What would you like to see in aikido art

This is a poll to make a collaborative art piece (this has been done before in painting and music) that is developed by a community. Please keep the posts specific and then you can rant!! This will be a ceramic art piece. It can be tile, pottery, sculpture, etc....

I will need the format (tile, pottery, sculpture) and then the details. The details would be content, subject matter, color, size, etc...

Please help and nothing is too crazy!

I will ultimately tally up the results and incorporate the most popular suggestions!! Thanks !!

hmmm not too many people have an opinion... and i dont know much about art... but i say use a lot of black and white. and for size... i dont think it should be too big... just big enough to show some sort of movement/flowing since that is what aikido is about.
yeah i dont really know about what to do for content and subject matter.

I'm guessing you'll be getting your hands dirty, while the rest of us are forced to watch, wait, and be jealous? Or?

In tile a mosaic could have some serious potential, it's not as brief as just one piece of pottery. A sculpture can begin to take on the adequate scale of size needed to reflect the breadth and depth of the art.
But,
I have this hunch the most accessible work, in which the labor necessary can be overtly reflected in the result, would be a mosaic. It's only drawback is that usually they are 2-D, but let me italicize Usually... I have a friend who's a ceramic artist and has collaborated on rather grandiose installations of mosaics. I plan to drag her to aikido sometime as she's got some judo in her history.

Just to summarize, I vote for a mosaic because it comes quickest to mind as a medium that could emote movement, as well as a tell a story, and represent the many styles of aikido that make it greater than the sum of its parts.

Then again, if some sort of installation of all three, or 2 out of 3, or whatever, were possible, (and you stipulated nothing it too crazy). There's lots of room in this idea, let's use it!

michael logan.

How about something in stained glass?

Essentially a mosaic in glass instead of ceramics, that would lend another dimension to things, and glass is readily implemented into mosaics. Now maintaining the glass's attractive attribute, in this case the transmission of light, would/could be worth looking into.

mike

Ok we have 1 vote for a mosaic..Great.
Maybe something easier--- what are the best images in the gallery? I can extrapolate the data from that.
It was worth a shot.

How about an ornamental fountain that has moving parts driven by water perhaps similar to japanese bamboo fountains. Would allow lots of scope abstractly expressing aikido fundamentals discussed elsewhere with obviously the flowing water as ki.

Non-abstract could perhaps be mutliple Ratti style ceramic AIkidoka arranged in a circle/spiral with cups as hands that once full, tip and perform a rough semblance of a technique on another pushing their hand into the waterflow. It might be as tacky as aikido gnomes but its grist for your creative mill!

Duncan Woods wrote: How about an ornamental fountain that has moving parts driven by water perhaps similar to japanese bamboo fountains. Would allow lots of scope abstractly expressing aikido fundamentals discussed elsewhere with obviously the flowing water as ki. Non-abstract could perhaps be mutliple Ratti style ceramic AIkidoka arranged in a circle/spiral with cups as hands that once full, tip and perform a rough semblance of a technique on another pushing their hand into the waterflow. It might be as tacky as aikido gnomes but its grist for your creative mill!

Can I vote for Aikido Gnomes?

You know it makes sense.

Cheers,

Matt.

That sounds pretty funky, Duncan, I like it. Aikido Gnomes is also priceless. They'd be the masters of shihonage. A fountain would be beautiful, and this Ratti style you describe sounds fascinating. It's google time.

mike

Duncan Woods wrote: How about an ornamental fountain that has moving parts driven by water perhaps similar to japanese bamboo fountains. Would allow lots of scope abstractly expressing aikido fundamentals discussed elsewhere with obviously the flowing water as ki. Non-abstract could perhaps be mutliple Ratti style ceramic AIkidoka arranged in a circle/spiral with cups as hands that once full, tip and perform a rough semblance of a technique on another pushing their hand into the waterflow. It might be as tacky as aikido gnomes but its grist for your creative mill!

I hope you give your next grading as much thought as you've given this!

did you know I have gnomes? I had 5 for my 30th birthday from my mum...she promised me something no one else would ever buy me!

How right she was!

Only 2 of them have survived the rigorous training in my backyard dojo.

