By Luke Uyeda
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Throughout this summer, I have been attending a Sumi-e – traditional Japanese ink painting- class at the community center. My sensei, Ryoko Shibata has been teaching this class at the center for over 20 years. My dad told me that when he was 11 years old, he went to sensei’s home in West LA on Saturday mornings with about 25 other kids from the community for an arts and craft class that she taught. My dad is really old now, Shibata Sensei has been teaching art for a long time! |
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sensei is amazing! I have seen her paint landscapes, bamboo, birds, dolls, and flowers. She makes it look so easy and the images looks so real with only a few brush strokes. My grandfather took me for the first time this summer to the Sumie class. I didn’t want to go at first since everyone in the class seemed to be about the same age as my grandfather, and it was at 9:30 AM on Friday mornings! But everyone was really nice and very helpful. Since I am 13 years old - my dad says I contributed to the class by dropping the average class age by at least 5 years. Thank you to my classmates and Shibata Sensei for a cool experience that I will always remember. |
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If you are interested in learning more about Sumi-e, contact Ryoko Shibata by clicking here.