Tea Ceremony Tour, Part Three

We finished our Tea Ceremony Tour by passing through a gate into the inner tea garden.  

2nd grade

3rd grade

Just inside the gate is this bronze sculpture.  As with sculptures we visited earlier during the tour, Tom Sachs used bricolage to reimagine something - in this case, a traditional Japanese bonsai tree.

Bonsai by Tom Sachs

Traditional Japanese bonsai tree

Sachs first constructed his sculpture using common materials such as cotton swabs, toothbrushes, cardboard tubes, and a cardboard box.  Below is a picture of the original sculpture made with these items, which was destroyed during the process of making the bronze sculpture included in the exhibition.

Bonsai by Tom Sachs (original version)

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

Sachs constructed aTea House where the host of the tea ceremony makes tea and serves it to his or her guests.  Matcha (hot green tea) is served  along with light snacks.  Before taking a closer look at the Tea House, we designed a special utensil that we would want to use to enjoy our favorite food or drink.

5th grade

2nd grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

One snack that Sachs serves to his guests during tea ceremony is Brown Wave - peanut butter carefully spread across Ritz crackers, served on a special tray.

Brown Wave by Tom Sachs

2nd grade 

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

At the end of our tour, some students took a short break in Okimachiai (Inner Waiting Arbor).

4th grade

4th grade

5th grade

5th grade

5th grade

5th grade

5th grade

Tom Sachs not only loves the tea ceremony tradition; he is also fascinated by space and space travel.  One way that these two interests come together is in the porcelain tea bowls that he makes by hand and stamps with the NASA logo.  It just so happens that Adriana dressed as an astronaut on the day of our tour, so we snapped a special photo of her in front of the Large Chawan Cabinet containing a selection of tea bowls.

Future astronaut?