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Christine Flint Sato:
CONTACT
ME
When I first came to Japan I wanted
to learn how to use the East Asian brush. At the time
it seemed a simple wish, over the years it has led me
on a long and varied path.
I first learned calligraphy from a friend round the corner.
I then moved to classes in Osaka. Sakaki Bakuzan was
an early teacher and then Seika Kawabe with whom I studied
for ten years. After a break, during which I experimented
with mixed media and installation work, I returned to
the world of brush and sumi (ink) in 1999 as part of
my MA programme. Chinese artist, Li Geng was my ink painting
teacher for three years. Currently I exhibit my sumi
work in Japan and the UK. I also run workshops in sumi
in the UK.
Parallel to my studio art, I have been researching and
writing about the sumi arts. I have published a book
about Japanese calligraphy, and have written articles
about its recent history and sumi and brush manufacture.
I also give talks about these in the UK.
Current projects include videoing sumi arts practitioners
in Japan - calligraphers and painters, and also sumi,
brush and paper manufacturers. I have plans to visit
China and Korea to video there aswell.
My sumi work is the record of a journey of exploration.
I am aware of an endless well of expressive possibilities.
These range from works in sumi layers built up over time
creating dark atmospheric expanses, to lyrical line pieces
brushed calligraphically, to short poems in English,
to works using rudimentary printing techniques. Consequently
I work in a variety of styles. I also enjoy using both
East Asian and Western formats – vertical or horizontal
scrolls, as well as rectangular or square.
I have two main inspirations: landscape, with a focus
on the basic elements of which it is composed, namely
earth, fire, air and water, and in particular the movement
inherent in each, and secondly, calligraphy, the forms
and rhythms. I spend much time exploring mark making,
and am fascinated by very rudimentary marks, those which
might or might not suggest meaning either as recognizable
form or language.
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Education
| 1977 |
Graduated
Durham University. UK. Philosophy/Psychology
Joint Honours |
| 1978
and 1986 |
Colour
theory and practice at Richmond College under
Paule Le Breton |
| 1982-92 |
Japanese
calligraphy under Seika Kawabe (Mainichi Calligraphy
Organization) |
| 1999-02 |
Chinese
ink painting with Chinese painter Li Geng, Kyoto
University of Art and Design |
| 2002 |
MA
in Art Education, University of Surrey Roehampton |
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Solo and small group exhibitions
include
| 1988 |
Solo exhibition. La Pola, Osaka. |
| 1991 |
‘Responses’
The Small Mansion Arts Centre. London. Japan
Festival 1991. |
| 1993 |
Solo
exhibition. Gallery Nakai, Kyoto. |
| 1994 |
Solo
exhibition. The Roof Garden, The Lyric Hammersmith,
London. |
| Solo
exhibition. The Staircase Gallery, Kew Studio,
London |
| Solo
exhibition. Kyoto International Community House.
Kyoto. |
| 1997 |
Solo
exhibition. Osaka Contemporary Arts Centre.
Osaka. |
| 1998 |
Solo
exhibition. 5th Space, Kyoto. Supported by the
British Council. |
| ‘Drawing
Tea’. Six Women exhibition. Honen-in, Kyoto.
Festival UK 98. |
| 2000 |
‘Ex-Isles’.
Six Women exhibition. Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation,
London. |
| 2001 |
‘Five
Views of Japan’. Five Women exhibition.
East Asian Art Museum, Bath. Japan |
| 2002
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‘Paths
in Japan: Five European Artists’. Gallery
Saoh & Tomos. Tokyo. Europe Week |
| 2003 |
‘Mosaic’.
WAA exhibition. Kyoto. |
| Solo
exhibition. Wall Gallery. Osaka |
| 2004 |
‘What
draws Us’ Five Women exhibition. Honen-in,
Kyoto. |
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‘Drawing the Line’ Selected group
exhibition Orleans house Gallery, London |
| 2005 |
Collaboration
exhibition with Chinese artist Li Geng, ‘Sumi
Time’. Wall Gallery, Osaka |
| 2006 |
‘Stretch a Point, Draw a Line’ Five
Women exhibition. Honen-in, Kyoto |
| 2007 |
‘Space
Shifts’ Two person exhibition with Hiro
Sato, Wall Gallery, Osaka |
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‘Sho to Hisho no kiwa’’ #4,
Art Forum, Jarfo, Kyoto |
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Awards
| 1990 |
Osaka
Governor’s Prize in Calligraphy School
Exhibition. |
| 1992 |
International Cultural Association of Kyoto.
Essay Prize. |
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Commissions
| 1991 |
Alfred
Plaut Co. Ltd., London. |
| 1999 |
Design
for stained glass window in St Philips and All
Saints Church, North Sheen, London. |
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Collections
| West
Middlesex Hospital, UK |
| Sunderland
Art and Design University, UK |
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Publications and Essays
| 1994 |
‘Land
of the Waning Moon’ in ‘Essays
on Japan III,1988-1992’ Kyoto Intl.
Cultural Assoc., Bunrikaku Publ. |
| 1999 |
‘Japanese
Calligraphy: The Art of Line and Space’.
Osaka: Kaifusha Publ. Supported by grants from
the Japan Foundation and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese
Foundation. |
| 2001 |
‘The
Rise of Avant-Garde Calligraphy in Japan’
in ‘Spring Lines: Contemporary Calligraphy
from East and West’ exhibition catalogue.
Ditchling Museum, Brighton. April-June |
| 2003 |
‘Sumi’
in ‘Letter Arts Review’, Vol
18 #1. |
| 2004 |
‘Fude’
in ‘Letter Arts Review’, Vol
18 #4. |
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Illustrations Phantom City a CDRom of
poetry by Jonathan Brewer |
| 2005 |
‘The
Four Treasures’ in Kyoto Journal #61 |
| 2007 |
‘New
Directions in Japanese Calligraphy: A small
survey of Kyoto based independent and semi-independent
calligraphers’ in Letter Arts
Review Vol 22 – 2 |
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Related activities include
| 1991
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Sumi
Workshops. Asahi Culture Centre, London. Japan
Festival 1991 |
| 1993-03 |
Member
of Women’s Art Association. Kyoto. |
| 1996- |
External
examiner for the International Baccalaureat
examination in art and design |
| 2004 |
Invited tutor ‘Breath, Spirit, Energy’
Writing Symposium, Sunderland, UK. |
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CONTACT
ME
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