Elvis Rock

In Chichibu there is a most wonderful little museum we've been trying to go to for ages.

It is the Chichibu Chinsekikan, (Rare Rock Museum).

It's a museum for rocks that look like faces.

None of the rocks have been modified in any way, they are as found.


There are literally hundreds of rocks, mostly collected over 50 years from the nearby Arakawa  river.

 It was opened in 1990 by  Mr Shoji Hayama, who died a few years ago and is now run by his children

It is actually a great museum and very interesting.

                                                                Gorilla

 There is also a large collection of old and new cameras that look like....cameras.

Pigment

Not a lot one can say except "Wow"!



It's a shop called Pigment that sells paints and brushes, calligraphy materials etc. It's in Tokyo, it's marvellous.

Echigo Day 2

Day two at Echigo started with a good breakfast.  Plus tea, coffee, rice and soup.

The weather had turned a bit wet but one of the great treats of the festival was in store, called Periscope.

First you drive in the mountains to a remote little Onsen next to a thundering river gorge.

 

Then you walk through a 750M tunnel that has been drilled into the side of the mountain, following the river.

Then in two places there are the most wonderful artwork installations.

Firstly this rather marvelous Lady Bird thingy with a view.

Then at the very end of the tunnel there is the thing everyone comes to see. A reflective pool reflecting the view and the walls. Quite wonderful.

                                 

Echigo Day 1

The Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale is one of the largest art events in the world. It takes place in the beautiful mountain areas of Nigata Prefecture. At the height of the festival there are over 400 artworks scattered around on mountain tops, in tunnels, by rivers, in old schools and factories,in forests and sometimes even in art museums.

It covers a vast area encompassing many towns and villages and to get around a car is essential unless you go on a tour.

We went for three days after the main festival had finished but there were still lots of great things to see.

We stayed in a very nice little onsen by the riverbank. Peaceful and not overdone.

The first work we saw was on a mountain top by Australia House, built to house Australian artists in residence.

This is a work by Hussein Valamanesh from Adelaide.

In an old, and now refurbished, primary school there were many works.

Parts of the wall had been covered in coloured ply-wood that was then etched back to the original wood in beautiful designs.

The weekly attendence board is still there.

So the whole building was filled with many works. Somewhat typical of what you would expect to find at a modern art exhibition.

Then it was on to see one of the highlights of the whole trip.

In the abandoned dye factory below there was a stunning work by Mexican artist Damiane Ortega. Called "Warp Cloud"

Thousands of small balls perfectly aligned to create an artwork you could also walk amongst.