Thank you Allison & Charlie. This is the first one of your talks where I actually stopped what I was doing and paid attention to the whole presentation. I had heard the name Took Shinoda before, but didn't know anything about her, or her work. I have to say it was a complete honour to be able to watch and enjoy this presentation. Both of you spoke about the confidence she had in her work, but I love how she could say so much, with so few marks. That is the sign that someone a complete master at what they do. I think any artist, regardless of their medium, would benefit greatly by studying her and her work.
In the Calligraphy of the East, you must do Calligraphy in in one go. The calligrapher usually meditate while grinding the ink. The relax. Proper posture, arm and hand position is a must. Good quality brushes are a must. The brushes must have a good point, round when looking down from the tip, where the hair comes out the handle(the waist) The brush must be dense at the waist. If your squeeze it gently, it must be firm. If it gives there not enough hair. This make the brushes responsive. The tip hair must be straight across, when pressed flat. Many modern brushes used nylon to make them more rigid instead of traditional boar hair. This okay. All the other hair must be natural g p at beard, yellow weasel tail hair( sometimes called "wolf"hair), horse hair, badger, rat whisker, squirrel, deer, rabbit, etc. Goat, horse, deer are soft. Rabbit, weasel, mt. horse, rat, pony are hard(stiffer). Different brushes are used for different speeds. Brushes can be "combination" hair brushes. A good choice on line in English are "Good Characters Brushes" are excellent quality. They are from Taiwan. A bit overpriced. Stay away from ebay or a site called "chinesecalligraphybrushes"and the other sites own by this person must are ridiculously priced mid to low quality. If you want Japanese brushes start with Hiroshima Kumano brushes. Not a company but a regional name. You can buy Chinese "Lake" or "Hebei" brushes. Be careful buying these two. Lots of junk and faked. Must also use good inksticks , inkstones and paper. All these brushes can be used for water color. Women there have traditional roles but so do the men. When would the man have time for his own stuff. Sexism doesn't exist. Just assholes from both sees. Remember, men built the cities, created a safe world for most 1st world women. I hate this modern so called,"Feminism". It isn't. It teaches women they can destroy their baby( who could be another Newton, Galileo or Confucius. Pregnancy is optional. This modern thing has destroyed so many families and now left us withv2 generations of messed up,, disfunctional people. Check out inner cities.. 75% single parent homes. It's well known what a disadvantage this creates.. They act like men have not done anything, except oppress women. A women needs protection while pregnant. The family made everything modern possible. By the way, Japanese men are and were vastly more "sexist" by the modern definition, than Western men. Not even close. I digress, because it was brought up several times. It needed a response. Lastly, the brush handles and ferrule can be hard wood, bone, ivory, plastic, etc, traditionally the type and maker was hand carved into the handle. Sometimes absolutely beautiful. About 90% now do machine pressings.
I loved Allison Tolman story about Shinodas visit to New York and her making the arrangements with the Guggenheim and Shinodas reaction to seeing her earlier work. I am also looking forward to seeing the exhibition at the MET in August. It is always interesting to hearr Allison tell stories about the artists she represents but especially about Shinoda whose work I love seeing. David Okada
Toko Shinoda is my muse! so glad to come across her work!
Thank you Allison & Charlie. This is the first one of your talks where I actually stopped what I was doing and paid attention to the whole presentation. I had heard the name Took Shinoda before, but didn't know anything about her, or her work.
I have to say it was a complete honour to be able to watch and enjoy this presentation. Both of you spoke about the confidence she had in her work, but I love how she could say so much, with so few marks. That is the sign that someone a complete master at what they do.
I think any artist, regardless of their medium, would benefit greatly by studying her and her work.
In the Calligraphy of the East, you must do Calligraphy in in one go. The calligrapher usually meditate while grinding the ink. The relax. Proper posture, arm and hand position is a must.
Good quality brushes are a must. The brushes must have a good point, round when looking down from the tip, where the hair comes out the handle(the waist) The brush must be dense at the waist. If your squeeze it gently, it must be firm. If it gives there not enough hair. This make the brushes responsive. The tip hair must be straight across, when pressed flat.
Many modern brushes used nylon to make them more rigid instead of traditional boar hair. This okay. All the other hair must be natural g p at beard, yellow weasel tail hair( sometimes called "wolf"hair), horse hair, badger, rat whisker, squirrel, deer, rabbit, etc. Goat, horse, deer are soft. Rabbit, weasel, mt. horse, rat, pony are hard(stiffer). Different brushes are used for different speeds. Brushes can be "combination" hair brushes.
A good choice on line in English are "Good Characters Brushes" are excellent quality. They are from Taiwan. A bit overpriced. Stay away from ebay or a site called "chinesecalligraphybrushes"and the other sites own by this person must are ridiculously priced mid to low quality. If you want Japanese brushes start with Hiroshima Kumano brushes. Not a company but a regional name. You can buy Chinese "Lake" or "Hebei" brushes. Be careful buying these two. Lots of junk and faked. Must also use good inksticks , inkstones and paper. All these brushes can be used for water color. Women there have traditional roles but so do the men. When would the man have time for his own stuff. Sexism doesn't exist. Just assholes from both sees. Remember, men built the cities, created a safe world for most 1st world women. I hate this modern so called,"Feminism". It isn't.
It teaches women they can destroy their baby( who could be another Newton, Galileo or Confucius. Pregnancy is optional. This modern thing has destroyed so many families and now left us withv2 generations of messed up,, disfunctional people. Check out inner cities.. 75% single parent homes. It's well known what a disadvantage this creates.. They act like men have not done anything, except oppress women. A women needs protection while pregnant. The family made everything modern possible. By the way, Japanese men are and were vastly more "sexist" by the modern definition, than Western men. Not even close. I digress, because it was brought up several times. It needed a response.
Lastly, the brush handles and ferrule can be hard wood, bone, ivory, plastic, etc, traditionally the type and maker was hand carved into the handle. Sometimes absolutely beautiful. About 90% now do machine pressings.
I loved Allison Tolman story about Shinodas visit to New York and her making the arrangements with the Guggenheim and Shinodas reaction to seeing her earlier work. I am also looking forward to seeing the exhibition at the MET in August. It is always interesting to hearr Allison tell stories about the artists she represents but especially about Shinoda whose work I love seeing. David Okada