The “36th Kurashiki Children’s Friendship Art Exhibition,” featuring works by children studying in special support classes at elementary and junior high schools in Kurashiki City and at special needs schools, has opened at the Kurashiki City Art Museum.
The exhibition brings together works that show the steps the children have taken through their daily activities, as well as the effort behind them.
I moved to Kurashiki from the Kanto region in December 2023, and I used to teach at a special needs school. I was deeply impressed by the heartfelt works on display when I visited the exhibition for the first time last year, so I went again this year on the opening day, Tuesday, January 21, 2025.
The information presented here is current as of the article’s publication in January 2025. Please note that it may differ from current information.
What is the “36th Kurashiki Children’s Friendship Art Exhibition”?
The Kurashiki Children’s Friendship Art Exhibition is held every year to promote understanding of and cooperation with special needs education. It marked its 36th year in fiscal 2024.
This year, it is being held at the Kurashiki City Art Museum for six days, from Tuesday, January 21 to Sunday, January 26, 2025.
Participants include all special support classes at elementary and junior high schools in Kurashiki City, as well as Kurashiki City Kurashiki Special Needs School (hereafter referred to as Kurashiki Special Needs School).
Schools that provide children and students with disabilities an education equivalent to that offered at kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools, or high schools, while also imparting the knowledge and skills needed to overcome learning or daily-life difficulties caused by their disabilities and achieve independence (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)
Exhibition highlights
Works by students in special support classes at junior high schools and Kurashiki Special Needs School are displayed on the first floor, while works by students in special support classes at elementary schools and in hospital classrooms are on the second floor.
Admission is free, so you can start viewing from anywhere, but there are souvenirs handmade by the children at the reception desk on the first floor, so be sure to pick one up.
The souvenirs are bookmarks to place in books and the like.
The children exhibiting at the Kurashiki Children’s Friendship Art Exhibition have included messages such as “Thank you” and charming illustrations, which are sure to bring a smile to your face.
I got a bookmark made by compressing the plastic closures used to seal bread bags. There are also bookmarks made from compressed plastic bottles. I wonder if they are related to the works on display.
Junior high school students’ works reveal their learning across subjects
I started by viewing the exhibition room on the first floor. Works by children from junior high schools and Kurashiki Special Needs School are displayed here.
The junior high school students’ works showed the progress they had made in their studies.
The calligraphy works from Japanese class, sewing projects from home economics, woodwork from technology class, and sculptural works from art class brought to mind how hard the children had worked in their various subjects throughout the year.
Although each student’s work is individually made, a distinctive feature is that the works are displayed together by school, like one large piece.
While I was looking around, an elementary school boy who had come on a school trip exclaimed, “Junior high schoolers are so cool!” as he gazed at the works admiringly.
Works by children at Kurashiki Special Needs School linked to hands-on activities
At the back of the first-floor exhibition room, works by children from Kurashiki Special Needs School were on display.
Kurashiki Special Needs School serves students from the elementary through high school divisions, so the works on display span a wide range of ages.
The works by younger elementary-division students reflect learning objectives such as “using glue,” while those by older students are based on hands-on learning experiences such as digging for sweet potatoes and school trips. They convey careful learning tailored to each stage of development.
The high school division displayed stencil prints featuring “initials as their motif.”
With works by children of a wide range of ages displayed across an entire wall, I was able to catch a glimpse of their growth through the consistent education provided from the elementary to high school divisions.
Elementary school exhibition shows children learning alongside their community and school exchange classes
The second-floor exhibition room features works by children in special support classes at elementary schools and in hospital classrooms.
A distinctive feature of works by elementary school special support classes is that each school displays a large work in its own space.
Although it looks like one large work, it incorporates a variety of activities, such as “rolling paper,” “drawing pictures,” “writing,” “making flowers from tissue paper,” and “pasting plastic items such as plastic bottles and straws onto paper.”
The works, created through activities tailored to children across all six grades with a wide range of needs and displayed together as a single piece, are truly impressive.
Many works seemed to introduce their schools to exhibition visitors, such as by showcasing local festivals or the school mascot.
Some junior high school students who came to view a work made using denim fabric donated by the Kojima Chamber of Commerce and Industry were looking at it with great interest.
Some schools also appear to have plans to display their works on campus after the exhibition ends, while others created works based on learning in exchange classes.
A class where children with and without disabilities learn together (Minna no Kyoiku Gijutsu)
Kurashiki City Sugao Elementary School made peacocks using materials created by drawing patterns on plastic cups with water-based markers and heating them in a toaster.
Works from the hospital class inspired by Ohara Museum of Art outreach lessons
Works from the hospital class were also on display in one corner of the second-floor exhibition room.
A hospital class is a special support class for children and students with health conditions or physical frailty, set up in a hospital for those who must be hospitalized due to injury or illness.
*Currently, Kurashiki City elementary and junior high schools have hospital classes at Kurashiki Central Hospital and Kawasaki Medical School Hospital.
The hospital class exhibits included works inspired by Monet’s “Water Lilies,” created using an Ohara Museum of Art outreach lesson, as well as works inspired by the “Pharaoh Statue Sculpture.”
After the 36th Kurashiki Children’s Friendship Art Exhibition ends, the hospital class’s works are scheduled to be shown in a special exhibition at Nishina Shoten iroiro in Kurashiki Ebisu Shopping Street from Monday, January 27 to Sunday, February 2.
For details, please check the image below.
From the Writer
From the first day of the exhibition period, Kurashiki City Art Museum was bustling with children visiting the exhibition on school trips.
It was also very sweet to see children who spotted their own work in the exhibition room proudly showing it off to their friends and teachers as they looked around, saying, “I wrote this 【ha】!”
During the exhibition, many special-needs classes apparently visit the Kurashiki Children’s Friendship Art Exhibition on school trips. One of the exhibition’s distinctive features is that you can see many children happily admiring the works displayed in the museum.
I hope the children’s lively presence and the works they have created with such dedication will catch the eye of as many people as possible.
Articles about Kurashiki City Art Museum
36th Kurashiki Kids’ Friendship Art Exhibition Information
| Name | 36th Kurashiki Kids’ Friendship Art Exhibition |
|---|---|
| Dates | January 22 (Tuesday)–26 (Sunday), 2025 9:00 a.m.–5:15 p.m. (opens at 10:30 a.m. on the first day only) |
| Location | 2-6-1 Chuo, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Admission (tax included) | Free admission |
| Website | Kurashiki City Art Museum |
What would you like to know about Kurashiki?
Enter a search term to find articles on this site
Classes established in elementary, junior high, and other schools for students with the disabilities listed below, to help them overcome learning or daily-life difficulties caused by their disabilities (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology)