Benjamin Volta creates intricate public murals and sculptures, working in the fields of education, restorative justice and urban planning. For almost two decades, Ben has developed a collaborative process with Pennsylvania public schools to create participatory art rooted in the belief that art can be a catalyst for change. Cho Kuwakado is an arts educator in Japan, who happens to also be a Buddhist priest. He is the founder of the Chara Rimpa Project (pronounced “Kyara Rimpa”), and along with a team of artists led by Yasuyuki Sakura, makes public art with young students in Japan and abroad.
Ben Volta (right) and Cho Kuwakado during the first workshop with students at the Lumbini Kindergarten.
Four years ago, Cho and his team visited Ben’s art studio in downtown Philadelphia. They were drawn to Philadelphia’s significant public art, and were interested in meeting a mural artist. They discovered how much they had in common with each other, and struck up a long-distance friendship, staying abreast of each others work on social media. They frequently talked about Ben visiting Japan, and their desire to collaborate one day.
An opportunity to work together presented itself in 2019, when Cho and Ben received a grant for the 2020 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC)-National Endowment for the Arts (Arts Endowment) Creative Artists Fellowship Program. This year as part of a special partnership project highlighting U.S.-Japan artistic collaboration, they are working as a team with youth in the U.S. and Japan on a project that will culminate in a beautiful collaborative public work of art. This public art will be displayed in Tokyo in summer 2020. Theirs is one of five JUSFC-Arts Endowment funded projects pairing Japanese and American artists to be featured in Tokyo this summer, as Tokyo hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The first part of the collaboration took place last month, when Ben traveled to Saiki City in southern Japan, and held several workshops for students at Lumbini Kindergarten, where Cho is a director.
Lumbini Kindergarten students in Saiki City begin their painting project.
Having explored some preliminary ideas for the project with his 4th-6th graders in Philadelphia, Ben led a discussion with the Japanese kindergartners about visualizing the energy we put out into the world, and how this energy could be represented through lines on pieces of paper. They drew and then shaped the lines into rings, connected and overlapped to represent how they can become a shared, collective energy. “The kids enjoyed the workshop very much, all the drawing and coloring,” said Cho of the students’ experience. “They felt very special that a teacher had come all the way from America to teach art to them.
Lumbini Kindergarten students selecting a color strips for their ring sculpture.
”Ben also brought pieces of mural cloth that kids could paint over, and the students created painting and drawings that will eventually be scanned, uploaded, and incorporated into the final piece of public artwork that will be displayed in Tokyo. “ Our project draws inspiration from the works of great innovators and educators such as Benjamin Franklin and Fukuzawa Yukichi,” explains Ben. “The project as a whole will express how art, innovation and sport have the power to change the world and our future.” Several other schools in Japan have expressed interest in having Ben and Cho visit in them in the coming months. They plan to use the art created by youth in Saiki as inspiration for projects that older elementary students will help create.
The final piece will be housed in a visible public space in the summer to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This will allow the people of Japan, athletes, and international visitors to view and appreciate the art, and what it symbolizes.
The completed Artwork installed at the Lumbini Kindergarten in Saiki City.
“Over ten years ago, a professor at UPenn asked me what my dream project would be,” Ben recalls. “I remember discussing with her how the Olympics and Paralympics are a very international public space where people come together to not only share sports, but also culture and collaboration; and I thought how great it would be to partner on something like that.
It is phenomenal to be here ten years later creating a project based on friendship, on working together, and being able to share that with the students I work with in Philadelphia,” he says. “It’s not just about creating a cool project, but extending an incredible opportunity to others who can also be excited and explore these ideas together.” “We thank the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the Arts Endowment for this opportunity,” says Cho. “We also want to give a special thanks to the Chara Rimpa Project team – Yasuyuki Sakura, Hiroaki Seo, Toshie Yoshioka, Keiko Kuwakado, and Hao Phan for their contributions to this project.”
To learn more about JUSFC’s Creative Artists Program and Grants, visit our website here, Follow Ben Volta on social media here: Facebook and Instagram, and follow Cho Kuwakado and his partners here: Facebook and Instagram.
Ben Volta is currently in special partnership with Art Teacher Patricia Quigley and her 4th to 6th graders at Bache-Martin Elementary School – just a few blocks from his studio in Philadelphia. The project is supported through a generous grant from the Presbytery of Philadelphia
Most of the Chara Rimpa Project’s work is supported by the Pacific Kids Mural Foundation