“Muku Muku – homage to water, light, and earth”, newly drawn by Takenobu Igarashi with a theme of rich nature of Southern Hokkaido
A new public art, in which traditional, beautiful German hand-blown glass is lit by modern technology of LED
Hokkaido Shinkansen (between Shin-Aomori and Shin-Hakodate, 149km) began its operation on March 26th, 2016. At Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station, which will be a new gateway to Hokkaido, a flow of many passengers has been generated. The first thing you see in front of the Shinkansen ticket entrance at this station is stained glass public art by Takenobu Igarashi, a Hokkaido born sculptor and designer. In advance of the opening, on March 19th, a lighting ceremony took place to unveil the work.
To complete this work titled as “Muku Muku – homage to water, light, and earth”, Igarashi, born in Takigawa city, drew an original drawing with a theme of rich nature in Southern Hokkaido surrounding Onuma Park, and at “CREARE Atami-Yugawara Studio”(Atami in Shizuoka prefecture), it took over half a year to turn it into a stained glass work. The work using about 85 colors and 420 pieces of glass is comprised of five themes, representing “Lake Jyunsai”, “Komagatake”, “Lake Onuma and Lake Konuma” and “images of flowers” (two kinds). Also, the flower of Hokuto city is marigold and Igarashi had that in mind when creating the work.
The lighting ceremony was attended by Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahashi, Hokuto Mayor Toshimine Takaya, and by people involved with JR Hokkaido, JR East, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and so on. After greetings and speeches by guests, IGARASHI stated the following;
“This time, I broke the frames of stained glass in past and realized free and complex curved lines. By combining beautiful German hand-blown glass made in the long history with modern technology of LED light source, it was made possible to create a figurative work of light, Luce Arte. It looks fine during the day, but if possible, I would like it to be seen in the evening. ”
This stained glass was planned by Japan Traffic Culture Association and the installation was made possible in corporation of JR Hokkaido and with co-sponsorship of Seibu group (Seibu Holdings Inc., Prince Hotels Inc.). When you use the Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto station, we hope you enjoy this Luce Arte, Muku Muku.