Japan Bound: Time Capsule Opening

The plaque that commemorates the location of the time capsule.

Kate, known to me as Grandma Kate, arrived in Sendai, Japan on Tuesday and was greeted at the airport by a rare rain, her homestay family from 17 years ago and myself. After slurping through mountains of cold soba (buckwheat noodles) we returned to home base, where we recharged. Jetlagged brain + inundation of the Japanese language = rest required.

The homestay family: Chizuko and Kouichi, and their daughter, Maiko, with Kate and me.

But there’s no moss growing on this baachan (grandma). Amidst the jetlag and exhaustion, we planned and gathered thoughts for a meeting at Tohoku International School (TIS) and “Grape City” – a playfully named company that is connected to many of the project partners.

Her first night here we were treated to an impromptu performance by a lively neighbor who stopped by. She specializes in Japanese kids songs and didn’t hold back when we requested a demonstration. I recognized the classics and joined in.

While we were singing and chatting, Chizuko’s husband, Koichi, worked on dinner. 

Stir-frying up a storm.

Over the past few days we’ve connected with school staff who will help to connect current students to the project, as well as corporate partners who are helping to orchestrate the time capsule opening ceremony. We finally got everything settled for the ceremony, so now it’s time to invite people who contributed artwork 17 years ago and spread the word!

Connecting with Tohoku International (TIS) staff in person and remotely.

Chizuko, Kate and the headmaster’s assistant, Kawaguchi san, at TIS.

Talking in the shade of the HIMEGURI sculpture with Mitsubishi project partners.

Kate and Chizuko admiring the rocks that lead to the sundial.

Angela Robins lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and you can learn about her work building a traditional boat in Japan at: http://angelarobins.com/blog

Norway

On June 4 we opened the time capsule inside the sculpture SOLEKKO at Norsk Teknisk Museum in Oslo. It was 19 years ago that Solekko was built and installed at the museum.

Photo credit Mimsy Moller

Removing the stainless steel cone protecting the capsule inside.

Photo credit Mimsy Moller

In June of 1996, during a residency at the museum, I worked with ten and eleven year old children to make art work at the museum. We filled the capsule with their artwork and that of children from Quebec, CA and from Vermont and Hawaii, USA.

Around fifty of these "children" were present and eagerly scrambled to find their artwork on the table.

Photo credit Mimsy Moller

One young woman showed me a drawing of a small animal hidden in tall grass. "He was my friend but he killed himself when he was seventeen".

Other stories are happy ones. "This one was done by the son of the mayor of Oslo; he now loves with his heiress wife in Bergen."

And the granddaughter of famous Norwegian playwright and illustrator Egner Thornbjorn had drawn a picture of happy animals and birds living in nature very similar to her grandfather's illustrations.

Included with the drawings were clay artifacts. Some were made at the museum workshops and others at Milton and Essex, Vermont schools.

The small clay pieces and drawings are part of an exhibit at the museum now and will be safely included in their archives later on.

 

Norwegian Sculpture Projects

As the World Sculpture Project connects people and cultures with five sculptures around the world, the following projects commemorate and connect people in other unique ways.

Photo journalist Mimsy Moller takes a picture of Nico Widerberg's sculpture commemorating  the terrorist attack in Oslo in 2011.

Children had come from all over Norway to attend a summer camp on the island where the attack occurred.

Widerberg is installing an exact replica of the sculpture in each of the regions around Norway from which children came who were killed.

If the regions have approved having a sculpture, over fifty pieces could be installed throughout Norway.


German artist commentates Jews who were deported to Auschwitz from Norway during World War II.

German sculptor Gunther Demning explains his project to photographer Mimsy Moller before installing seven cubes topped with brass inscribed with names in front of a new Starbucks cafe in Oslo.

To the left is the director of the Holocaust Center in Oslo, Gunter Demning and the two owners of the Starbucks cafe. There were no survivors of the Jewish people who lived inside the building.

Japan

Next, I will be in Sendai, Japan.

The sponsor of HIMEGURI sculpture, Mitsubishi Estate Company, will host the opening of the time capsule buried in the ground near the sculpture.

My granddaughter Angela Robins will be with me beginning June 9 for four days translating Japanese during meetings and generally helping me as I adjust to the new time zone. How very fortunate I will be to have her with me!

May update

Plans for the World Sculpture Project time capsule openings in Norway and Japan are going well! I leave for Norway on May 25.

