Orange Letter
The Quarterly Report by mic
Summer 2026
1) Renovation Progress
Creative Studio (140+years old house)
・The purchase agreement for the house has finally been scheduled for the first week of September.
・The house's renovation work will begin at the end of August with the help of Mr. Sugimoto, a miyadaiku (traditional temple carpenter), who lives on Iwagi Island in Kamijima Town. Miyadaiku are among Japan’s most highly skilled carpenters, specially trained and qualified to restore historic shrines and temples.
To prioritize the official launch of the MIC Program, I’ll keep the renovation simple and focus on only two essential spaces: a place to share meals and a place to create.
The goal is to officially launch the MIC Program on November 26 (Thanksgiving Day)!!
New Friends of MIC
Conor & Sydney
Conor and Sydney, from Salt Lake City, USA, visited Kamijima for the third time. They stayed at the MIC house for four days in May, where we hosted a Little Free Library workshop together.
They've shown a genuine interest in the MIC Program, and we're currently collaborating with them on illustrations for the cover of MIC booklet/zine.
Shirley Cho
https://www.shirleycho.xyz/home
Shirley is an artist based in Stuttgart, Germany, originally from Australia. Her parents immigrated to Australia from South Korea. I met her last year at the artist residency program in Kamiyama, Tokushima prefecture. She stayed at MIC house for about a week and helped the renovation.
Peter & Bea
Peter and Bea are also based in Stuttgart, Germany, and friend of Shirley. They have been running an Artist-in-Residence program through their nonprofit organization for more than ten years in Stuttgart.
Together with Shirley, they recently purchased a vacant house in Kamiyama, Tokushima, which they plan to transform into a shared studio for themselves and visiting artists.
Peter and Bea will return to Kamijima at the end of September and will stay at the MIC house for a while. They have generously offered to begin introducing artists from their network to our residency on a regular basis starting next year!
Looking Ahead
Ehime Design Week
I've been invited to participate in Ehime Design Week this October in Matsuyama (Ehime prefecture, the same prefecture Kamijima Island is).
The event will take place on Nakajima Island (which we visited during our last roadtrip), where I'll introduce the up-coming residency program. There are numbers of people on nearby islands seems to be interesting into the same kind of program/community building/social business.
Hiroshima Art Book Fair
I will also planning to apply for the Hiroshima Art Book Fair in February 2028 (selection required). The deadline for the application will be sometime in Sep. This is the first art book fair will be held in Hiroshima. If I can secure a space there, I'm thinking of inviting artists (from Shanghai or anyone based in Japan) who might be interested in joining me for the event! *This art book fair is relatively small, but it might be a good first step toward participating in the Osaka and Tokyo Art Book Fairs in the future. https://www.instagram.com/hiroshimaartbookfair/
That's all for now! Thank you! I'll keep you guys updated again in the fall.