited to take some photos from
outside. Then, walked to Kissena Blvd. to look for a Synagogue.
I went too far at first, but then I found it. It is very large and looks like a very historical
temple. The main entrance was closed, so went into the high school (I guess)
next door. At the office, I met Mrs. Edith Siegle.

Another artist, Tattfoo it seemed, had already visited there. Mrs. Siegle began talking about
his work and seemed confused. I explained to her from the beginning, precisely what my project is. Despite the fact she seems pretty much on the older side, her posture is very straight, and she remembers well. She explained to me the service (Shabbat) schedule and
told me about Purim and what they generally do on weekly schedule. (I asked her age, although it is rude, and she smiled saying she did not count after 50. I like that!)

She invited me to the next Shabbat on Friday evening, and I will try to go to see how they do and who their members are. In the hallway, several photos, images of past Board members, and news articles lined the wlls. It looks like a very historical temple and the members seem to be quite elderly people. She mentioned they only have two children so they cannot do any
drawing sessions themselves.

3/10/08 - This is the beginning

Just before I found the Sikh temple, my wife and I walked in to the park called, Margaret I. Carman Green or Weeping Beech Park.

One of artists of the Queens Museum of Art exhibition, Emmy Catedral is working on planting Beech trees, inspired by the 151-year-old weeping beech tree that was in this park until 1998 which, according the parks service, is the genetic root of every weeping beech tree in the United States. She is interested in planting the sapling on the grounds owned by each different religious organization. That reminded me of the Kaki Tree project conceived by Tatsuo Miyajima. (The project concept)
A Japanese persimmon tree that was irradiated by the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945 managed to survive. One tree doctor decided to take cuttings from the original trees. Artist Miyajima, known for his LED light number sculptures, got interested in spreading the sapling through artistic activities involving whole communities. It's been ten years since the project began. Someday I would like to bring a sapling to this community.

I have been always interested in visiting historical sites and remains. Sometimes I visited actual, original historical buildings, and sometimes just statues of the event that happened there. It does not have to be monumental; I rather tend to feel closer to the place or event, myself, if it is unmonumental. For example, in the 60s or 70s, some group or city commemorated an historical site, yet it has not been taken care of well since then so that the new explanation plate itself is again almost rusty and feeling like it will disappear.

Whether or not the memorial objects - like statues, plaques, and the site ruins - are there
I feel the effort someone took to keep it there is something important.

I did not know about the Flushing Remonstrance until this show at the Queens Museum of Art. But, by knowing it by chance and coming to understand its importance, I now would like to share this information with more and more people through this project and the exhibition.

The Bowne House