Kazuhiko Kudo, ceramicist and NPO director, in his studio decorated with outsider art

This article is based on an original story by Yoshinori Ishii

A new “outsider art” network is being constructed to support disabled and handicapped artists in Hokkaido. “Outsider art” is referred to in this context as the ceramic or painting creations of the disabled or handicapped.

The network is being set up by Kazuhiko Kudo, a ceramicist, who has been running a borderless art gallery, called NPO Lapolapola, for outsider art in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. “Lapolapola” is a native Ainu word that literally means “feather bell,” or “flying bell.”

Kudo is devoting his energy to establishing a Hokkaido-wide outsider art network with a grant from The Nippon Foundation. This support will help him set up outreach programs for introducing and promoting “outsider” art exhibits and symposia.

Outsider art has traditionally been considered to be that which is created outside the boundaries of the mainstream art world and institutionalized art education.

It is a world to itself.

Kudo’s studio in the woods near Asahikawa, Hokkaido

Nationally, Shiga Prefecture is also well known for the “Borderless Art Museum No-Ma.” Many works by the mentally handicapped “outsider artists” have been discovered and exhibited at the No-Ma gallery, and this contributed to Kudo’s interest in doing similar work when he returned to Hokkaido.

Kudo had spent two years in Shiga Prefecture studying Shigaraki, one of the six ceramic styles of old Japan, and taught pottery and ceramic making at a youth vocational rehabilitation center in the prefecture.

After returning from Shiga, he accepted a position teaching ceramics to handicapped persons at a social welfare center in Kenbuchi, a small town in northern Hokkaido, for three years.

He then became an independent ceramicist until in 2006, when he took a page from his experience in Shiga and the example of the borderless No-Ma Gallery and set up the Lapolapola Gallery on the outskirts of Asahikawa.

He exhibited the works of Hokkaido-based outsider art in his gallery, and displayed the artistic creations of Okinawa women, such as small stuffed bears.

In 2008 Kudo cooperated with the No-Ma Gallery and Lausanne, Switzerland’s Art Brut Collection in presenting the “Art Brut Exhibit” at the Asahikawa Art Museum. This was followed up in 2009 with the Hokkaido Outsider Art Exhibition at the Asahikawa Art Museum. This, in turn, developed into several regional exhibits held throughout Hokkaido.

Kudo (left) and Kotaro Ishiguro of the Art Museum in the Forest, Hokkaido

Kudo says these activities have given the Lapolapola Gallery even higher visibility in Hokkaido and this has played a role in making it a site for a permanent exhibition of outsider art.

The connections with the No-Ma Gallery, other outsider organizations in Japan, and international outsider art institutions will help construct a vibrant network to cover the entire field of outsider art in Hokkaido, Kudo says.

Already he has had strong requests from other cities in Hokkaido to do outsider art exhibits in Sapporo, Obihiro, and Hakodate from July to October. The exhibit planned for Sapporo will also include a symposium held in parallel with the exhibit.

At present Kubo’s studio already holds 150 outsider art works that are ready to be exhibited. He says he will continue to work in both efforts – the NPO and his own ceramic work.

The NPO is a great learning opportunity, and ceramics help to keep him motivated and balanced, Kudo says.