"Crown of thorns' wooden picture frame at Stansbury Museum

"Crown of thorns' wooden picture frame at Stansbury Museum

Image by Community History SA
This intricate frame made of interlocking hundreds of slender pieces of wood using no glue or nails is an example folk art known as 'crown of thorns'. Sometimes known as tramp art (particularly in the US) because it was made and sold by wandering itinerants.

Kaseki 2010 - WATANABE Koichi 渡邊晃一

Image by Dominic's pics
Part of a Set / Slideshow documenting the art works on display at the touring exhibition "Postcards from Japan", subtitled "A message from Tohoku artists". The photographs were taken while the exhibition was hosted by the Embassy of Japan, London, UK.

Title: Kaseki 2010
Artist: WATANABE Koichi 渡邊晃一 - living in Fukushima
Media: Chinese ink, acrylic paint, & dandelion on paper

The exhibition has been curated and organised by Scottish and Japanese artists and sculptors Kate THOMSON and KATAGIRI Hironori. They are based both in Scotland and their Ukishima Sulpture Studio in Iwate prefecture, part of the Tohoku region. They were living and working in Iwate when the Great Earthquake and Tsunami struck the pacific coast on 11th March 2011.

Electricty, telephone and internet services (fixed and mobile) all stopped (or had to be prioritised for emergency relief purposes), and retail supplies of bottled drinking water and petrol (gasoline) quickly ran out.

Japan Post proved the most resilient communications service for people living in the affected areas. It was often the first service available for people to check on the welfare of friends and relatives. This is the inspiration behind the theme of the exhibition. All the works are A5 postcard sized - measuring 21 x14.8 cm (approximately 8.3 x 5.8 inches).

St Johns Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4BJ
6 - 29 August 2011

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017
7 October 2011 - 27 November 2011

Embassy of Japan, 101/104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT
12 December 2011 - 31 January 2012

Ikon Gallery, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS
15 February 2012 - 22 April 2012

The exhibition is part of the Postcard project [www.postcardproject.org/], the catalogue is available for purchase online [scroll down to foot of page] with profits used to sustain the project.

The exhibition has been supported by the The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.

Long exposures on a tripod enabled the use of a slow - low noise - sensor setting and small aperture settings to optimise the depth of field. The frames were glazed, and so the art works were photographed at an angle - to avoid reflections of the camera and tripod. A dark coat was also used to minimise visible reflections. The images were subsequently adjusted to appear rectilinear - using Photoshop's lens correction "Perspective" and "Barrel Distortion" functions, and also the "Distort" transformation. This is why the images of the frames have one point perspective, with an offset vanishing point. Some "Smart Sharpening" was also selectively used.

Wooden Touchscreen Terminal - update

Image by barnoid
Fitted an external PSU from linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_54&products_id=142 which has solved the heat problems. Added an extra 64MB RAM. Added connectors for USB and audio under the front flap. Tried to fit the insides of a £4 set of speakers, but managed to break the amp I think. The speakers were already glued in place by this time. I'll try again later with a better amp.

Compare with before. See the front for more information.

Wooden Picture Frame

Image by sparkieblues
A wooden picture frame, empty inside