Sabbaticals 2005-2006   

Sabbatical Report: Satoko Motouji

Each instructor has different ways to inspire his/her students. Being stimulated by the subjects which I teach is an essential ingredient for being an inspiring instructor. During the summer time and on the weekends in the academic year, I keep up with my studio work to share my experience as an artist with my students. Using the sabbatical time, I decided to do both intellectual research and physical experience of painting media.

One of the major goals of my sabbatical was to write an essay about the major painting materials in Europe and Asia during certain periods. I especially focused on oil and water-soluble materials, and their historical contexts and philosophies of specific times and places related to these media. I approached this essay from the point of view of an artist who paints and is very intimate with each painting medium used; I am not an art historian after all. I needed to investigate each historical medium by experiencing them physically by taking lessons from experts. Then I looked into the historical period when these materials were used as major media.

I started my sabbatical project by taking workshops of different painting methods. I took workshops on tempera and fresco painting, since I am familiar with oil, watercolor, ink, and encaustic paintings.  The hands-on experience with these media was an essential part of the information gathering process in addition to the intellectual research. It gave me a good insight into the evolution of painting media in Europe throughout history. It also convinced me about the significance of tactile studio experience to understand certain intellectual concepts.

Secondly I documented the workshops in film and photos. I have edited keynote presentations on a fresco-painting workshop. The film of the fresco-painting workshop is currently being edited and will be finished shortly. This project was to educate myself in digital media, which I needed to learn. I am still struggling with digital technology. I had one painful incidence of accidentally losing edited video files. This is part of my learning process. But challenging me with new software is a good start to be competent with digital tools in my future instruction.

Thirdly, I needed to research, using written materials, about painting media and their history. It was a great joy to have time to do this research, which is quite difficult during the regular academic year. I dived into the reading materials without having daily time restrictions. However, this process took longer than expected. The research for writing an essay could be infinite and I will continue reading about media even after my sabbatical documentation.

Fourthly, I started writing the essay around the middle of October 2005. It is being edited and will be completed shortly. Below is an excerpt from the introduction in my essay.

As a painter, I always wondered why some major media such as oil and watercolor developed in specific times and in specific places in the world. For example, oil painting was an invention during the Renaissance period and became a major painting medium in Europe for the last five hundred years. In Asia, water-soluble materials (especially ink) stayed as a major painting media for thousands of years until oil painting was introduced from Europe. This might be a very broad and general distinction of two major materials for painting, since there are other media, such as encaustic, tempera, etc. Yet, the comparison between oil in Europe and water soluble media such as ink in Asia seems relevant, since any other media did not last up to our contemporary time. For example, encaustic and tempera became much less significant over time or ceased to be used.

The physical experience, which the painters have with some specific media, parallels the intellectual and emotional trend of the specific time. For example, in our contemporary time, the use of electronic medium reflects our life style and mode of thinking. It seems that choices of the media in artistic expressions go beyond a mere availability of the materials and methods. The use of particular media requires conscious choices of the artists, not just coincidental availability of the materials to the artists. Thus it reflects the sensibility and major philosophy of the time period.

This assumption comes form my personal experience as a painter who uses both oil and water soluble media. For example, I don’t work with watercolor and oil in the same day. I usually concentrate on either medium for weeks or months. Since each material demands a very different approach physically and psychologically from me. I not only have to change my way of using the medium but also my mode of thinking in the process of painting.

And the introduction concludes as follows:

My experience as a painter convinces me that there is a strong connection between the painting media and the intellectual views of the world, in the same way that the content of artwork relates to the prevailing philosophy of that specific time. This phenomenon might be even stronger during the periods when extraordinary philosophical views and artistic explosions occurred. Two geographical areas and times are my focus in looking into this issue. One is the time of the Renaissance in Europe, especially Firenze, Italy, a seat of the Renaissance Humanist philosophy, and the other being the Northern Sung Dynasty in China. Both periods experienced the revival of ancient philosophy. Both the Renaissance and Northern Sung dynasty periods viewed the world quite different from the way they were viewed in previous times respectively. Oil medium is an invention of the Renaissance period.  Did this invention relate to the way of viewing human intellectual ability and how the world was viewed during the Renaissance time? Why did Chinese literati artists appreciate painting with ink on paper so much? Did the Northern Sung literati artists’ view of the world influence their choice of this particular medium?

I approached this hypothesis from the point of view of a painter. My focus was materials and not the content of the artwork. In order to be familiar with various media, I took workshops of tempera and fresco paintings in addition to the media which I was familiar with, such as oil, watercolor, encaustic and ink. It was essential for me to gain insight into this issue by physically working with these mediums.

I also researched a brief history and nature of each medium to further understand the evolution of oil medium in Europe.  Then I would link how the physical characteristics of oil and ink relate the cultural context of the two different times and two different places. Why did oil become such a powerful painting material which has maintained its status as the major material for more than five hundred years in Europe? Why was ink material, which was invented early on in the history of Chinese art, chosen as the significant medium for the literati artists in China, Korea and Japan for centuries?  By gaining both intellectual and physical knowledge about various media, I hoped that I would have some answers to these questions.

