One of the great opportunities this trip has given us is to meet other artists and see how they are working to use their art to attempt to transform thier community.

We spent a day traveling through rain and crowded Osaka subways to meet at non-profit agencies where artists have used the ArtLink mentor program that we introduced here in Japan in 2003.  Not surprisingly many of the outgoing personalities of the Osaka artists chose performance art as their media to work with persons with disabilities.

In a surreal abandoned amusement park a group of artists have dance, theater, visual space and a café that sponsors poetry readings.  Originally intended to cater to the homeless who live in the area, the agencies now have widened its base to include the community at large. 

Kanyo-san, a poet, dresses in traditional Japanese style for what she calls “inner strength”, but she is actually a very contemporary artist and thinker.  She and a playful performance artist named A-yan-san told about how their programs operated and how ArtLink worked for those involved. 

Stories we heard were of the relationship between professional artists and the persons with disabilities to be overwhelmingly more important than the actual art produced.  It felt like there was a lot of energy and acceptance of all kinds of artistic expression that celebrate relationships.

At one point in the dance performance space several of us cannot resist the soft comfortable floors and begin to play. Two young artists treat us to a hysterical improvisational sumo match.

The book that Frank, my ArtLink 2007 artist and I made came in handy to show a visual aspect of our experiences.  Like Creative Clay’s motto says, “art speaks without words.”