Last November, when students at the Early Learning Center of the American School in Japan went off to view an installation titled "Asian Field" by the renowned sculptor Antony Gormley, probably no one guessed just how big an impact the experience would have.
Set up in the neighboring Roppongi High School's gym, Gormley's work featured a basketball court jam-packed with 156,000 little clay people -- roughly the population of Minato Ward in Tokyo -- each with a simple, but somehow charming face. The children were entranced and went back to the see the show six times before they decided they simply had to make their own field, a "Children's Field."
Most instructors, when presented with the idea of helping their students produce 10,000 little clay people would have developed, um, clay feet. Luckily, the ASIJ kids were in the care of teachers who understood the educational value of observing art, listened when the children suggested they could do something similar, and nurtured their impulse to join in the creative spirit. The sheer logistics of the project, however, have proved daunting.