Japanese calligrapher Ransetsu giving a demonstration of her art in
St. John's Church, Edinburgh
Trees and seats at the rear of the Wordsworth Museum
(the photographer's bag making an appearance) The last page introduced Japanese calligraphy as seen in the English Lake District. This page offers photographs of two demonstrations of the art, one in Wordsworth's Cottage, Grasmere, and the other in St. John's Church, Edinburgh. For the former the artist used texts from Wordsworth's writing, and for the latter she, and the Islamic artist Jila Peacock, used words of Robert Burns. Below the pictures start with the setting of a treed and stone landscape and move to the city. The next Picture Posting page will then move to a decidedly stranger exhibition of
calligraphy in Hà Nội.
Michael McGregor, the director of the Wordsworth Trust...
...leading the way into the unadorned stone building
Ransetsu posing for cameras during the demonstration
Cameras were much in evidence during the display
The brush moves towards her right, leaning in the direction it is going
...now the brush comes upright and the bristles turn towards the camera...
...the turn completed; the brush is about to lift up
Attendees hold up the characters Ransetsu has written during the display
More of her work is laid out
This example well illustrates the way Japanese calligraphy moves away from its Chinese counterpart. The original Chinese character has lost its constituent elements...
...with the sharpness of the original line becoming a soft smooth, almost continuous, modulated mark
A traditional Chinese character being held up for photographs by Ransetsu and her host Tom Mitchell
On the way to the Edinburgh demonstration, Ransetsu fitted in a small exhibition at the Select (the electrical contracting industry's trade body) headquarters on Bush Estate, south of Edinburgh
Examples show a range from recognisable to abstract forms
Above, St. John's Episcopal Church stands at the junction of
Princes Street
and Lothian Road, it has a shop of 'third world' trading, and facilities for exhibitions. To the right, a family who came from Japan to support Ransetsu during her displays
Ransetsu giving a short talk before her demonstration within a church
- an almost surreal contrast
The exhibition space, before...
...and during the exhibition
Ransetsu at work in the church demonstration
The empty room has the exhibits hung, and
an 'opening' gets underway
All those involved, Ransetsu is with Jila, having lunch in the Chambers Street Museum
One of the sets of three panels from the exhibition
Japanese calligraphy by the Japanese artist Ransetsu which extrapolates from Burns' poem - the character is based on Deer (Shika)
The music for Burns' poem "My Heart is in the Highlands"
An Islamic rendering by the Iranian artist Jila Peacock of the idea akin to - My heart is chasing the deer
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting page
offers photos from a rather different calligraphy demonstration - in Hà Nội.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Skeletal Worlds'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
The last page had photographs from the Lakes of stones and calligraphy
Food as presentational art
To a Vietnamese ceramic village where the painters can be watched
...guide to this site