| LINDA
GORDON Kamiyama Artist-in-Residence (KAIR) - a residency in rural Japan As an environmental artist, it is important for me to experience a place deeply, immersing myself in my surroundings, and giving my work both time and space to evolve in its own way. The annual Kamiyama Artist-in-Residence programme (KAIR) was pretty well my ideal working scenario. Kamiyama lies in the heart of Tokushima Prefecture, on Shikoku Island, south-west Japan. The town consists of a series of small villages alongside a slow, stony river. It is surrounded by vast areas of forested mountains. The people are gentle and hospitable, living close to the land. Despite the sort of problems facing many rural communities today, there is an air of vitality. A strong spiritual undercurrent pervades the area, and deep in the forest, shrines and temples are important centres of activity. |
Contact: Linda Gordon: Tel: 01323
891038 The Committee of Kamiyama
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KAIR is organised by a group of local businessmen, with support from regional and local organisations. Every year, three artists (two from outside Japan and one from inside) are invited to participate,
bringing to the community fresh creative energy, new ideas and new ways of seeing. It offers artists a unique opportunity to experience traditional Japanese culture, and to concentrate on their work in a supportive communal atmosphere. Last autumn, the artists were Birgit Rathsmann, from New York; Masamichi Mimura from Japan, and myself. The piece I made, ‘Kamiyama Spiral’, brought together ancient traditions of East and West. In a small field overlooking the town, I used slabs of the blue/green stone unique to the area, to make a spiral formation, about 15m across. Sealed to their smooth top surfaces are high gloss black and white images of the local landscape: kaki (persimmon) fruit, Japanese maple, ginkgo tree, rice fields, grasses, stones and flowers… images all with special significance to the town’s inhabitants. The Spiral attracted a great deal of interest right from the beginning, and now that it is complete, can be enjoyed for many years to come. |
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| The lively and stimulating interaction between artists and local residents is what makes KAIR special. The support system, which, amongst other things, included centrally located housing; a studio in one of the schools; organised visits and social events; the services of personal facilitators and interpreters; open studio and workshop sessions, and frequent Press and TV coverage – all this ensured that we were well-integrated within the community. Almost everybody in the area knew who we were. The hospitality of local people, together with the pervading beauty of the mountain landscape, made the demands of the work and social programmes stress-free and exhilarating. In an atmosphere of freedom and relaxed acceptance, I was able to learn a phenomenal amount in a very short time, and make a piece of work intimately bound up with both landscape and everyday life. It is my view that small communities such as this, enthusiastically welcoming change and new ideas, whilst maintaining the best of a traditional life style, demonstrate a sustainable, satisfying and sane way forward for us all. |
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