Prof. Mamoru Abe from Japan’s University of Teacher Education Fukuoka conducted a metal sculpture workshop at TNUA in September.

During the workshop, which ran from September 20 to 29, Prof. Abe guided the students through a contemplation of the essence of art through the creation of metal sculptures.

Prof. Abe, who specializes in sculptures and contemporary arts education and research, finds inspiration for his work from the environment, and explores the possibilities of art and its connections with the environment in cross-boundary media.

Prof. Abe has taken part in various international exhibitions and artist-in-residence projects. He has been guest artist at Bergen Arkitekt Skole in Norway, visiting professor at the University of Oxford’s Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, and visiting artist of the Chicago Artists International Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

In a lecture he delivered on the first day of his workshop, Prof. Abe noted that it was his second visit to TNUA since he last came in 2007. He explained his art, concepts and techniques by showing video clips of the pieces he has exhibited in Japan, Malaysia and Norway in recent years.

Prof. Abe noted that iron is an essential element of life, and it has also been an essential material for creating his art for more than 40 years.

He said his art places more emphasis on the message it wants to convey to the viewers than on the appearance of the work itself.

On the last day of the workshop, the participants displayed various cast-iron works they had created under Prof. Abe’s guidance.