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Thursday, December 19, 2019

Royal Society of NSW will publish Humboldt Symposium

Humboldt Symposium is to be published next year in a special issue of the Journal of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of NSW. I worked as a conference sketcher and it turned out a huge success. Many positive feedback came to my work. Really an amazing experience in my career. Please read here. You find me lots in the post and photos, Humboldt Symposium. In twitter, people most hit my sketch of a keynote speaker, Prof Siouxsie Wiles (Microbiology; University of Auckland).
Now, I've begun to understand Humboldt Foundation is the global PhD association. DAAD, too, supports PhD candidates and holders. 
The dinner party was a great fun, socialisation and net working among academics and top notches. 

I met Masako Fukui, a wonderful  bilingual writer, former social worker and journalist. She advocates non English speakers and fights for social justice. She's worked with Sheila, a language on the move team member, author, writer, editor, producer, radiomaker, scholar and comms professional.
Btw, Ingrid and other team members giggled and smiled at the 3 yrs old boy, a linguist’s son and me. He was very shy and would not come close to anyone, but soon he started to play with me that impressed others. We enjoyed a hide and seek.  
 
This conference sketcher work could pave my way to get more opportunities from academics and others. I thank for Prof Ingrid Piller's support. She always invites me and encourages me to restudy sociolinguistics. Thank you very much for Ingrid and her team. You worked so hard behind scene. You're the real heroes! 


Finally, Friends, thank you for a great patience for my post. I’ve been working hard to submit images, a deadline is in this month. But I’d keep posting interesting topics and good sketches. Have a great week. Friends, Happy Painting.      



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Tuesday, November 12, 2019

See you at Humboldt Symposium at Macquarie uni

Please join Humboldt Symposium,” cutting-edge social and natural science programs in Macquarie uni, Nov 22-24. Registration, here https://bit.ly/2k5JbYE A great honour, I'll sketch it as a conference artist! Language on the Move" 10th Anniversary, too. 
This is the information on Humboldt and Humboldtians. "Mysterious Humboldtians : Why they'll soon be gathering at Macquarie." Hehehe?!!   
Yes, all these gangs are there and welcome you!! 
See you soon, Friends! Let's have fun. 



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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The work is selected for ParaArt fes Tokyo

Thank you very much for the strong support. "The Joy of Reading in a Library" was selected from Australia for International ParaArt in Tokyo, Nov 20 to 24. www.paraart.jp. Very happy. I'm getting very busy with the illustration of the picturebook project funded by Australia Gov, preparation of Humboldt Symposium at Macquarie uni from Nov 22 to 24 and more projects. So, hopefully, I will post interesting posts on the symposium and other events. So much appreciate your patience! If you are interested in my activities, you can look up Sadami Konchi facebook.  
This boy was absorbed in imagination and a super hero world. 
My sketch pleased so much the boy and the mother.  
“Art Goes Beyond Borders and Disabilities,” ParaArt run by Japan Charity aims at public awareness of human rights, inclusion, advocacy and empowerment of people with disability at a global level. This time, Japan Charity has invited children with disability, particularly. I hope many people will enjoy the exhibition and the events. 
ParaArt Sponsors : Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Agency for Cultural Affairs,Tokyo Metropolitan Government,The Japanese Red Cross Society, Japan UNICEF Committee, The People’s Republic of China Embassy, Korean Embassy.

Now, I've got back to work. 
Friends, have a wonderful and productive week! 
Happy Painting!!


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Friday, September 20, 2019

Honoured for May Gibbs Fellowship 2022

I've gained May Gibbs Fellowship 2022 in Adelaide residency for 4 weeks (*postponed due to the pandemic). The most prestigious and famous program. Only 6 professionals are selected across Australia. Thank you very much for support and guide, particularly, Helen Chamberlin, Ann James, Libby Hathorn. Many people are celebrating my good news at Sadami's facebook as well as CBCA, SCBWI, Accessible Arts NSW, National Association for the Visual Arts, WestWords, linguists/uni professors etc.   
This Creative Time Fellowship is designed for professionals and so competitive to get it. The most historical and famous fellowship among authors and picture book illustrators in Australia. So, I still cannot believe my good news. Very happy. 
I'll be creative and productive and grow as an artist in this wonderful opportunity. 
Thank you very much for support for ages, Friends. Let's enjoy drawing. 
Happy Painting and Illustrating! 








