This week I introduced some of my kindergarten, first, and second grade students to the work of artist Katsushika Hokusai, Japan’s best known artist. Hokusai was born in 1760, in Edo (what is now Tokyo). At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a woodcut engraver, and by age 19 he was producing woodblock prints in the Ukiyo-e (“floating world”) woodblock print style that was popular in Japan at the time. His first images were of the courtesans and Kabuki actors that were the traditional Ukiyo-e subjects. Later Hokusai's work became focused on landscapes, and on the daily life of Japanese people. During his prolific career, he created many drawings, prints, and sketches, an estimated 30,000 or more works! He died in 1849, at the age of 89.
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Hokusai’s most famous series of woodblock prints, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, was created between 1826 and 1833. The series depicts Japan’s Mount Fuji as seen from a variety of places and distances, and in different seasons and weather conditions. I chose two of Hokusai’s prints from the Mount Fuji series as subjects to inspire my students: South Wind at Clear Dawn (also known as Red Fuji) and The Great Wave off Kanagawa. To learn more about Hokusai, and to view more of his work, visit this great website: http://www.katsushikahokusai.org.
I showed the children pictures of the two Hokusai prints, and told them a bit about the great artist’s life. Then I demonstrated how to make the shape of the great wave, as well as different ways to draw sea foam. We used pencil for our original drawings, and a variety of materials to create our great waves: colored pencil, crayon, washable markers, and watercolor. Most of the children made the tiny Mt. Fuji in the background red, like the mountain in South Wind at Clear Dawn. They used their wonderful imaginations to add details to their own great waves. There were lots of leaping fish, boats caught in the wave or riding high upon it, fearless swimmers, surfers, sharks, and even a mermaid with crazy red hair!
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