Marina Ichikawa

My current life started in Vienna, Austria, in a multi-cultural environment which provided for me a perfect ground for refining a diversity of interests. Through my PhD thesis in marine biology I could give scientific sense to my ecosystem vision, my post-grad study in Japan introduced me into east-asian culture, the many years of martial arts training guided me to integrate asian philosophy into my life, my work with indigenous people in Siberia and in Western Africa made me recognise the interconnectedness of all and made me understand that we are all one.

Out of this professional framework i started to get interested in the role and the dynamics of vital energy which ultimately lead me into the holistic healing arena. Out of my martial arts background, my love for body work and movement, my scientific basis in the organisation and functioning of life, my link to Japan, my compassion for the suffering of beings and my vocation for healing I undertook my shiatsu training in Bristol, UK.

Apart from workshops with my calligraphy teacher Kaz Tanahashi, with the sculptress Martine Vaugel and recent online teachers like the psychologist and artist Nancy Hillis I am an auto-didact. I like to experiment with different media and materia...

Because of my high school education with emphasis on arts, music and visual arts have always been an integrative way of expression and for finding my energetic equilibrium. Calligraphy art work in particular started to be part of my life in 2001 when i met my teacher Kazuaki Tanahashi. Since then, brush painting is part of my meditation and my energy work which both fuels my healing work for patients.

Painting on canvas with acrylic colours and other materials started about 1,5 years ago when I felt that calligraphy does not always satisfy my urge for expression. A bit later I got in touch with Nancy Hillis, a US psychiatrist and artist who encouraged and inspired me to go further. I participated in an online course of the MOMA which fuelled my inspiration. I studied at the Ecole Sup des Arts et Design at Toulon/France from 2018-2019.

I started sculpturing as an autodidact in 2013. It suddenly emerged as a necessity. Because of my healing work with my hands I felt the need to express what I experienced with my hands - after healing sessions, dreams, events in my own life... In 2016 I did a training with Martine Vaugel to touch base and refine my techniques.
I dont use any model or picture as a base for my sculptures, they origin...

2016: Calligraphies, Galerie Septentrion, 59700 Marq-en-Baroeul

I am mostly exposing my creations only on the internet and with social media (instagram). As a featured artist, some of my work was published in the book "The Adjacent Possible" (Nancy Hillis, Bruce Sawhill) - Book Excellence Award Winner category art.