PULLMAN — Children can learn the Japanese art of fish printing at a free workshop offered by the Washington State University Museum of Art Sept. 8 at the Fine Arts Center.
The workshop, “Not for Cooking Only,” will introduce children in grades K-5 to the art of “gyotaku,” or fish printing. Participants will learn the art’s history and how to identify parts of a fish by working with Lina Quock, artist and museum education coordinator. The children will create fish prints of trout, blue gill, carp and others. A morning workshop for grades K-2 will be from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., while grades 3-5 will meet from 1:30 until 3:30 p.m.
Gyotaku originated about 100 years ago in Japan as a way for sports fishermen to record the exact size and species of fish they had caught. Today, Japanese sports fishermen often display gyotaku as wall decorations in their homes or keep them to document their success in the sport.
The workshop is being presented in conjunction with the Museum of Art exhibition “The Raw and the Cooked: A Cabinet of Curiosities from the Collections of Washington State University,” which brings together an array of objects and artifacts from WSU’s museums and collections.
A second workshop for middle and high school students, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall,” is scheduled for Oct. 13 in the Fine Arts Center. Also in conjunction with “The Raw and the Cooked,” the workshop offers an opportunity for older students to create a mirror sculpture using materials provided by the museum and such embellishments as old jewelry, beads and shells. A morning session for middle school students will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.; high school students attend the afternoon session from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Each workshop will be preceded by a tour of “The Raw and the Cooked.” All materials for the gyotaku workshop will be provided. Participants in the mirror workshop should bring various small-size embellishments from home.
For more information, contact Roslyn Wise, WSU Museum of Art, 509/335-1910. To register for either workshop, contact Pullman Parks and Recreation, 509/334-4555, Ext. 227.
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