ABOUT

As a species humans have been creating art for over 30,000 years. We were drawing pictures in the Ice Ages, long before we invented writing, numbers, agriculture. Times have changed, the world has changed, but this basic human act has never disappeared human history. If we trace the origins of art to ancient cave paintings, to this day art has been a constant throughout human history. Art has survived wars, economic crises, disasters, plagues, death and destruction. All this suggests that art-creating is something we cannot live without. Art is intimately connected with what it means to be human.

So why do we make art?
What is art?

These are the questions that led me down the path to becoming an artist. I've sought to answer these questions in many different ways through my art practice, not only through object-creating. My journey as an artist has also been about exploring the possibilities for art in our world - the meaning and purpose of art. EGAKU is part of this inquiry, it's an art program that seeks to go back to the roots of art as a way of learning and distills my experience as an artist. I initially conceived it as a workshop for children. I wanted children to know that art isn't about comparing yourself to others or competing with others. It's about being yourself. Participants of the EGAKU Program can't be judged or measured up by the kind of one-size fits-all standards set in many art classes in school.

Art as a pathway to learning has two parts: 'seeing' art and 'creating' art. Unlike most other kinds of learning, the problems we encounter in art don't get harder or more complex as we progress. Art as learning involves the simple, continuous practice of 'seeing' and 'creating' which nurtures our creative abilities and our ability to feel. Our creative abilities and our ability to feel are uniquely human qualities, uniquely human gifts. They are essential to our growth as individuals and to creating a better, a more human world. At the same time, art gives us the power to breathe life into ideas, thoughts and stories through colors and shapes. Perhaps therein lies the wonder of creation. And the creative confidence that emerges through the joys (and pains) of the creative process empowers us to live fuller lives.

In the world we live in today we are faced with many challenges, and I believe that art can play a critical role in helping us find solutions or at least offer clues to finding new ways to face them. I believe the role of art as a borderless communication tool that transcends race and national borders, will only become more important in the future. Through EGAKU, and through my art I hope to awaken the creative potential within each of us, to help people rediscover their creative confidence to create fuller and more meaningful lives.

Kunihiko YAZAWA
Artist

Artist site