Three Elon University art students will travel to Japan in May to study how Japanese and Western art have been influenced by each other throughout history. Juniors Alexa Little and Thomas Spradling and senior Leslie Mumme will leave May 22 for Japan, along with Kirstin Ringelberg, assistant professor of art history, who will serve as faculty mentor on the trip.
Their research will be funded by a Freeman Foundation grant through ASIANetwork, which promotes Asian studies at liberal arts colleges and universities in the U.S. Each student will work on a specific topic related to Japanese art, visiting museums and galleries and interviewing Japanese artists, students, museum curators gallery directors and corporate leaders. The students hope to learn how the gradual infiltration of Western influence on Japanese art has affected its institutions, artists and the popular culture that has developed from it, while also learning how Japanese art has influenced the growth of Western art forms.
“This project is based in major concepts that these students have been studying,” says Ringelberg. “They have chosen sub-topics that relate directly to their future plans. They have studied some element of Asian art already, but this project will expand on that base knowledge exponentially.”
Little will visit a variety of art museums and galleries in Japan and interview curators and directors. She will compare and contrast Japanese art institutions with those in the United States. Spradling will study the influence of Japanese art on the video game industry by interviewing representatives from companies such as Nintendo and Konami. Mumme will study the role traditional Japanese culture has played in the work of Japanese artists, including some who believe their culture does not value artistic expression.
The students will compile their findings in research papers and on a Web site. They will also present their findings at campus events during the 2006-2007 academic year.