A Week of Art Events with Artist and Author Kazuaki Tanahashi
Co-sponsored by Zen Center of Syracuse, Syracuse University, Cultural
Resources Council, Syracuse Peace Council, Peace Action, Society for New
Music
September 15-21, 2005
Kazuaki Tanahashi, a Berkeley-based artist, a Zen scholar and author of
more than 25 books, and a worker for peace and environmental change who
travels internationally to speak, create art, and conduct brush
workshops and retreats, will be in Syracuse for a week-long residency at
the Zen Center of Syracuse during which he will conduct a calligraphy
demonstration at the Everson Museum of Art, give two public lectures at
Syracuse University and meet with art students there as a visiting
artist, lead a day-long brush workshop at the Zen Center, and
participate in the center's regular schedule of morning and evening
meditation.
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On Monday, Sept. 19, from 7 to 9 p.m., Tanahashi will be featured in a
benefit performance called "A Brush with Our Time" at Onondaga Valley
Presbyterian Church. Shakuhachi (bamboo flute) Grand Master Ronnie
Seldin from New York City will play a traditional Zen composition;
Syracuse-based composers from the Society of New Music will present
original compositions of several of Tanahashi's "Peace Poems" performed
by professional musicians from Central New York; and Syracuse jazz
singers Marcia Rutledge and Connie Walters will perform another of his
poems set to music by a California composer. Drummers in a peace circle
will play as a backdrop during a reading of Tanahashi's poems by Jacob
Reeder. Tanahashi wrote 150 of these poems during 2002 and 2003 and
invited a number of friends to set them to music. To date, fifty have
been set by composers in classical, folk, world, choral and new music.
Throughout these musical and spoken word performances, Tanahashi will
create the large-scale calligraphies and paintings for which he has a
world-wide reputation. Other works by Tanahashi will be on view, and a
silent auction will be conducted during the evening. Refreshments will
be served in the Social Hall after the performance. The cost is $30
advance sale, $50 at the door; sliding scale available. The proceeds
will benefit the Zen Center of Syracuse, the Syracuse Peace Council, and
Peace Action of Central New York.
Tickets will be available at the Zen Center (send check with name,
address, phone number and number of tickets requested to Zen Center of
Syracuse, 266 W. Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse, NY 13207); the Syracuse Real
Food Coop, 618 Kensington Road (off Westcott Street); and at the
Westcott Street Festival on Sept. 18 at the Syracuse Real Food Coop and
Syracuse Peace Council booths.
Tanahashi's paintings are in public collections throughout the world.
To celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the United Nations, he and
colleagues from the American School of Japanese Arts created a
multicolored, 26-by-30-foot painting, "Circle of All Nations," that was
hung on the front of San Francisco's War Memorial Building (where the UN
Charter was first signed). Trained in Japan as a painter and
calligrapher, Tanahashi has been active in the United States since 1977.
He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. His books
include /Endless Vow: the Zen Path of Soen Nakagawa/ (with Eido T.
Shimano and Shinge Roshi); / Penetrating Laughter: Hakuin's Zen
and Art; Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen; Enlightenment
Unfolds: The Essential Teachings of Zen Master Dogen, /and /Essential
Zen/ (with David Schneider).
Complete list of Tanahashi's Syracuse demonstrations, workshops,
performances and lectures:
Brushwork Prayers for Peace, a Zen Calligraphy Demonstration with
Kazuaki Tanahashi, Thursday, Sept. 15, 12-1:30 p.m., free.
Co-sponsored by the Cultural Resources Council at the Everson Museum
of Art in the Children's Interactive Gallery.
Beyond Thinking: Understanding Zen, a talk at Syracuse University,
Friday, Sept. 16, 3-4 p.m. A reception will follow. Free and open to
the public; co-sponsored by Syracuse University's Student Buddhist
Association, Graduate Student Organization, Religion Department, and
Hendricks Chapel; and by the Zen Center of Syracuse. Grant
Auditorium, School of Law.
