The Windgate Museum of Art brought together Conway residents by putting an Arkansas twist on the traditional Japanese art of Gyotaku fish printing on Feb. 26.
Gyotaku, which translates to “fish [gyo] stone impression [taku],” or “fish printing,” is a printmaking technique traditionally used by Japanese fishermen to record the fish that they catch.
The event was inspired by the Windgate Museum’s exhibition, “Tight Lines,” which displays fine art by local and regional artists who create pieces about fishing and waterways in Arkansas.
One of the inspirations of the exhibit was a project carried out by a Hendrix student as a part of an engaged learning program called the Odyssey Program.
Gyotaku fish printing is traditionally done by brushing ink onto live fish in the direction of the scales, and then laying rice paper over the painted side of the fish. The rice paper is then lifted off of the fish to reveal the print of the fish, and the eye is hand-drawn in the final product.
At the Windgate Museum’s event, participants painted wooden fish models to print onto rice paper with acrylic paint.
Junior Oliver Naumann decided to fulfill one of his requirements for the program in the category of Artistic Creativity by learning how to tie fishing flies.
“For his arts requirement, not an artist, Oliver [Naumann] decided to he really wanted to learn how to tie flies,” Windgate Museum of Art director Christian Cutler said, “He sketched out the different types of insects and fish that he wanted to try to recreate in a fishing fly, and made each one of these [flies] as a part of this project and documented it.”
Other exhibits display works by artists from Arkansas and Missouri that represent local fishing practices and freshwater wildlife.
The Windgate Museum of Art hosts Windgate Wednesdays every month, and they include art-related activities as well as a food component for participants.
Although not all Windgate Wednesdays are necessarily related to each other or correlated with exhibits on display at the museum, a lot of the events hosted by the Windgate Museum of Art draw inspiration from the “Tight Lines” exhibition.
“This semester, a lot of our art activities are related to the art exhibits we have here [at the museum], which are nature-based and fishing-related,” said event organizer Trevion Williams.
The next Windgate Wednesday event will feature another Japanese art activity related to fish: Koinobori, which translates to “carp [koi] flag [nobori],” or “carp streamer.”
Koinobori are carp-shaped windsocks that are traditionally flown in Japan when celebrating Tango no sekku, which is now designated as Children’s Day, which takes place every year on May 5, and the streamers have become the official symbol of Children’s Day, with many families flying one for each of their children.
Williams said that these events are important because they not only provide a sense of community; they also provide opportunities for Hendrix students and other Conway community members to learn about art.
“With the community here, I think it’s important that they get a lot of exposure to these different types of activities that they might not get other places [nearby] because we don’t have, for example, a Crystal Bridges nearby, or other stuff of that nature,” Williams said.
Windgate Wednesday events are open not only to Hendrix students, but all members of the Conway community.
Information about upcoming events held at the Windgate Museum of Art at Hendrix College can be found on its website.