National Endowment for the Arts
JUSFC Creative Arts Fellow 2010 - in Visual Arts
Established in 1975, the Japan-US Friendship Commission awards 5 fellowships a year to US scholars in the arts to learn about, study and be inspired by Japanese arts (architecture, dance, literature, poetry, theater, music, and visual arts).
The purpose of the Commission's programs is defined in the Japan-United States Friendship Act as "aid to education and culture at the highest level in order to enhance reciprocal people-to-people understanding and to support the close friendship and mutuality of interests between the United States and Japan." This is important because as stated in the Act,"the continuation of close United States-Japan friendship and cooperation will make a vital contribution to the prospects for peace, prosperity and security in Asia and the world."
Katerina Lanfranco, Visual arts, March 8 - August 31, 2010
Katerina plans to visit Japan to study isekatagami (paper cut-outs), ikebana (flower arranging) and ukiyo-e (a genre of woodblock prints). Since 2006, she has explored the use of paper cut-outs. Her interest in them stems from their physical directness, compositional detail and complexity. Likewise, in her works she often references floral motifs and plant forms, which she sees as having a similarity to ikebana: an art form in created response to the inherent beauty, symmetry and formal patterns found in plants. As her paintings are a result of the investigation into the creation of other worldly landscapes, inspired by the ukiyo-e tradition, she feels she would benefit from further study into that genre as well.
www.katerinalanfranco.com
http://www.i-house.or.jp/en/ProgramActivities/arts/ArtistsProfile.htm
in Japanese http://kyotokaterina.blogspot.com/