ArtReview

Japanese Art and Tea Ceremony

The Japanese art and tea ceremony will be wonderful.  You can get a small ornamental cup of traditional Japanese tea and then browse around the Japanese pictures.

The traditional tea is an art in itself and so is the pottery it is made from.  It is an interesting afternoon because there are demonstrations on how to make traditional tea, which are quite fascinating

There is a real teahouse situated there and a fully guided tour around it.  At the end of the tour you can ask any questions that may have arisen in your mind and a qualified guide will be able to give you a detailed answer.

After that you can just sit down and relax in the pleasant atmosphere and just regenerate before you have to get on with your busy life.

Where is all this happening?  At The Ashmolean museaum, yes, they have a teahouse there.

Free entry:   but booking essential to get a place: email: education.service@ashmus.ox.ac.uk

 

Threads of silk and gold from Japan

This was a Meiji textiles exhibition and workshop held at the Ashmolean in January.  I hope they do another one soon.  It was a display of textiles in a very Japanese style that became very popular in Western countries.

The artwork is what you would expect, scenes from nature in brilliant silk colours.  This style of textiles has been very popular for many years and a lot of Western people deliberately seek out suppliers of these textiles.

Here was an opportunity to see a large range of their work and also, to have a go at it yourself.  What a great day.  Japanese art is very popular and a lot of people are collecting but their textiles are really special and there is an increase of interest in this old area of art.