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Unlike the somewhat arbitrary distinction that we make in the west, the Japanese have never recognized the basic difference between "art" or "fine arts" [[crossed out]] or "high art" [[/crossed out]](painting, sculpture, architecture) and "crafts" or "applied art" [[crossed out]]or "low art" [[/crossed out]] (ceramics, textiles, woodwork etc.).  In Europe it was from 1921 until it's move from Weimar to Dessau in 1925, that the early Bauhaus taught that crafts and art are equal and the same.

Japanese folk art (painting, sculpture, ceramics, furniture, wooden objects, signboards, weaving, toys, etc) is produced by anonymous artists for everyday use by ordinary people and may be distinguished by directness, unselfconsciousness, simplicity, naiveté, joy, strength, richness, vitality, sensitive use of inexpensive natural materials, and appropriateness to intended function. The folk artist simply senses beauty without concepts - that is by intuition. The unexplainable surprise, the joy and purity that arise from coming close to the core of beauty, soothes the human mind and stimulates the development of the human spirit. In the consideration of beauty, feelings should always come first, with the use of the intellect following. It is the function of the intellect to transform the passive impression into active thought. For me, knowledge that is not backed by intuition is empty.

For several years now, I have had this continually intense interest in American folk art [[crossed out]] and the rich [[/crossed out]] with it's fresh, [[crossed out]] beauty [[/crossed out]] vision and powerful form [[crossed out]] that they provide (evoke). Along [[/crossed out]]

With exposure to the mainstream movements that have occurred in [[crossed out]] the world of art [[/crossed out]] art history, I feel that contemporary art students and artists can acquire surprisingly valuable understandings and insights if provided exposure to the folk arts of various cultures. I would like to spend