ENSO: Creating Zen Brush Circles with Kazuaki Tanahashi, Saturday,
Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., $75. A brushwork retreat focusing on the
circle, exploring form and emptiness. "Where the halo is a flat and
perfectly round disc, still and contained, the enso or Zen circle is
multi-directional, flowing, often asymmetrical, unpredictable. It is not
a representation, but an unmediated experience of the present moment,
which has no beginning, no end, no limitation, and no unchanging form…
[it] represents the interconnectedness of all life, and closes the
illusory gap between artistic endeavor and spiritual truth, between
metaphysical investigation and community engagement."--Shinge Roshi, in the forthcoming book Circle: The Art of Kazuaki Tanahashi.
No experience required, just an open mind and ability to enjoy the
moment. Brushes, paper, and ink will be supplied. Register as soon as
possible; space is limited. Zen Center of Syracuse, Joshua Forman House,
266 W. Seneca Turnpike.
A Brush with Our Time: A Benefit Performance of Tanahashi's Art and
Songs for Peace and the Environment, Monday, Sept.19, 7-9 p.m., $30
advance sales, $50 at the door (sliding scale available), to benefit the
Zen Center of Syracuse, the Syracuse Peace Council, and Peace Action of
CNY. Grand Master Ronnie Seldin performs on the shakuhachi (Zen bamboo
flute). Peace poems written by Tanahashi, sung by jazz singers Marcia
Rutledge and Connie Walters; others set to music by Society for New
Music composers and performed by professional musicians from Central New
York; and read to accompaniment by local drummers, as Tanahashi creates
calligraphy and full-color Zen circles. His art will be available for
sale in a silent auction during the reception that follows. Onondaga
Valley Presbyterian Church, 275 W. Seneca Turnpike (opposite the Zen
Center of Syracuse).
The Art of Asian Calligraphy, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m., free.
Visiting artist slide lecture at Syracuse University's School of Art,
Shaffer Art Building, Shemin Auditorium.
Tuesday/Wednesday noon-5 p.m.: demonstrations, master classes with art
students.
Biographical Information on Several of the Benefit Performers:
Nyogetsu Ronnie Seldin will perform on the shakuhachi (bamboo flute
associated with Zen practice). This internationally renowned musician
was recently awarded his second Koku-An Dai-Shihan (the Grand Master's
lincense at the ninth dan level) from Japan's National Living Treasure
in shakuhachi, Aoki Reibo Sensei. Seldin received his first Dai-Shihan
in 1980 from Kurahashi Yodo Sensei, becoming the first non-Japanese to
do so. He teaches shakuhachi at the Zen Center every other month, and
many of his CDs are available in the Sangha store. He is founding
director of Ki-Sui-An Shakuhachi Dojo, a school with five branches in
three states, and is director of performing arts at the Tenri Cultural
Institute in Manhattan.
Marcia Rutledge is a long-term member of the Syracuse community, having
graduated from Syracuse University with a master's degree in school
psychology. She studied music with John Monkman, formerly the director
of /Spirit of Song/. Rutledge has participated in a wide range of
musical groups, including a folk songwriting duo, an a capella trio, the
/Spirit of Song/ ensemble of 24 voices, an eight-piece swing band, and
numerous configurations of small jazz ensembles. She is currently in the
process of recording her fourth CD with longtime associate Al Grunwell
of Fingerlakes Recording. Rutledge is the proud grandmother of Moebius
Slate Rutledge.
Connie Walters holds degrees in art history and music education. She has
spearheaded the formation of vocal ensembles in the classical and swing
genres, and is a long-term member of the Syracuse Oratorio Society.
Walters was also a member of the notorious pop-rock group /The
Legwarmers/, on keyboards and vocals. Walters currently studies African
drumming and together with her husband, Mark Bostick, hosts the weekly
World Music radio show Sunday evenings on WAER.
For more information call the Zen Center, (315) 492-9773.
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