October 10, 2024
When Renee Sonka, Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher, first started work on her painting “Dancing Flower Collage,” a Sumi-e styled piece, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
“I painted the flowers a couple of years ago, and I was unhappy with them, actually. I put them in the cabinet for a long time,” Sonka said before looking at the piece with fresh eyes recently and touching up the piece. “The collage turned it from an okay painting into a more than okay painting.”
Revisiting the artwork proved to be a worthwhile decision as once Sonka was pleased with the piece, it proved to be a winner. “Dancing Flower Collage” was awarded the National Capital Area Chapter Award in the 61st Annual Juried Exhibition, presented by the Sumi-e Society of America.
“Most years, I will get a piece in, but not every year. To get in is an honor, and to get an award beyond getting in is a huge honor,” Sonka said on the achievement, netting her the first National Capital Area Chapter Award of her career.
For Sonka, though, the award has been icing on the cake, as the biggest prize is the exposure to Sumi-e, and in turn, sharing the style with the MPA community. Sumi-e, a Japanese word translating to ink painting that uses black ink, is an East Asian tradition that Sonka first started dipping her brushes into earlier in her teaching career, blossoming into a decades-long commitment.
“I thought I needed to teach some more water-based painting techniques that aren’t just Western arts, so I took a Sumi-E class and fell in love with the medium. I like the brush, the paper, the philosophy, and the process. So, I took more and more,” she said.
Soon thereafter, Sonka sought to bring it into her work in the classroom.
“Every school has a painting class, but not every school is doing Sumi-e,” she said. “The process of Sumi-e, you learn some strokes and you do them over and over and over, and you build on that.”
Though becoming very familiar with Sumi-e, there is a limit to what Sonka can teach on the form.
“It can get tricky because it is not my culture, and I haven’t traveled to East Asia, but I do tell the students, here’s what I can’t share because it’s not in my own experience, and here is what I can share,” Sonka said.
That’s where Sonka and her students can help turn it into a learning experience for all involved, making it a memorable moment every year when the time to teach Sumi-e takes hold.
“Some international students will fill in the gaps for me about the cultural part that I can’t teach. I look forward to teaching it every year,” she said.
Collaborating with her international students is crucial to Sonka as she appreciates their cultural perspectives to help provide all students with additional context to Sumi-e. This provides unique, real-world connections for all who learn. With Sumi-e well established in the MPA art world, Sonka believes the form can have a liberating effect on those who try it in her classroom.
“I feel like the kids are free. They can experiment and aren’t tied to this one product they have to turn in. I feel like it is a great way to paint. You don’t have to get a result today or this class. It’s not like that.”
Sonka’s passion for Sumi-e has breathed that into her teaching, pouring over to her personal life, where she often paints Sumi-e when presented with the opportunity. The commitment to Sumi-e has Sonka, a member of the Sumi-e Society of America, regularly entering her pieces in the yearly contests.
Making Sonka’s award more meaningful to her has a connection to a culture she has yet to experience firsthand.
“It is significant to me because it’s always an East Asian jury, and I feel it’s some validation that I am trained well enough to represent the art form in a way that a native judge would recognize and commend,” Sonka said. “The last thing I would want to represent the art form in a way that is not right, and the history is so deep that there’s an obligation to pass it on with integrity.”
Thrilled with the results brought by “Dancing Flower Collage,” the award is just a stepping stone, Sonka hopes.
“My goal is to win best of show. I know that’s a biggie, but my teacher won it, and I feel like I’ve got a lot of years left in me and a lot of growth to go, so I feel like it’s a good goal,” she said.
Until that time comes, however, Sonka will continue to bring Sumi-e to MPA art rooms, teaching where she can and learning, like the students, where she can.