02/29/2020
Folk Art & Bullet Trains
or
Disoriented in Japan: an Artist’s Journey
Western tourists often regret that Japan has embraced Western technology and architecture. American sculptor David Orth co-founded Japan Art Adventures to flip this common misunderstanding onto its proverbial head. This tour explores how traditional Japanese aesthetics, crafts, and architecture actually ignited the international turn to Modernism. A tour through major cities and remote villages is not only loads of fun and astonishingly beautiful, but brings to light clear indications that key Western designers and artists absorbed and carried forward traditional Japanese design insights and practices beginning as early as 1875. Orth believes Modernism, especially, owes its soul to Japan. Old Japan is still very much alive, visible, and relevant.
David’s personal epiphany came on his first full day in Tokyo standing in front of yet one more Mies-Van-Der-Rohe-inspired glass & steel high-rise - only to discover he was muttering under his breath, “Shoji screen. Shoji screen at a different scale. Shoji screen made of glass and metal. Damn.” The shocks and realizations kept coming. The permeable, moveable Japanese walls letting in so much light and landscape. The abstractions of traditional Japanese woodblock prints. The lovely rebelliousness of Japanese flower arrangement and landscaping. All uncannily “modern” in tone.
In 1854 Japan was bullied into opening to trade with the West. Western design movements and individual artists quickly became fascinated with Japanese arts, crafts, and architecture. This list is ridiculously long; including the Arts & Crafts Movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Impressionism, Bauhaus, Mies, Le Corbusier, and many others.
Orth approaches Japanese design as a working artist, not as a scholar or historian. He leads by physically exploring the ceramics, printmaking, paper-making, clever uses of bamboo, carpentry, architecture, and landscaping. The tour travels far and wide through Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Okayama, Kobe, Nara, Kurashiki, Takamatsu, and Naoshima and more. Hands-on experiences with artists such as, wood block printing, and pottery lead each participant to their own new insights and appreciation. Quintessential Japanese modes of transportation, including some long walks, deliver travelers to architectural districts, hands-on craft experiences, excellent food, mostly 4-star lodging, museums, and opportunities to shop and explore.
Orth has always been drawn to archeology and anthropology as inspirations for his art and design. He was born in Texas, but at age 9 his family moved to Costa Rica and then to Guatemala. No matter where young David turned, there were folk arts, local markets full of clever crafts, Mayan ruins, or 300-year old colonial structures. He and his classmates often played on the thousand-year-old stepped pyramids. The abstractions of Mayan fabric, pottery, and architecture seemed “modern” compared to European equivalents. Today Orth understands that Modernism in all its variation often looks to Non-Western antiquity for its “new” ideas. He believes the mutual exchange between Japan and Modernism is the clearest example of this chemistry.
In 2018, Orth joined up with longtime friend, Steve Adelsman – Japan tour guide since 2002. Together they developed this educational and cultural tour for artists, non-artists, and people that always wanted to ride a bullet train. Japan Art Adventures are offered 3 times a year and boasts a group size of 12 or less. This is an off-the-beaten-path, 17-day tour for folks that enjoy long walks, trains, boats, and other public Japanese transportation. Luxury lodging and an excellent variety of Japanese cuisine round off most days.
David Orth is a sculptor and designer working in wood and bronze. He teaches woodworking, metalworking, and design: www.OrthSculpture.com. For tour information visit www.JapanArtAdventures.com. Contact David at 708-288-5199 or [email protected].
“I come to Orth’s website just to be amazed - overwhelming contrasts of the primal versus the ethereal. Rock and roll...the blues...arias.”
