Ah summer, season of laughter, picnics, and 100° with 85% humidity days. Oh wait, maybe scratch that laughter part; perhaps more of a wheeze.

Yep, it’s that time of the year again, and as the last day of school finally wraps up I have the whole rest of the summer to look forward to! Oh wait, isn’t the summer only a few more weeks away from ending!? Rats, never mind. Such is life in the Japan lane…

Despite the short holidays, this has been a pretty productive summer so far. I’ve managed to plan two rather large trips (to both Thailand and the US, but more on that in a bit) which I’m gearing up for, and have otherwise been keeping myself occupied with various projects—most notably my larger scale canvas paintings. My art style has certainly taken a turn since joining my art class way back in December. This has been due both to a desire to expand my artistic knowledge beyond the few mediums I had been entrenched in since I was young, and to create a body of works that could translate into a respectable portfolio for future endeavors. One of the major reasons I decided to stay on in Japan for a third year was in fact this class. Early on I realized that having the kind of time and resources to devout to something like this is not something that happens every day. I found myself in a unique position to benefit from my working situation, and to raise the level of my artistic ability and vocabulary to a level that up to this point I hadn’t been able to do. As I solidified this desire in my mind, I also began to seriously evaluate what it was I wanted to do with my life after my time in Japan came to an end. One of the big things that had been floating around was the idea of pursuing a masters degree back home, but always when I had looked into the different programs available for someone with my background I had come away feeling less than excited. As I started to delve back into the world of art however, that all began to change. I realized there might be a way after all to combine and blend these two forces in my life—education and art. I started looking into the Art Education field, and found there to be some very exciting programs out there. In particular I came across the NYU masters of art in art education program, and found myself really challenged and inspired. I came away from my research with a renewed sense of focus, and began to develop a clear goal of what I wanted to accomplish in the next year. Having determined that much in my mind, I found that other things began clicking into place as if on cue. Knowing that I would need a specific focus for my masters degree, I quickly realized that there was exactly one thing that I did indeed want to pursue and understand more. My past and heritage.

It’s kinda funny that being amongst all this contemporary Japanese art has awakened not so much a desire to understand Japanese art more, as it has almost an urgency to understand the traditions and art of my own history. As I began to research what movements in the Native American art community there might be, I quickly realized that there really were none. When one thinks of Native American art, the things that usually pop up are new age type airbrushed images of Indians in buckskin communing with wolves or eagles against an idealized sunset sky. And it’s not just the hippy new agers that perpetuate these images, but the Native American community themselves. I remember going to large powwows with my family and seeing these kinds of paintings everywhere. It was almost like saying this in fact is our traditional art form.

For me then I realized there was two ways I wanted to approach my masters program. On one hand I want to take traditional ideas and stories, as well as other topics and issues affecting the Native American community, and address them in a contemporary art form. Right now most of my focus has been in this area, and resulting in projects ranging from water color, to acrylic on canvas, to wire sculptures, to photography, and will try to highlight a lot of different points, particularly relating to my tribe the Chippewas. The second aspect I’m hoping to pursue is a study and hopefully training in traditional Native American art forms. This is the key one I think, and the one that most readily applies itself to the program. My desire is to take these ideas and apply them in a modern context. To make them relevant if you will. One of the things that has really struck me while in Japan has been the Japanese resistance to taking traditional forms of art and entertainment and applying them to a modern context. Traditional art forms like kabuki, noh, and ukiyoe are dying out because young Japanese simply don’t care about them. They’ve completely lost their meaning in this contemporary society. Native American traditional art forms are even worse as they’ve now completely become associated with commercialism. You make dream catchers and embroidered moccasins so you can sell them at fairs, which results in a homogenization as everyones designs begin looking the same. My aim is to preserve the method, not the result, and try to consider how the craft might have evolved had there been no outside influence. Because that’s the thing about art, it’s always evolving, and figuring out how it can best communicate and represent changes in the culture around it. If it becomes static, then it’s now longer art; it’s merely a tradition. And sad to say, but traditions become irrelevant very quickly.

So that’s my basic outline as I begin to prepare for the application process for February of next year. It’s a challenging vision to try and realize, but one that I’m happy to struggle with. As I think ahead to the coming year, I’ve become acutely aware of how little time there is to do everything I want to, which is exactly the way I want it.

Next week I’ll be in Thailand for five days with my friend Justin as a final hurrah before he leaves for home at the beginning of August. I’ll have many interesting stories to recount I’m sure, so check back in a week or so for that. Also in mid August I’ll be coming back home myself for about ten days. My family is renting a cottage on the big lake for that time, so I’m planning to soak up as much sun and surf as possible during my time back.

It’s turning into a great summer, and tomorrow I’ll be heading down to Yokohama to catch the huge fireworks show! And the best part? I’ll be wearing a yukata! Can’t wait!