Community Fund Spotlight on Senior Artists
Tsuneko Kokubo and John Ikeda
The JC Legacies Community Fund addresses the enduring intergenerational impact that government actions had on the community. The program invests in the future of the Japanese Canadian community by allocating funds to six project streams: Scholarships, Intergenerational Wellness, Community Projects, Infrastructure, Sports, and Arts, funding projects across the country.
86 Arts projects were funded, with the lead applicants either Survivors or Descendants. All projects will be completed by December 31, 2025. This month, Japanese Canadian Legacies spotlights two senior artists who received funding from the Arts stream. Both BC-based Tsuneko Kokubo and Ontario’s John Ikeda have engaged in life-long arts practices rooted in Japanese traditional arts techniques filtered through their identities as Japanese Canadians. For their respective projects, each artist pushed themselves, creating art on a large scale.
Tsuneko Kokubo | British Columbia | Brush + Ink
“Creeks change constantly, especially after the spring run-off when tons of boulders come tumbling downstream, trees are uprooted and new creeks form every season – different but the same – as the water proceeds. It is fluid and fits into any container, space or crevice, but never stays forever. It can be hard as ice and gentle as mist rising or snow drifting down. Is this what grandma meant when she told me to ‘be like water’? I could not figure out how or why, but now I understand.” – Tsuneko Kokubo
The artist: Tsuneko Kokubo was born in 1937 in the Japanese Fisherman’s Hospital in Steveston BC, the eldest daughter of a fisherman and a cannery worker. In 1942, she was trapped in Japan where she was visiting relatives. Back in Canada, her mother Eiko and her sister were interned in Lemon Creek, and her father Hideo was incarcerated in the Angler POW camp. Returning to Canada in 1954, Tsuneko studied for four years at the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University of Art + Design). Today, at 88 years old, Kokubo continues to paint daily, using calligraphy techniques she learned as a girl in Japan. She lives in Silverton BC, a short distance from New Denver and a half hour drive from Lemon Creek, where her mother spent the war years.
The project: Following the Water is a canvas scroll measuring five feet high by 30 feet long, capturing the essence of water in a range of its infinite manifestations. The large scroll is the equivalent of nine 40” x 60” large canvases.
Tsuneko Kokubo writes: “I visited various bodies of water to sketch and develop ideas in locations of internment sites in the Kootenay/Boundary region. In all of the locations, especially at Lemon Creek, where my mother and sister were interned, I felt as if I was back in time, listening to the voices of people, and the laughter of children splashing in the water. I decided on a monochromatic approach – perhaps as another challenge, or perhaps because of my familiarity with black ink and brush since childhood.”
John Ikeda | Ontario | Wood-fired Ceramics
“The historical examples of tea ware during 12th century Japan reflected a consciousness of humility in the face of nature. The tea bowl was unadorned yet powerful in its simplicity and nakedness… a shinto presence of spiritual worth. My goal is to continue pursuing this aesthetic direction in my work.” – John Ikeda
The artist: John Ikeda was born in Lethbridge, Alberta in 1948, his family having spent the war years working the sugar beet fields of southern Alberta. He lives and works in rural St. Bernardin, Ontario. An multi-year arts practice creating wood-fired ceramics used in the Japanese tea ceremony led to funding through the Community Fund Arts stream.
The project: Ikeda spent nine months creating a large range of bowls and cups reflective of his Japanese Canadian heritage.
John Ikeda writes: “This undertaking has been a life-long ambition since my enrolment in art school at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, coupled with my ongoing interest in my Japanese heritage. It has taken me a lifetime to find the confidence necessary to pursue this particular aesthetic direction and do it justice. The cultivated Zen origins of appreciating beauty of life in art through the contemplative act of drinking tea emerges within the cultural history of Japan. The tea ceremony serves a ritual practice for anyone who would seek to reflect upon their own mystery of selfhood and identity in life…particularly for those wishing to reflect upon and embrace their Japanese heritage.”
