![\"Sonka\"](\"https:\/\/nclhx5yj.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ReneeWP.png\")
When Renee Sonka, Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher, first started work on her painting \u201cDancing Flower Collage,\u201d a Sumi-e styled piece, she wasn\u2019t sure how she felt about it.<\/p>\nWhen Renee Sonka, Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher, first started work on her painting \u201cDancing Flower Collage,\u201d a Sumi-e styled piece, she wasn\u2019t sure how she felt about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Sonka said before looking at the piece with fresh eyes recently and touching up the piece. \u201cThe collage turned it from an okay painting into a more than okay painting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revisiting the artwork proved to be a worthwhile decision as once Sonka was pleased with the piece, it proved to be a winner. \u201cDancing Flower Collage\u201d was awarded the National Capital Area Chapter Award in the 61st Annual Juried Exhibition, presented by the Sumi-e Society of America.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost 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,\u201d Sonka said on the achievement, netting her the first National Capital Area Chapter Award of her career.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I needed to teach some more water-based painting techniques that aren\u2019t 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,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Soon thereafter, Sonka sought to bring it into her work in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery school has a painting class, but not every school is doing Sumi-e,\u201d she said. \u201cThe process of Sumi-e, you learn some strokes and you do them over and over and over, and you build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though becoming very familiar with Sumi-e, there is a limit to what Sonka can teach on the form.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can get tricky because it is not my culture, and I haven\u2019t traveled to East Asia, but I do tell the students, here\u2019s what I can\u2019t share because it\u2019s not in my own experience, and here is what I can share,\u201d Sonka said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome international students will fill in the gaps for me about the cultural part that I can\u2019t teach. I look forward to teaching it every year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like the kids are free. They can experiment and aren\u2019t tied to this one product they have to turn in. I feel like it is a great way to paint. You don\u2019t have to get a result today or this class. It\u2019s not like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sonka\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Making Sonka\u2019s award more meaningful to her has a connection to a culture she has yet to experience firsthand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is significant to me because it\u2019s always an East Asian jury, and I feel it\u2019s some validation that I am trained well enough to represent the art form in a way that a native judge would recognize and commend,\u201d Sonka said. \u201cThe 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\u2019s an obligation to pass it on with integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thrilled with the results brought by \u201cDancing Flower Collage,\u201d the award is just a stepping stone, Sonka hopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal is to win best of show. I know that\u2019s a biggie, but my teacher won it, and I feel like I\u2019ve got a lot of years left in me and a lot of growth to go, so I feel like it\u2019s a good goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Renee Sonka, Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher, first started work on her painting \u201cDancing Flower Collage,\u201d a Sumi-e styled piece, she wasn\u2019t sure how she felt about it. \u201cI painted the flowers a couple of years ago, and I was unhappy with them, actually. I put them in the cabinet for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":26788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,28,24,10,29,8127,12,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-school","category-current-families","category-featured-posts","category-fine-arts","category-homepage","category-international","category-middle-school","category-upper-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26787"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26806,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26787\/revisions\/26806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moundsparkacademy.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}