ARTois Workshop
Vol. 5 — Exploring ‘Boundary Art’

This week’s ARTois workshop was their fifth collaboration with the Towada Art Center. Taking inspiration from Takashi Kuribayashi’s Sumpf Land, which is part of the museum’s permanent collection, children between the ages of 3 and 10 drew pictures on large sheets of white paper to create their own worlds that straddle some kind of ‘boundary’.

The workshop began with talking with the children about what a ‘boundary’ is. A colorful piece of tape was used to divide a large sheet of white paper, and the children were asked to create a scene while thinking about ‘boundaries’: Are there boys? Are there girls? Where do they live? After that, the children were taken to see Sumpf Land. After being asked what they thought they might see, one by one they climbed on the table to look through the hole in the ceiling. Afterward, everyone discussed what they had seen, with the children realizing that the lower and upper rooms, though completely different, are connected by the seal! With that discovery, it was time to start painting. But today, they would be painting with… cleaning supplies! Brooms, brushes, rough tawashi scrubbing brushes, and sponges will let the colors gradually mix to create completely marbled boundaries.

At the end, holes were made for each of the children to put their heads through for a group photo, each child a little seal, crossing the boundary between the two sides of their painting. This workshop was not only an exciting opportunity for the children to explore an art work and to feel the thrills and anxiety that come with creating something, but it also showed the possibilities for creativity and critical thinking that open up when a potentially difficult concept is explained in a simple and straightforward way.