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Visitors to the 35,000 square-meter Azumino Chihiro Park, which surrounds the Chihiro Art Museum Azumino, are welcomed by Czech-artist Kvĕta Pacovská's attractive garden consisting of two ponds and six stone objects.
The two ponds--one measuring 14 square meters in size, the other 8 square meters--are located side by side and partially connected. On the bottom of the ponds are pictures designed by Pacovská, made out of one-centimeter-square colored tiles. By filling each pond ten centimeters deep with water, Pacovská wanted to offer visitors a constantly changing view of the pictures on the bottom depending on the motion of the water and the surrounding view reflected on the surface of the ponds. Children can often be seen playing in these ponds during the summer.
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The Stone Project consists of stones that have been cut in half and set apart with the cut surfaces facing one another. On one of the cut surfaces of each stone Pacovská painted a picture and on the other surface she affixed a mirror. When visitors sit between the two halves, they can see themselves in the mirror with Pacovská's artwork in the background.
The Stone Project, preparations for which began in 1994, was completed in 1997 when the artist came to Japan to paint the pictures. The granite stones used in the project each measure more than one meter in diameter and were originally excavated at the Azumino Chihiro Park.
At the opening ceremony for the Azumino Chihiro Museum, Pacovská expressed her desire for visitors to the park to enjoy viewing and interacting with her artwork freely. |
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| In 1966, Chihiro built a cottage in Kurohime Heights, which also served as her atelier, and each year thereafter she created picture books while staying there. From this replica, it is easy to imagine how she spent her time in this cottage. In 1999, the original cottage was moved and reconstructed at the Kurohime Dowa Kan (Library and Museum), where it is now open to the public.
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| Despite the region's cold weather, this flower garden was painstakingly cultivated in Matsukawa Village by members of the community's "Making the Village Filled with Flowers" organization. When viewed from the sky, the tens of thousands of blossoms combine to create a colorful picture.
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