Here are some Gifts for people in Norway and Japan who are hosting the time capsule openings. I turned to family members to purchase beautiful hand made items.

Hand carved spoons and bowl were made by granddaughter Angela Robins. She lives in Minnesota and uses traditional Norwegian methods for her turning and carving

My sister Sally Cabell’s brightly colored quilts reflect traditional American style.



Per Andreasson at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo, Norway is using Facebook to find people in their late 20’s and early 30’s who were students in 1996 and whose artwork is in the capsule. We look forward to some of the original students being present to open the capsule inside the sculpture. The opening at the Solekko sculpture will be on Thursday, June 4.

Mitsubishi Estate Company in Sendai, Japan is sponsoring the capsule opening at the Himeguri sculpture to be held on Saturday, June 20.  Mitsubishi paid for the building of the sculpture in 1998.

Tetsuro Yoshida from Mitsubishi is coordinating plans with local schools for the ceremony. Current students from Meysen Academy and Tohoku International School will pair up in twos, one kindergartner to one high school student, to remove the artwork and place it on viewing tables for all to see.

We also plan to replace the artwork with new calligraphy and drawings: “Blessings for Peace and Wellbeing of the Planet” will be put into the two-foot high blue ceramic time capsule and placed back into the vault under earth for posterity.



Student comments: Looking back into the 1998 archives I have found comments from children who created the artwork for the capsules.

Jon Currie, Milton, Vermont: “The experience of making an artifact that will go to Japan has definitely been intriguing as well as a lot of fun. I see it as an opportunity for positive exposure for Milton high School, amidst the aftermath of last year’s infamous bomb threats.”

Sam Lavoie, Essex, Vermont: “It excites me to know that my art could possibly end up in Hawaii or Norway.”

Angela Gagliano, Essex, Vermont: “The whole unity theme is great, especially in this time of confusion.”

Leslie Pero, North Hero, Vermont: “I enjoyed working on this project since it seems to take a piece of our generation (its ideas and thoughts expressed through the arts) and sending it to different places in the world. People will find our artwork and see how we felt.”

Laurel Dugan, Essex, Vermont: “It is very exciting that our artwork may be a part of a project in another part of the world. This is a unique experience.”

J Pierce, Essex, Vermont: “I can’t imagine that my (ceramic) frog is going to be part of a bigger sculpture.”

Ashley Haupt, Vermont: “I am very excited and overjoyed. To know that my little bowl is going to be inside a very important land mark is amazing.”

Trinda Hibbard, Vermont: “It is neat that something we made is going to another country. It would be cool to see what other kids in Japan think of our work and how different theirs would be.”

Can anyone join us in either Norway or Japan? Contact me for more details at kpsculptor@gmail.com.

Schedule of time capsule openings in 2015

Gunnar Nerheim, director of the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology
in 1996, is putting the time capsule into the top of the sculpture

Oslo, Norway

On June 4, 2015, at the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, we will open the time capsule installed inside the SOLEKKO sculpture in 1996 and we will find postcard-sized artwork made by children in Quebec, Canada; and in Vermont and Hawaii, USA

Sendai, Japan

On June 20, 2015, the time capsule near the sculpture HIMEGURI will be unearthed and the contents seen for the first time since the dedication in June of 1998.

Dedication of Himeguri in 1998

A kindergartener draws insects in his lunchtime bento box

 

  

Stanstead, Quebec, Canada

On equinox Sept 23, 2015 at the Colby-Curtis Museum, we will unearth clay artworks placed under the ZIG ZAG sculpture in September 1994.

Students from nearby school in Standstead watching the
  equinox shadow at the sculpture

Students with their artwork made during the workshop at the Colby-Curtis Museum in Quebec

Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

On November 19, 2015 at the Kapi’olani Community College, the time capsule will be unearthed near the ALL ONE sculpture on campus. ALL ONE was dedicated and the capsule filled in November 2002.

Reverend Kaleo Patterson blessing the sculpture with a ti leaf and water at the dedication

The artwork was made by Hawaiian children and also by children in Vermont, Quebec and Norway.

 

Students in an Arts and Letters class at Punahou School in Honolulu wrote poems
illustrated with artwork for the time capsules.

Mapua, Richmond, New Zealand

On December 4, 2015 we will open up the green ceramic capsule at the Mapua School. The sculpture at the school is TELLING STONES, and is a circle of boulders including a sundial and star alignments.

TELLING STONES was dedicated and the capsule filled in December 2007