An offering ceremony of Wakana Kimura’s newly acquired traditional Japanese handmade paper — on which the artist will later be painting a large-scale Buddha’s Nirvana scroll illustrating the death of the Buddha — will take place on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 11 a.m. at Zenshuji Soto Mission, a 94-year-old Zen Buddhist temple in the Arts District of Los Angeles.
In conjunction with the ceremony, a ritual shooting of an arrow will be performed by Hirokazu Kosaka and the Los Angeles Kyudo Kai (archery group), which is celebrating its 100th year in Los Angeles.
Kimura was born in Japan and graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts with a BFA major in oil painting. She moved to the U.S. in 2007 and graduated from the Otis College of Arts and Design in Los Angeles with an MFA in 2011. She recently had an exhibition at the Pomona College Museum of Art and a large publication and solo exhibition at LA Art Core. In 2012, her solo exhibition was held at the museum of Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio. She has exhibited throughout Japan and the U.S.
Hiromi Katayama from Hiromi Paper Inc. has generously donated beautifully crafted washi (traditional handmade Japanese paper) made in Kochi Prefecture. This paper, measuring 96 by 108 inches, was made by the late Kanetoshi Ozaki, a highly skilled maker of Kochi mashi, considered one of the largest papers in Japan. Kochi mashi was his last creation of his 70-year career as a washi craftsman.
This will be the first time in the U.S. for a project this large-scale to be painted by a female artist and will be an opportunity to explore the union of traditional materials (paper) and imagery (the iconography of the Buddha’s death scene) with contemporary painting techniques and a global approach to Buddhist teachings.
Jodo-e (成道会): Bodhi Day is the Buddhist holiday that commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni), experienced enlightenment, also known as bodhi in Sanskrit and Pali. According to tradition, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices and resolved to sit under a peepal tree and simply meditate until he found the root of suffering, and how to liberate oneself from it.
Zenshuji Soto Mission is located at 123 S. Hewitt St. For more information, contact Kimura at info@wakanakimura.com.
