California Aiseki Kai Celebrates its 20th Annual Stone Show at the Huntington Library, Dec 26 – Jan 2, 2010 (Closed Jan 1)
Viewing Stone Exhibition at the Huntington Library on Dec 26, 2009 (Cultural News Photo)
Harry Hirao: Near mountain, 16 w x 9 d x 10 h
Bruce McGinnis: Red pattern stone, 7 w x 5 d x 8.5 h
Nina Ragle: Near mountain / plateau, 12 w x 7 d x 12 h
Paul Vasina: Near mountain scene, 13 w x 9 d x 21 h
By Larry Ragle, California Aiseki Kai
If I was writing a script for a movie featuring the birth of the Japanese art of stone appreciation I was craft a scene, time frame 600 to 800 years ago, where a man, say, a samurai in traditional dress is wading across a shallow creek.
From his line of sight we see a bright reflection breaking the surface of the water. The samurai changes his course and reaches down and removes a small stone from the creek bed. As he holds the stone at arms length, first we see his harden facial expression fade slightly to a sense of recognition.
Then as the camera zooms in on the stone we see his line of sight, a profile of peaks not dissimilar from the distant mountain's profile captured in the background creating an unbroken scene, as far as one can imagine, the whole world in his hand. As he returns to his original trek we see his back as he slides the stone into his pouch. Found art!
San Sui Kei Jo Seki - Stones that Excite the Mind
The members of California Aiseki Kai will present their 20th Anniversary Viewing Stone Exhibition at the Huntington Library's Friends Hall, December 26, 2009 through January 2, 2010, 10:30 to 4:30 - closed January 1st.
Docents will be available for tours or to answer your questions about this art form and the club's year long activities. There will be periodic slide shows explaining the artistic and the mechanical aspect of viewing stones- found art.
Rocks have been man's "ticket" to civilization, used as weapons and tools to survive, to build homes, roads, bridges, as currency and eventually to carve objects of art.
There is no way to pin point that definitive moment when man noticed that a single stone held at just the right angle was suggestive of a far larger scene- a mountain, a water fall or distant island. By 600 A.D., scrolls depict a single stone in a stand inside a studio or home.
Although some world travelers were aware of viewing stones as early as the 1800s it wasn't until the 1960s that westerners became deeply interested. After WW II Japanese -Americans in California displayed bonsai and included viewing stones in local shows.
California Aiseki Kai was formed in 1983 by Nina and Larry Ragle as a study group associated with the California Bonsai Society at the suggestion of John Naka, world renowned bonsai artist and sensei.
Aiseki Kai continues to meet monthly at the Ken Nakaoka Community Center in Gardena. For more information go to – www.aisekikai.com and view our award winning newsletter.