December 22th, 2007 – March 29th, 2008
In conjunction with the tree planting on 26th February 2007 at Karako Primary School and that on 8th of March at Karako Central Park, the exhibition “Life Connecting Tree of Hope – The Kaki Tree Project in Karako” was held from 22nd of December 2007 through 29th of March 2008 at the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels. At the exhibition opening, there were a number of events such as Wadaiko performance, a picture-card show “Persimmon parent and child,” floating origami cranes in toy bamboo leaf boats down a river, reading of “The Garden of Heaven,” a workshop by Mikio Taniguchi from Maruki Gallery Club, etc. The exhibition was jointly organized by the Maruki Gallery, the Garden of Heaven Association , the municipal government of Higashimatsuyama and the Kaki Tree Project, and was divided into four parts. The Maruki Gallery displayed artworks made of PET bottles, bamboo and cocoons which were created by children of Karako Primary School during the workshops (held three times on 8th, 22nd and 29th of November conducted by Ms. Etsuko Maneyama) and the Garden of Heaven Association and the municipal government of Higashimatsuyama displayed their activity reports. The Kaki Tree Project conducted two workshops prior to the exhibition at Karako Primary School. The first one, “Let’s dye the persimmon tree with the color of happiness,” conducted by Ms. Michiko Nakao, was held on 6th of December and the second one, “Let’s draw a picture of Suma-san,” conducted by Mr. Anken Kidani, was on 13th of December 2007 and the executive committee member(s?) took lead in planning the display with a focus on the children’s works. As you enter the exhibition site, you will see photos of the “Bomb survived persimmon tree” and “Seedlings from the bomb survived persimmon tree” as well as a display of photo panels of the project’s activity log and then a display of photos taken during the workshops held at Karako Primary School. In the middle of the exhibition site, there is a big white wall, on which a big persimmon tree is drawn, and the children of Karako Primary School give the colored paper that they made during the workshop of Ms. Nakao to visitors so that visitors can paste the colored paper on the big white persimmon tree to add colors onto the tree. 70 pictures that children drew as they looked closely the painting “Bakuro” by Mrs. Suma Maruki were displayed around the paintings by Mrs. Suma Suzuki and Mr. Kidani, who conducted the workshop.
The big white persimmon tree had become a beautiful colorful persimmon tree near the end of the exhibition period. The pictures of Mrs. Suma’s work by the children were sent after the exhibition to children in Bordeaux, where the tree planting is planned in 2009.
Many children from Karako Primary School visited the Gallery during the exhibition period.
