Two Western professors will travel to Japan from June 16 to July 7 with Western students for a summer art and art history program.

Art history professor Julia Sapin and fiber and fabrics professor Seiko Purdue will host the program, which is offered for art and art history credit, for the second time.

The program allows the attendees to travel to major cities in Japan and features studies of both contemporary and historical views of Japanese culture with an emphasis on Kyoto, Tokyo and Fukui. Students will visit museums, artist studios, historic sites and galleries.

The trip will start in Tokyo, go to Hiroshima and Miyajima, then to Kyoto and finally to Fukui. Each city offers its own specialties, such as Hiroshima’s peace park and Fukui’s handmade paper.

“I think this program is a good opportunity,” Western sophomore and graphic design student Anna Fejes said. “All the places they would go are really geared toward art students.”
Students going to Japan are required to have taken certain classes, Sapin said.  

Art students will be taking the summer course as art 396 and must have completed art 109, visual content, or art 110, form and content.  Where as art history students will take the course as art history 396 and must have completed one of two art history course options.

Since the class is offered for credit, students do have obligations during the trip such as keeping a notebook for history notes or, for art students, keeping a notebook for sketches.
Sapin said students have time to complete courses that are required to go on the trip to Japan.  She said most of the courses required are offered winter and spring.

Q&A with Professors Seiko Purdue and Julia Sapin

Western Front (WF): What is your favorite stop on this trip and why?

Seiko Purdue (SP): Miajima. It is a very isolated place, very sacred and ritualistic. It has a special feeling about it.

Julia Sapin (JS): I have lived in Kyoto before and I love it. But also Tokyo, because when we get off the plane we are immediately in Tokyo, and it is a very vibrant place. There are these fabulous skyscrapers right next to the fish market, which is 400 years old. It creates an interesting juxtaposition.

WF: What do you think the students most enjoy about the trip and why?

SP: I think students enjoy seeing the contrast of contemporary and the traditional. They can see that division of culture, especially in Tokyo, and it impresses them. Students also enjoy doing the hands on activities.

JS: I think students enjoy meeting people. It is hard to break into that language barrier, but students have a chance to meet many people. We even went to my former host family’s house because it was her birthday and she threw a sushi party.

WF: What do students think of Japanese food?

SP: Well I always take them to get cabbage pancakes in Osaka on the street and they enjoy that. Students want to try everything, and some even come with lists of all the food they want to try.

JS: Seiko knows what foods to order often for the students. There are also a lot of places that serve ‘tapas’ style dishes so students have the opportunity to try many. 

WF: What are the culture shocks for students?

SP: There are not too many things. But the sleeping style is one; for a few days we stay in a monastery and there we sleep about 10 to a room on cots. Or also, we go to the hot springs and we were surprised in how many students were interested in going.

JS: Part of the culture shock is understanding the long history in a country. There are also sometimes shocks with food, although mostly we meet with students before we go so they are properly educated in etiquette and are not surprised about anything.

WF: What do your students say they take away from the trip when they come back?

SP: Students come away having enjoyed the trip and with ideas for their projects. Although it can be hard to balance the trip and then coming back to do the project.

JS: What I see in students’ work is that the knowledge they had beforehand is now something that makes better sense. It is hard to take three weeks and then go back and make sense of it all.

Comments (1)

Posted by melomoz, on Nov. 07, 2009 10:53PM wonderful article. the prose flows as beautifully as a waterfall Report

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