My art teachers

My art teachers are Mitsumasa Anno and Chihiro Iwasaki.

I still have some of Chihiro's paintings that I worked hard to use as models for my watercolor paintings when I was in junior high school.

The frame is already dirty, but I still display it.

I learned it in a textbook.

After all, the art and craft textbook I used in elementary school was edited by Yasuno.

What I remember is that the content was so fantastical that it inspired the creativity of a child, and I remember being amazed when a picture appeared when I wrapped something like aluminum foil around a can.

I looked forward to art and craft class every week. I grew to love drawing and crafting.

️ At the Anno Mitsumasa Museum of Art

I also remember that Chihiro Iwasaki's paintings were often used as illustrations in Japanese language and moral education textbooks.

I thought the children's expressions were gentle and lovely, and I was more engrossed in the illustrations than the content.

I also remember borrowing and reading many picture books from the library.

This means that the watercolor painting styles of Mitsumasa Anno and Chihiro Iwasaki were his models.

Without realizing it, these two people were my first and irreplaceable art teachers.

Perhaps this is what is meant by "asking for instruction."

It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that this was what it meant to be a "mentor" or a "teacher and mentor."

️Chihiro Iwasaki Picture Book Museum

Oh yes, another teacher we must not forget is Kiyoshi Yamashita.

I remember that we had paper cutting and collage classes, and Yamashita's work was featured in the textbooks.

The teacher said, "The person who made this is mentally disabled." I remember being surprised even as a child. (I posted this before.)

My mother has kept everything I made as a child, all sealed with ribbons. The drawings and papercuts I made back then are treasures that I still occasionally unfold and look at.