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Sunday, September 8, 2019

Invitation to Humboldt Symposium, Macquarie Uni

Language on the Move" 10th Anniversary Year! Please join “Humboldt Symposium,” cutting-edge social and natural science programs in Macquarie uni, Nov 22-24. Registration, here https://bit.ly/2k5JbYE A great honour, I'll sketch it as a conference artist! I’ve looked at LOTM from the beginning and its growing. 
Alexander von Humboldt, Portrait by Friedrich Georg Weitsch,1806. Photographer, Karin März.
LOTM Starting up was very tough, but Prof Ingrid Piller has kept up her activities – fought for social justice and advocated the disadvantaged by leading research and critical analyses. Many prominent sociolinguists have come out from her supervision. They've formed a world leading sociolinguist team, “Language On the Move”. Their humanistic blog posts have gained a big praise in academia and world. Today, foremost linguists visit LOTM. Congrats, Ingrid, Team!! Friends, come and see this face and her team!

Image result for Humboldt Conference macquarie uni
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Monday, August 26, 2019

Arts Activated Conference 2019

Fantastic. I really enjoyed the conference. I made friends with artists, institutions, universities in Australia as well as overseas. What a wonderful day! Great fun, catching up with old and new friends. Btw, I come up a bit in the video that shows I'm sketching a person. 
Day 1 Video 
Program is here. Great speakers. 
https://home.artsactivated2019.com/program/
Day 2 Video  Btw I come up in the video, too. I enjoyed the workshops and networking. This conference has shown methods and tools to expand an artist's career to the future. Talking of me, another residential council staff has contacted me after the conference. With them, I'm now enjoying a chat over my potential future job.  
Friends, have you ever attended any conferences or workshops? Try them. Don't be shy. They will give you more opportunities, helpful knowledge and new friends. 
Thank you very much, Accessible Arts, for your hard work.







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Monday, August 19, 2019

Spring, Hope and Dream

Cherry blossoms are a national flower to Japan. They are, now, blooming out in Sydney. Lovely. A spring always reminds me of hope and dream or wishes. My dream is to create a quality picture book!  
Re a children picture book illustration, I'm placing the text on the images/spreads in the storyboard. Mentors, publisher Helen Chamberlin and Ann James give me very positive feedback and a great encouragement and guide. Busy. This Thursday and Friday, I'll attend the Arts Activated Conference for people with disability. If you are interested in it, come over! 
Image result for arts activated 2019
I love to see life coming up again in a spring after a winter. Tiny greens whisper how strong life is in a chilly wind. Always, a spring will come. Yet, I feel, one condition applies or hope, if we want to get into a spring in our human society. Keeping hope or never give up hope, is the crucial condition to make it happen. That requires courage and guts.  

I'll keep up. Take care, Friends. If you join, see you at the conference. Let us have hope and dream. 
Happy Painting and Have a Creative Week! 



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Monday, August 12, 2019

Japan Trip, Kanazawa

Thank you for waiting for the post. I’ve submitted the storyboard and all colour roughs of a picture book project funded by Australia Gov! Hurrah! Busy, but very happy and fun. Picture book illustration often requires painstaking efforts and research. Back to the topic, our Japan trip. 

After Matsushima, Libby Hathorn and I visited Kanazawa for research. I collected data on shrines and temples, too. This is a shrine. I began to understand the differences between Buddhism temples and Shinto shrines in architecture. Such information has become my references for illustration. 
As well as shrines and temples, I was very interested in old fashioned houses or Higashi Chaya and a famous garden, “Kenrokuen”, historical places and a Japanese castle. This place is called, "Higashi Chaya." Libby and I looked around Basho visited temple, an old samurai owned house and historical spots. They have become my great references. A guide kindly explained the facts very well and helped our understandings.  
Kenrokuen is known for the beautiful garden that has Basho's haiku spots. We walked through lovely trees, flowers and a sweet air on mosses. Unlike Australia, it's relatively humid. There were ponds, too. Landscapes are very beautiful.  
Now, I'm enjoying creating the images for the picture book in Sydney. I deeply thank you for the staff at Japanese hotels, a kind guide and lovely Japanese people who helped us. Libby and I will create an interesting picture book on Basho and children! 
Thank you very much for support! 
You, too, Friends, enjoy drawing and illustration. 
Happy Painting! 












