Photos by Huiting Lian (Maryland Institute College of Art), Student Correspondent for AICAD in Japan, Spring 2023
The AICAD program will end within a month, and I’m becoming more busy with schoolwork. I took glass-blowing, kiln casting, and woodblock printing classes at Osaka Art University, and I’d like to show some of the works and processes from these classes.
At the kiln casting class, the starting point of casting a piece is to make the shape out of wax. After that, a plaster mold will be built that fully covers the wax sculpture. The mold has to be heated to let the wax melt. Glass powder will be poured into the emptied plaster mold and fried in the kiln to become a glass piece. After the firing, the mold has to be destroyed to get the actual glass piece.
The first piece I made is a pear that is cut in half. You can find the little worm hidden inside if you rotate the upper part.
At the glass-blowing class, we get to learn not only how glass-blowing works, but also how to decorate after the object cools down. I used tape and glue to cover some parts of the cup before sanding. The final object is displayed in the right image.
In the wood block printing class, I worked on a four-block print for more than a month. It includes sketching, transferring, carving, and printing. My professor specializes in creating watercolor-based woodblock printing, and the class also had a field trip to his solo exhibition in Kyoto.
During the days that I don’t have to go to classes, I continue to explore Osaka with a friend that I made in the CET program. We have visited a few old bookstores and night cafes. Japan is also famous for its fireworks in summer, and I can’t wait to go to the 花火大会 (fireworks show) at the end of July.