A ceramic relief by elementary and junior high school students in Yugawara Town was completed at the station square in front of Yugawara Station of JR Tokaido Line, and the unveiling ceremony was held in attendance with Mr. Kengo Kuma, an architect and the supervisor of this art work, Yukihiro Tomita, Mayor of Yugawara Town, Hisao Taki, Director General of Japan Traffic Culture Association (JPTCA) and others on October 3.

1,524 elementary and junior high school students participated in the production of this ceramic relief, and they shaped it by crushing cylindrical clay of 20 cm in length, whose motif is bamboo, by using their fists or fingers instinctively. A white ceramic plate baked with glaze on the clay was installed on the wall at the station square. Handmade small arts gathered, and they became a big public art of 3 meters in height and 7.6 meters in width.

Mr. Kuma said, “It became a public art expressing “harmony of diversity” as planned. It will be a good memento for children.”

This ceramic relief was planned and proposed as a memorial project for the 60th anniversary of mergers of Yugawara Town, Yoshihama Town and Fukuura Village in Kanagawa Prefecture by JPTCA, which is promoting public art nationwide as a main activity, and produced by “CREARE Atami-Yugawara Studio” (in Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture.) A repairing project of Yugawara station traffic circle is now ongoing based on the design made by Kengo Kuma and Associates, and installation of this ceramic relief is a part of this project.