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Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Japan Trip, Matsushima Part 3


Hi, Friends, I’ve been working on the images and a storyboard for the picture book project funded by Australian Gov. I visited Entsū-in known for a beautiful garden, Godaidō on an island,  zen temple Zuiganji (瑞巌寺), etc, to collect the visual images and data in Matsushima. Temples have been a community centre in a local area like church in Western countries. It was crucial for Basho and Sora to visit there, connected them and ran their haiku workshops to establish a new literature, haikai in Edo era. 

Entsū-in in Matsushima has a beautiful architecture and a "karesansui" garden that shows waterstreams by rocks. 
Godaidō: Temple on an Island just next to the pier in Matsushima. An author Libby Hathorn and I visited there at the beginning of a summer. Haiku poet Basho (1644–94) loved Matsushima’s moon and the beautiful scenery in his travel poem diary. Like him, I've rediscovered the beauty of Japan in the trip.
Zuiganji (瑞巌寺) is one of the most famous Zen temples in Tohoku area. Basho and Sora visited temples and shrines. Btw the 2011 tsunami had damaged many trees I realised on the way to the main hall entrance, below. Zuiganji was having a rock or pop music (?) freebie open concert in the evening! Certainly, a temple still plays the role of a community centre like church in Australia. 
A kitchen in Zuiganji, in the past. The kitchen and the hall are Japanese national treasures. In my memory, a museum is near to this kitchen. Libby and I learned about a Japanese history.
Matsushima is so beautiful that has a sea, mountains, historical architectures and a museum. People are so kind to us, visitors. 
Those images and experiences have become great inspiration for me and I'm creating illustrations. I hope my inspirations will bloom out in this project.
Friends, happy painting!  



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Thursday, July 18, 2019

Japan Trip, Matsushima Part 2

Certainly, I enjoyed "graffiti" in a lovely Italian restaurant, "Toto," in Matsushima! I drew the managers (*manager Kanji Abe, Chef Mai Miyachika) on the wall! They loved my work and added an "extra" stuff on my plate. Yam! It was great! I always wanted to draw on the wall freely. A wall should be, the bigger, the better. With jealousy, I would look at a huge graffiti along the railway lines walls to uni, ahaha?! Now, my dream came true. Here we go. 
manager Kanji Abe, Chef Mai Miyachika. Kanji executes the shop well and offers a very good customer service. Mai creates splendid dishes I love. It was a wonderful break for an artist in a research trip in Japan. 
Btw, my tips of caricatures on walls are... "guts" and that's all! You know, regarding graffiti,  there's no way back in drawing on a wall. But paradoxically, a relaxed mind is essential to produce lively drawings. Yes, if a hand gets stiff from a high tension, she only creates a dull work. 
The best moment was celebrating my graffiti with all the people in the shop. The wonderful dish is on the table. Can you see it in the photo below? We have become friends after this and keep in touch. Wow, another bonus from a trip!  
Author Libby Hathorn on this project
Thank you very much for great food and wonderful time!
I'm sure Basho and Sora, too, were setting up networking in a northern part of Japan by their trip on feet. Not easy to make friends with others though, it is a joy in life. Our trip continues to explore Japan. 
Friends, Happy Painting. Draw everywhere and anywhere. 


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Monday, July 8, 2019

Japan Trip, Matsushima Part 1

Thank you very much for your patience! This post shows landscapes in Matsushima. There are mountains, rice fields, a sea and islands, all together at once! In the trip, I was very keen to collect the images of countrysides and traditional houses, temples and shrines. In Matsushima, Basho and Sora produced haiku in beautiful landscapes and to the beautiful moon. They connected the local haiku poets and promoted the new literature, haiku in a Japanese northeast area. I admire Basho's enthusiasm and dedication for haiku. A following post will show famous temples. I wanted to feel the similarity and the differences between Japan and Australia, too. 

