| PRESS RELEASE August 29, 2007 Contact: Margaret Lyman Phone: 215-878-5097 Email: margaret@shofuso.com Japanese House and Garden Celebrates its “Fall Festival” rain or shine from 11am-5pm on September 9th with Traditional Crafts, Games, Drumming, Martial Arts and Storytelling West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia—Families and students are invited to Shofuso, the Japanese House and Garden for a traditional Japanese festival celebrating the changing seasons on Sunday, September 9 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m, rain or shine. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids, members are free. (Click here for the special discount!) Hands-on craft activities will include fan painting; origami – paper folding, lessons in Sumie – Japanese calligraphy; and making Koi Norbori – fish kites - to take home. Children can try on a traditional kimono and have a picture taken. The day’s entertainment will include martial arts demonstrations, dramatic performances of traditional folk tales, and taiko drummers performing on the “big drums.” Audience members will also have a chance to try their hands at drumming. Traditional Japanese foods and children’s snacks will also be available. Throughout the day, visitors may tour Shofuso, which was designed to replicate a 17th century Japanese scholar’s home. Displayed as part of the house are the ethereal waterfall murals Hiroshi Senju created especially for Shofuso using traditional Nihonga painting techniques. As is customary in Japan, guests are required to take their shoes off when entering the house. “You don’t want to carry all the dirt and dust of the world into the house,” explains Prudence Haines, Executive Director. The home provides a peaceful sanctuary, which is to be protected from the outside world. Shofuso, the Japanese House, also known as Pine Breeze Villa, is a traditional Shoin-zukuri Japanese house with a teahouse and a Japanese garden located in the natural setting of Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park. It was designed by Yoshimura Junzoo, built in 1953 in Nagoya, and presented by the America-Japan Society of Tokyo to the Museum of Modern Art New York for exhibition in 1954-55. It was given to the City of Philadelphia and reassembled at the current site in 1958, with a garden designed by Sano Tansai. For information and directions, please call 215-878-5097 or log on to www.shofuso.com. Japanese House and Garden 4700 States Drive, Ohio House Philadelphia, PA 19131 www.shofuso.com Contact: Prudence P. Haines, Executive Director 215-878-5097, pruh@shofuso.com IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Modern Art in Traditional Building Philadelphia’s Japanese House and Garden June 20, 2007, Philadelphia, PA – Do you love modern art? Do you go see the latest art exhibitions? Does the simplicity of Asian design appeal to you? If so, run, do not walk to the Japanese and House and Garden in Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park and be amazed! Following the ancient Japanese tradition of contemporary Japanese artists dedicating their work to a national historic treasure, internationally acclaimed Nihon-ga painter, Hiroshi Senju created twenty full-scale murals using traditional techniques that were installed on the sliding fusuma doors of the house in April 2007. Working with centuries old techniques, Senju, whose large scale murals grace the walls of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Tokyo International Airport and appeared in the Lexus Pavilion at the Milan Salon in 2005, has captured the essence of falling water. His work has been exhibited all over Japan including at Isetan Museum in Tokyo and the Takamura Museum in Yamanashi. A “sister work” to the one in Philadelphia is permanently installed at the Naoshima Standard & Underground Museum in Shikoku, Japan. The Japanese House and Garden murals traveled and were exhibited at the Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, South Korea and the Yamatane Museum of Art in Japan. Visitors to the Japanese House will experience a uniquely Japanese art form as it can only be seen in Japan. Fusuma murals are best seen sitting quietly enjoying different view of the house, garden and murals as each door is opened or closed. The Friends of the Japanese House and Garden invite you to step back to the serenity of a 17th century scholars’ house and where you will feast your eyes on the best of contemporary art! To encourage you to bring a friend or a loved one, tickets are buy one adult admission get one free during the month of July. (Download the coupon from here!) The Japanese House and Garden is open Tuesday-Friday from 10 am to 4 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. For more information call 215-878-5097 or email at info@shofuso.com or visit our website at www.shofuso.com. ### |
||
|