In addition to research through books, I experienced different painting methods. In the summer of 2005, I took private lessons on Illumination with tempera from an artist in Siena, Italy. I documented the painting process in digital still and video images. I took another workshop in this medium during the summer break of 2006 to reassure my understanding of this medium. Back in September, 2005 I commuted to a school of buon fresco for three weeks in Firenze, Italy to get familiar with the fresco painting method, which was extensively used during the medieval, and Renaissance periods. The class was intense – seven to eight hours a day for three weeks. I was ecstatic about being a student, learning something new everyday. I also documented the fresco painting process in both video and still images. I am currently editing these images. Being in Firenze gave me a chance to see the original paintings as well as to encounter and communicate with the experts in the restoration of historical paintings. These restorers with scientific knowledge and insightful opinions about the physical process of the tempera and fresco paintings gave me valuable information which I was not getting from reading materials.

During the winter break in December, 2005, I went to Japan to gather information about ink medium. I met an art critic in Kyoto to get his insight about the technique. I visited a paper maker in Izu Peninsula to get hands-on information about hand-made paper, which was used in the traditional ink painting in China, Korea and Japan. I also purchased and brought back various hand-made paper to experiment with the ink painting myself.

In September, 2005, I started my research about historical facts on media such as watercolor, tempera, encaustic, fresco, oil and ink. This process took far longer than I expected. Realizing the research could be infinite and endless, in the middle of October 2005, I decided to write my essay parallel to my reading. My writing continued during the winter break in December, but it was far from finished. Thus I planned to restart my project in the summer of 2006, since I would not be able to do any research during the academic year. Right after finishing the spring term, 2006, I immediately picked up where the writing was left. When I took off to Europe, I hauled my computer, printer and hard disk with me. I was quite happy to continue my research during this summer. It was a joy to write on a daily basis without any interruption from other work. By the end of the August, 2006, about ninety percent of my sixty-page essay was finally done.

In the essay, I contrasted the differences between the Renaissance mentality and Neo-Confucian philosophy in the Northern Sung Dynasty.

In Europe:

The oil medium beautifully responded to the desire of the painters who were soaked in this philosophical and cultural movement of Humanism. Oil became an ideal medium for the artists who wanted to create the Renaissance visions which required the painting being beyond a mere icon or symbol of the dogmatic teaching of the catholic church during the medieval time, but the observed reality which was arranged in the painters’ mind. The oil allowed the artists, with its flexibility and durability, to respond to the Renaissance mind. It assured a sense of control so one can analyze the subject matter and create one’s vision in a logical manner.  This intellectual tradition, born during the Renaissance period, continued in the following sixteenth century, which was a great age of scientific discovery. The sense of control over nature is based on the Humanism philosophy which ignited man’s curiosity on the unknown world. Being nourished in this environment, oil was not a medium which was accidentally found, but it was a creation of the intellectual and artistic mentality during the High Renaissance.

 

On the other hand, in China:

 

In Neo-Confucianism, existence comes from non-existence. In the Daoism book, Dao Te Ch’ing, Chapter 28 describes ‘one returns to the culmination of non-existence.’  Stress on the importance of nature as the principle teacher is a very unique aspect of the Neo-Confucian philosophy in which nature is placed high above the intelligence of human beings. There is a sense of total trust and surrender to the incredible power of nature. Humans must follow the teaching of nature.

 

Ink painting, in which one has to surrender to the nature of the ink, became a suitable means to express the philosophical belief of the literati artists during the Northern Sung Dynasty in China. The painters who used ink during the Northern Sung, who produced the most meaningful work, were not professional artists. Ink painting was hugely different from the painting done by the professional artist, who used polychrome pigment applied on silk to decorate the courts and houses of the aristocrats. Literati scholars were often time scholars or government officials. To them, painting was the way of being intelligent and observant of the environment.

I concluded in my essay:

Investigating the materials of painting in relationship to its relevant societies is worthwhile. The physical experience of human beings during a specific period inevitably influences the worldview. Any creative activity is a condensed version of the mental and physical human experience of the relevant time.

When we look at artwork or view the history of art, our focus tends to be on the subjects and contents in the works of art. The process of handling a certain material also has so much influence to the human psyche. For example, the tactile experience of painting material is vastly different from handling the software in the computer. Each material is a product of the specific time. In comparison to watercolor and ink, which have survived for thousands of years, oil seems to be relatively new. Some of the materials, which were used extensively at one time, ceased to be used by the artists for various reasons. It is important to evaluate the significance of materials such as watercolor, ink and oil, which have existed for centuries. They continue to challenge us physically and intellectually to dig into our inner psyche.

Writing an essay, which is the major part of my sabbatical project, is different from what I do as an artist and what I teach. Writing the essay was a great exercise to expand my horizon as a painter/instructor by approaching the subject from a very different way from my usual approach. My roughly sixty-page essay is also a record of my actual painting experience. I could not complete my project within the sabbatical period, since my projects were too ambitious for a one-term sabbatical period. Therefore I worked on my projects beyond my sabbatical time. I, however, am happy that my work continued into the summer of 2006, which allowed me to deepen my research. The actual sabbatical period gave me the time to contemplate the issues which I was interested in previously, but could not start.

Now, I am ready to go back to my studio, and tackle new painting projects. Thanks to my sabbatical, I am quite intrigued with the use of ink and handmade paper. I cannot wait to paint with these materials in my studio now.

My project will influence my teaching. I am excited about sharing my research, for example, the digitally recorded workshop experiences with my students. By stepping out of the usual day-to-day obligation at the college, I was able to have time to concentrate on my interests which are inevitably a part of my teaching. A sabbatical is essential for all of us to keep our passion for intellectual and creative pursuit.

October 9, 2006

Satoko Motouji