I tried to feel my being in Matsushima with all my senses like Basho. I projected myself onto the poet in Edo era. What did he feel in that taste, a breeze, an early summer etc, etc? The experienced feelings have become the catalyst to create drawings and paintings. 

Azaleas humbly, yet, beautifully bloomed out, being left over, at the side of a road between rice paddies. All quiet. No one. I walked around and along rice fields, forests, some hills and a sea. 
Walking in green is so lovely. Unlike Australia, trees have "rigid" shapes in Japan. Plants, too, are different. Wild flowers and trees interested me most. 
Matsushima means "pine tree islands" in Japanese. Indeed, so many pine trees are on little-dots-like islands in Matsushima Bay known for beauty. It was said that even a master of word, Basho had been at a loss for words when he first saw the hundreds of pine-clad islets scattered in Matsushima Bay during a 17th-century journey to the Tohoku region. Also, residents told me those tiny islands had protected them from the tsunami or shock waves from a big earthquake in 2011.
What do you feel about these landscapes? Some readers are in a southern hemisphere. Do you feel difference of nature in a northern hemisphere? 
The collected images have become the great references for illustration ongoing! I'm delightedly and confidently working on the storyboard, the illustration and becoming very busy with many projects and the documentation of the trip, too. I thank for your support and the Australia Council for the Arts.  
Friends, Happy Painting and Illustration!   


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Monday, May 20, 2019

Japan Research Trip of Basho funded by Australian Gov

Japan Research Trip on Basho with celebrated author Libby Hathorn, funded by Australian Gov, will start from this Thu. International School visit in Tokyo will be fun! We'll trace back a part of Basho's journey, absorb ourselves into landscapes and people.

See you soon, children in an international school!  
I will sketch around and interview people to build up the images of Basho and our characters, little children in the text. Particularly, I'll collect visual information in museums, figures, land scenes etc as much as possible. 
Then, when we'll come home, we'll work on our picturebook project.  
Basho's Journey in Edo Era
I so much appreciate my supporters :  Helen Chamberlin, Books Illustrated, Margaret Hamilton AM, Susanne Gervay AM, Dr Robin Morrow, Gail Erskine, university lecturers, peak bodies/CBCA, SCBWI, ASA, NAVA, Accessible Arts NSW, WestWords, etc. 
Thank you very much for your support, Friends!! Above all, Australia Council for the arts! 
We’ll do our best to produce a quality Australian picturebook and contribute to the cultural exchange between Australia and Japan, and moreover, at the global level.   
Happy Painting and Happy Illustrating!



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Monday, May 13, 2019

International Board of Books for Young People, Lost in Books

In a new institution Lost in Books, I thoroughly enjoyed a great exhibition of 191 Honour Books from 60 countries in 50 languages selected by the International Board on Books for Young PeopleIBBY Honour books’ rich creativity and great diversity should be appreciated all over the world, Dr Robin Morrow claimed at the Best Books of the World exhibition launch. (*I once met Lost in Books in the event run by WestWords.)  
Honour books bridge across languages, cultures and generations. Robin proudly asserted, “Children’s books can be anything but childish!” In a socioeconomic and cultural aspect, it is vital to read books with young people, support bookshops and libraries so that children will gain literacy, knowledge, linguistic competence, self-esteem and furthermore, empathy.
With historical facts of IBBY, Robin urged audience to consider the current social issues, the importance of children’s literature and the support of literacy activities from micro to macro levels. Robin and I got excited together to celebrate that my mentor, Ann James and Libby Gleeson were current nominees of Anderson Award. Robin has always encouraged me and taught me about children's literature since the start of my career. Thank you very much, Robin. 
Wordless picture book and Lost in Books Staff. 
I bought a silent picture book and my favourite Canadian illustrator's book.
Sensible and thoughtful labels 

Regarding the linguistic diversity in a residential area, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese are majority. I visited Fairfield public library and examined the demography from a catalogue and librarians. In the exhibition, lovely to see the books related to Aboriginal people on the shelf. Wordless picture books are displayed as well as others. 
Thank you very much, Lost in Books staff, for hard work and a lovely smile. May this little shop bring children literature, dream, hope and love. If you like, come to my facebook. IBBY shared my FB post. 
Friends, if you have a chance, come over to this exhibition. You can find your own treasure! 
Small is powerful!
 




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