21 winners of home and abroad across 6 countries gathered
Grand Prize for Mr.USUDA Takato of Tokyo University of the Arts,
International Grand Prize for Ms.Randa Maddah of École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts de Paris
The 39th International TAKIFUJI Art Award ceremony has been held on 6th November at International House of Japan, Tokyo.
At the beginning of the ceremony which started at 5 in the evening, Mr. TAKI Hisao, Director General of our association and organizer of the Award gave a congratulatory speech to the prize winners. “This Award has started in 1980 and during 39 years, more than 750 students got the award” “ Beyond the schools and nationalities, please get in touch each other and make the most of this opportunity” he said.
Right: Ms. AOKI Noe, jury, sculptress and the winner of the first Takifuji Art Award
On behalf of the guests, Mr. MIYATA Ryohei, minister of culture who participated as professor emeritus of Tokyo University of the Arts, made a speech of encouragement to the winners.
Then Mr.TAKI handed a testimonial and an Award to each student. This year 11 Japanese students and 6 students from abroad received the Prize for Excellence, and among them Mr. USUDA Takato of Tokyo University of the Arts won glory of Grand Prize, Ms. Randa MADDAH of École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts de Paris got International Grand Prize. Apart from them, the special Jury Prize was dedicated to 2 Japanese (Tokyo University of the Arts, Aichi University of the Arts) and 2 foreigners (Berlin University of the Arts in Germany, École Nationale Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts de Paris in France).
At a closing remarks, Ms. AOKI Noe, jury and the winner of the first Takifuji Art Award, appreciates 39 years history of the Award that gave encouragement to the many young students and said “As a jury, I was so impressed to see the art work of applicants”. Particularly, she refered to the Ms. Randa Maddah’s words, said she was so moved. Ms. Maddah was born in Golan Height under Israeli’s occupation and in the application she wrote that “With the global language of arts, I tried to explain the identity of my birth place, political realities and complicated political factors”.
After the ceremony, the students, teachers and guests participated to the social gathering. At the opening, Mr. SAWA kazuki, an internationally well-known violinist and the president of Tokyo University of the Arts, played a beautiful ensemble with Ms. TATENUMA Emiko, a spouse of Mr. SAWA. During the gathering, which last almost 3 hours, the Japanese and foreign students including the teachers interacted each other, and the students got many useful advice from the teachers. Each student also gave a presentation on their artwork and Mr.HIBINO Katsuhiko, professor of Tokyo University of Arts, at the closing speech said “As 40th Takifuji Art Award next year, please consider a wonderful project to make Takifuji Art Award more dynamic”.
Right: Prof. Hibino offered an encouragement message
The day before, the students and the teachers participated in the tour to the Atelier Creare located at Atami, Shizuoka prefecture. In the Atelier, the group was explained by the staff how the public art of stained glass and ceramic relief was created. Afterward the group themselves had a workshop using the ceramic and stained glass and their artworks were displayed during the party.
Right:Workshop (Experience artwork using ceramic and stained glass)
