Voices from Tibet

Emiliano Ponzi created the illustrations featured in this beautiful and moving animated short 

directed by Olivier Durant and Bruna Guerreiro of Captive studio as part of Leo Burnett's communication

 for the Amnesty campaign "Voices for Freedom" addressing the silencing of civil activists worldwide. 

The animation was inspired by the story of Dhondup Wangchen, who was jailed in 2008

 for having made the documentary Leaving fear behind, which gives voice to the feelings of Tibetans

 regarding Chinese rule over their land. Following his imprisonment, a massive wave of riots and unrest

 spread through Tibet, resulting in the disappearance of over 1000 monks unaccounted for to this day. 

The animation's script was inspired by Buddhist and Tibetan proverbs, and involves many

 symbolic animals which are central to Tibetan life and religion, such as the yak, tiger 

and antelope, while the crane is a national symbol in China.

You may sign this petition asking Chinese President Hu Jintao for the release of Dhondup Wangchen!

Sweet Dreams

Squirrel Spoon

I really enjoy the rich and colorful tenderness of Sandra Dieckmann's art.

She clearly loves animals, line drawing, patterns, and collage, and I couldn't agree with her more.

Coincidentally, as I was preparing this post, I dicovered that just yesterday she was informed

that her work has been chosen by Shaun Tan as the winner of the Emerging Talent category 

at the 2011 Cheltenham illustration awards. Congratulations Sandra!

Crowned crane

Dieckmann is from Germany and has been living in London since 2002.

You can read an interesting interview with her at We Love Creativity.

Hi : Bye

Found You There

This work is part of a collaborative project with illustrator Jaime Mills

portraying ten of the world's most endangered animals.

Japanese crane

Young Treasure

Dieckmann is very active on the internet and you can find her at her website and blog,

 on twitter, tumblr and flickr, and at her society6, etsy and Envelop shops.

Congratulations again to Sandra for her seemingly boundless energy!

Matazo Kayama

Matazo Kayama (1927-2004) was born in Kyoto, the son of a designer of Kimono. 

He used to play in his father's studio, and loved to see him and his disciples

at work sketching and painting. He also learned a lot from his father's collection 

of international art books. Kayama started making art, and when he was 13 years old

he entered the Japanese Painting Academy in Kyoto. In 1944 he went on to study 

traditional Nihonga techniques at Tokyo National Academy of Fine Arts, at a time 

when the country was in the grips of World War II. His father died at the end 

of the war, but Kayama managed to keep studying art in Tokyo 

while helping his mother and younger sisters in Kyoto. 

 A Thousand Cranes, 1970, a pair of six-fold silk screens, 1.6 x 3.7m each

(click on the image to enlarge)

Kayama became a famous painter in his early 30's and held his first personal exhibition 

abroad in New York in 1961. Animals were one of his favorite themes throughout his career, 

while his sources of inspiration shifted from modern Western art to traditional RImpa Japanese 
painting and Chinese ink paintings. All of these influences were reinterpreted through Kayama's 

own refined and innovative style. His work has been exhibited at the Central Museum of Beijing 

and the British Museum, and in 2009 a large retrospective was held at Tokyo's National Art Center.

thanks to Sandi Vincent for this image