Japanese Canadian Vegetables & Flowers: Haiku and Block Printmaking
Saturday, March 25th from 1 to 3 pm
at the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall
487 Alexander Street (at Jackson), Vancouver
NOT AT WePress!
Free drop-in workshop, open to all ages.
All materials provided.
This event will take place on the ground floor, which is fully wheelchair accessible.
WePressVancouver [at] gmail.com

In a special new series of workshops for all ages, participants will create haiku (3-line poetry), and use block printmaking to create artworks that celebrate the vegetables and flowers of significance for Japanese Canadians. Many of these plants were grown in family gardens in pre-war days, and in small gardens that families created outside of their makeshift shacks in the camps when Japanese Canadians were incarcerated during World War II. These plants were also grown on larger plots of land established in the camps.

From daikon to chrysanthemums, participants will choose a vegetable or flower and can create a haiku poem or use one provided. The short poem will be stamped in combination with a vegetable or flower block provided by WePress or that participants can create themselves (the completion of your own block will depend on when you arrive and how much time you need, but there will be pre-made blocks available for anyone to use for printmaking).

We are also asking those that have stories of Japanese vegetables and flowers from their own experiences and families, to please bring them to share. We are collecting stories as well as the artwork created in these workshops to share online.

This workshop is part of a series produced in collaboration with the Powell Street Festival Society and funded by Metro Vancouver. This event is a collaboration with the Vancouver Japanese Language School & Japanese Hall.