We had a day off yesterday, so we went to visit Mutsumi Uchiyama. When we called her, she said she was at Yamani House. We’ll be able to see Mutsumi and get a look at the Kamiyama-ten exhibition too! Two birds with one stone. So the four of us were off, pedalling our bicycles. Today was another sweaty day.

At the Yamani House workshop, people are told to use the three primary colors of red, blue, and yellow to make their own original colors. The completed paintings are laid out to dry and then displayed. You can see the displayed paintings in the title photo. I wonder how it will look by the end of the exhibition??

Then we headed to Mutsumi’s house.

Mutsumi told us that Chan found her house for her.
It was relaxing to be surrounded by tasteful artworks. We also discovered some works in progress on the second floor! Light shining through washi Japanese paper, a beautiful space.
What a lovely atelier…
Mutsumi fed us some nashi pears. She tells us that nashi are her favorite fruit.
Actually, Keiju the musician was around as well, but he took off early for Chan’s house. Too bad.

On the way home, we stopped off at the space in front of Matsuura Grocery, and at the Shimobun Atelier. This Kamiyama-ten, it’s tough to see it all if you don’t have a car…
Actually, we met Mr. Ominami’s sister at the space in front of Matsuura Grocery.
She gave us some ice cream and some fish! Thank you so much!
Her face, as well as her speaking style, was a lot like Mr. Ominami! We could tell right away that they were related. (haha)

The exhibition area was used liberally, with works spread all around. Such a blessing to have so much space…

We met some of the graduate students and heard about the background to the creation of their artworks. Thank you for your time!
The only place we haven’t seen yet is Yorii-za. I hope everyone else will come and see the exhibition!

Today’s diary was written by Hibino (and translated by Claire!).
I made a lot of bad pictures, so now I’m reflecting on my mistakes. Everyone, watch out for cloudy days. They’ll blur your pictures.