Shigeo Arikawa exhibited in Daily Practice a year ago. He gave me chopsticks wrapped in a light paper bag with a beautiful drawing of two swans and told this drawing had been made by the grandmother of his wife Atsuko Arikawa. Last winter Shigeo and Atsuko brought drawings from Michiko Miyazaki, the grandmother, to the Netherlands for this exhibition. Michiko Miyazaki considers these drawings preparatory exercises for the perfect haiga. She has kept them for years in a drawer.

Michiko Miyazak (b.Nagano, 1927) has learned calligraphy and koto since childhood. In Japan exists the tradition called ‘Natori’, which means accredited master. When one becomes proficient in the art, they receive another name.
Michiko Miyazaki has four names in various traditional cultures
-shodo (calligraphy), her master name is Zuisou
-haiga (haiku picture), her master name is Touchiku
-koto (Japanese harp), her master name is Masamichi
-ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), her master name is Shugetsu
To become a master is not possible anymore for modern Japanese, because it is considered important to acquire the so called useful credentials.

What better way to end the time in this space than to show exercises for haigas by a woman,
who is in her nineties, who withdrew for a few hours each day, to write calligraphy and draw haigas.
For herself, to practice.

to the deeply private desire to create,
to grandmothers
and to the unseen.

Thank you for visiting,
with love, Suzanne

The exhibition opens softly the first day of Spring, 21 March. That day
Daily Practice is open from 14:00 – 17:00 hrs
And every Sunday from 14:00 – 17:00 hrs
and by appointment every day and every hour.