All the of the artists participating in KAIR got the golden opportunity of doing workshops with local schools. Nik decided (or rather, was convinced by one enthusiastic teacher!) to do his with 5th and 6th graders at Jinryo Elementary School.
He organized to come in and take portraits in a darkened space using a flashlight to highlight their scary or funny face of their choice. He edited the photos to harsh black and white contrast, printed them on heavy watercolor paper, and cut along the white bits with an exacto knife so they could be used as a stencil. The kids got to choose which part to use as the stencil, the white or black. They then used different techniques he taught them to paint in the missing bits with sumi ink and they of course got to add things like ears and poop.
They had a brilliant day and the results were phenomenal. Some of them turned out so good that the teacher decided to enter them into an art contest in Tokushima City. I'll get back with an update once we've heard the results.
PS. Most, if not all, children in Japan have calligraphy class so the kids were quite adept at using brushes. Nik was impressed with their fastidious ways with setting up and cleaning up after themselves.
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