KUMAGAYA, Japan (AP) — The humble blackboard is serving as the canvas, and colorful chalk the paint, for young Japanese artists. “Kokuban Art Koshien ” is an annual national chalk art championship for high school students. Combining the word for “blackboard” (“kokuban”) and the famous stadium where high school baseball is contested, the contest attracts artworks, all drawn on blackboards, usually over summer break, from about 300 high schools and junior high schools.
Each work — many dazzling in their artistry and often dreamlike themes — is a collaborative endeavor bringing together anywhere from one or two youngsters to dozens, all delivering a lesson in creativity and teamwork. The images range from energetic depictions of dinosaurs, dogs and whales; popular manga scenes; Hokusai ’s Mount Fuji or the Mona Lisa, as well as slices of everyday life, except they aren’t all that everyday, such as an underwater classroom. Some works even show a person writing on a blackboard.
Innovative and experimental art Kazunari Minamishima, an art teacher at the Saitama Prefectural High School of the Arts, whose students have taken part in the contest, believes it appeals to students because it offers the chance to be more experimental than established forms of art, such as oil painting and sculpture. “It’s still a work in progress,” he said. The contest began in 2015 by Nichigaku Co., a Tokyo-based blackboard maker.
The annual judging is done by examining the photos of the works, given that the medium, blackboards, can’t be moved easily. The winners will be announced in November. The use of blackboards for creating artworks existed before in the Japanese school system.
It was a stunning replica of Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” by an unknown artist on a school blackboard that caught Nichigaku’s eye. “Back then, there was graffiti, but there was no genre called blackboard art,” said Nichigaku President Tomohiro Yoshida. The contest doesn’t really work as a direct marketing tool because schools already have blackboards.
But some contestants become professional artists later, Yoshida added proudly. Chalk powder gets scattered over the blackboard for an almost stardust effect. Smudging with fingers and tissue paper creates shadows and muted tones.
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