Would your gnomes have little bokkens instead of fishing rods?

I'll shut up now.

D

Those are inventive ideas. Sounds like fun.... keep them coming!!

Daren Sims wrote: did you know I have gnomes?

And we thought you'd just done to much Shikko.

Thank you. *bows before being yanked off stage.*

Cheers,

Matt.

Has anyone ever done a sculpture of aikido kanji in 3 Dimensions? Perhaps do 3 different sculptures of each:







OH YEAH! Make on of the Kanji spherical, another cubical and the last triangular or pyramid like! Oh hell yeah, I'm loving this idea. I can see it in a gallery right now. Heck, I might even try it myself! LOL

Do the "Ai" as a cube to symbolize the "harmony under one roof" idea.

Do the "Ki" as a sphere to symbolize its commonality in all directions with all things.

Do the "Do" as the pyramid to emphasize and symbolize being well grounded and stable as a "way."

Anybody else seeing what I'm seeing? UGH! I'm LOVIN' THIS !!

Matt Molloy wrote: And we thought you'd just done to much Shikko. Thank you. *bows before being yanked off stage.* Cheers, Matt.

nice one!

John Boswell wrote: Has anyone ever done a sculpture of aikido kanji in 3 Dimensions?...

To extend this idea: Why not create a tabletop stabile or mobile? In that way you can incorporate the movements of aikido into the piece.

Got the idea from John's avatar.

Ted Ehara wrote: To extend this idea: Why not create a tabletop stabile or mobile? In that way you can incorporate the movements of aikido into the piece. Got the idea from John's avatar.

Excellent idea, Ted! I like that one too!

a mobile, I love it. Plus I love the idea that John with the sweet avatar came up with to sculpt 2 d kanji in 3 d? The sphere/cube/pyramid is easy to see, but 3-d kanji hurts my brain, in a good way.

What if we could get the raw materials on tour of various seminars over the course of a year? Everyone who signs in would be invited to sculpt their aikido in a hand full of clay? Or, just mess around with it as a symbol of their unseen contribution to aikido world wide

logan.

Okay, that's two more "avatar" comments! Let me go on the record and publicly admit, before God and everybody: I STOLE IT! Yes, that sweet avatar, just like all the aikido that I have ever learned... was all stolen and made my own.

I just want to be clear, because I really can't take credit for it... other than the fact that it's now mine! MUahahahaa!!

I now return you to your artsy thread... already in progress!

Mike Logan wrote: What if we could get the raw materials on tour of various seminars over the course of a year? Everyone who signs in would be invited to sculpt their aikido in a hand full of clay? Or, just mess around with it as a symbol of their unseen contribution to aikido world wide logan.

*Begins to weep into pint of ale at the thought of Aikido raffiawork just being around the corner.*

Doomed! We're all doomed I tell you!

Matt.

A sculpture sounds the best, or a sculpture/water container.

Content/Subject matter can be some organic shape or twisting shapes.

Color white and black sounded good.

Size no larger than 3 feet tall.

I think mosaic patterns would ruin the flow of the shape unless the mosaics were rounded, and follow the flow somehow.

I'll try to sketch what I'm thinking.

I would love to see a vase, about 18 inches tall and 12 inches in diameter at the widest. The surface would be similar to "shakkido" finish, with a dragonfly in copper and another in burnished gold finish. I'm sure I misspelled "shakkido", but the finish is what one can find on sword fittings with a blue-black sort of color. Not very original or inventive, but would look terrific with a white orchid.

Matt Molloy wrote: *Begins to weep into pint of ale at the thought of Aikido raffiawork just being around the corner.* Doomed! We're all doomed I tell you! Matt.

Or Aikido macrame...

As far as the gnomes go, I prefer flamingos.

Jeanne

Jeanne Shepard wrote: Or Aikido macrame...

AAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!


Nononononooooo!!!!! Make it stop!

*goes to get very drunk*

Matt.

How about a sort of cuckoo clock, with various famous aikidoka, instead of cuckoos?

Clocks have lots of circles.

(And a digital version with Jedi!)

Ok ok, the next time I go watch a class, I'll take my knitting...

kvaak
Pauliina