Experimental Ink: A New Course Begins

Last week I started the Experimental Ink & Painting Course.

Alongside the Sumi-e classes I teach, this course offers a different approach to ink—one that focuses on experimentation and discovering new ways of painting and drawing.

It is a course I sometimes wish had existed when I was younger. I began learning oil painting around the age of nine, and later explored acrylic painting, photography, and sculpture. Yet I never had the opportunity to work with ink in an open and exploratory way.

Looking back, I often wonder why. In school in Japan, we mostly learned Western approaches to painting. At the same time, although we had calligraphy classes, we were rarely introduced to the broader traditions and possibilities of East Asian ink painting.

In this course, we approach ink as a material to explore. We experiment, observe how ink moves and responds, and think about composition, space, and rhythm. The process is less about following rules and more about discovering what can emerge.

While there is naturally an influence from East Asian approaches to ink, the course is also about opening space—space to experiment, to look closely, and to find one’s own way of painting and drawing.

Our first session already felt very inspiring, and I am curious to see how everyone’s work will unfold in the coming weeks.