Yuri Shimojo & the Zen "in between"

Last weekend The Painting School had the pleasure of hosting a workshop with artist Yuri Shimojo. It was the first time Yuri had ever taught a workshop, and based on the huge response she received for her “Creating Meditative Art” workshop, it won’t be her last.

Yuri greeted each participant with plum wine spritzers, green tea and a Japanese snack called Inari.

We went downstairs for a slide show on Yuri’s singular life, from being a child descendent of a Samurai clan, to a well-known graphic designer and illustrator to celebrity icon in Japan to a street artist with the group Barnstormers to a renowned artist making minimalist art in response to maturity, illness and global calamities like the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Such an inspiring talk.

It was an amazing group of people, some first time artists, some returning to art, and many of us trying the Japanese inks for the first time. Yuri walked us through her own personal art supplies and then we sampled the new inks The Painting School brought in just for this event. (Would you like to experiment yourself? We purchased the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Set of 24 here. Yuri also shared this video from #GrandpaSensei that explains how to use them and what they are.)

We all then returned to areas that had been set up with water, brushes and paper so people could begin making their own meditative art. We were urged to stick to one piece of paper in order to truly be one with the process rather than focus on perfection, success or any end result. The resulting work was astonishingly beautiful, as was the discussion at the end of the workshop about how the process felt for everybody and what they learned.

Thank you to Yuri for expanding our creative practices and for creating such a magical afternoon! And thank you to everybody who took time out of our busy lives to find that place of Zen in between at The Painting School. xox Sara