Digital Gifts Connected to Welfare|Aoba Gifts Supporting the "Ecole de Kamakura Summer Exhibition", an event of "art without disabilities". Supporting "Ecole de Kamakura Summer Exhibition

Aoba Gift Co. (Location: Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Representative: Hiroyoshi Fukuchi, who also serves as the director of "Dokobo," a Type B support center for continuous employment support), a company that issues gifts that can be exchanged for welfare products, will sponsor and support the "Ecole de Kamakura Summer Exhibition The event will be held in Kamakura, Japan. This event will be held at Sasuke Cafe & Gallery and Michi Gallery in Kamakura from Thursday, July 10 to Monday, August 11, 2025.

Brochure

Event details: http://kamakura-michi.com/home/ (to be released in early July)

The "Michi Workshop," a welfare service office for people with disabilities (Type B support for continuous employment) run by the NPO "Michi," focuses on social participation using art as a communication tool, regardless of disability.

The "Michi Gallery" is not only for displaying the works of Michi Workshop members, but is also open to the general public, with the aim of blurring the boundaries of disability, transcending the concept of "art for the disabled," and enabling people to genuinely enjoy the artwork itself.

About "Ecole de Kamakura Summer Exhibition

Dokobo has long sought to eliminate preconceptions about artwork by people with disabilities caused by the conventional terms "art by people with disabilities," "art brut," "outsider art," etc., and to provide an opportunity to appreciate art from a fair and nonjudgmental perspective.

The "Ecole de Paris," from which the name of the event derives, is a collective name for a group of painters from various countries and styles who gathered in Montmartre (on the left bank of the Seine River) in Paris in the first half of the 20th century and worked together, meaning the "Paris School.

The "Ecole de Kamakura" is an event organized by the "Ecole de Kamakura Executive Committee," centering on the Sasuke Cafe & Gallery (west side of Kamakura Station) and Michi Gallery (east side of Kamakura Station) in Kamakura, to showcase artworks created out of a genuine creative desire by various artists, regardless of disability, nationality, age or art history. This is an event where art works are exhibited, and visitors are invited to experience and appreciate the new world of art from a fair and unbiased perspective, deepening both artists' and visitors' understanding of the meaning of art and creating a venue for various exchanges.

Artists who wish to do so may exhibit and sell their works in order to support their daily creative activities.

The winners will be selected from among the exhibited works by eminent oil and Japanese painting instructors.

The painters who agree with this aim are collectively called "Ecole de Kamakura" (Kamakura School), and this exhibition has been named the "Ecole de Kamakura Summer Exhibition.

This exhibition is one of the attempts to realize "art that does not depend on disabilities.

Outline of the Exhibition

Event name: Ecole de Kamakura Summer Exhibition

Date: Thursday, July 10, 2025 - Monday, August 11, 2025

Venue: [Sasuke Cafe & Gallery]

　　　　　　 11:00-17:00 (closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays)

　　　　　　 2-18-15 Sasuke, Kamakura, Kanagawa

　　　　　　 Inquiry: 0467-55-5226

　　　　　　 [Michi Gallery]

　　　　　　 11:00-17:00(Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays)

　　　　　　 Koike Bldg. 1F, 1-9-24 Yukinoshita, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa-ken

　　　　　　 Inquiry 0467-23-8772(Doukobo)

Admission : Free

Sponsor ： Ecole de Kamakura Executive Committee

Supported by ： Kamakura City, Kamakura Art League

Official website: http://kamakura-michi.com/home/ (scheduled to open in early July)

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110-120 works will be exhibited, and about 70 people with disabilities and the general public are expected to participate.

The following artists have agreed to serve as judges for this year's event.

Gunji Fukasawa, oil painting (graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts, former professor of Kyoto City University of Arts)

Sekide, Japanese painting (Tokyo University of the Arts graduate school graduate course, Tokyo University of the Arts professor emeritus)

Ms. Yuko Murakoshi, Japanese painting (Completed graduate studies in painting at Tama Art University / Japanese painting)

Ten winners will be selected.

■Company Profile

Trade name: Aoba Gift Co.

Representative: Hiroyoshi Fukuchi, Representative Director

Location: 2-13-25 Katsuradai, Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 227-0034, Japan

Establishment ： June 2021

Business description: Issuance of digital gifts that can be exchanged for welfare products

Capital ： 8 million yen

URL ： https://www.aobagift.com/