Pokemon Crafts Exhibition Includes Wood Poke Ball Workshop

Japan’s Tama Art University is holding an educational exhibit centered around Pokemon. It’s a Pokemon crafts exhibition called “Think with Pokemon: Art & Environment Education”, and it opens on March 26, 2023 at an exhibition space in Tokyo’s Roppongi area. It will run through April 8, 2023. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

The Pokemon crafts exhibition will focus on the theme of “learning through Pokemon, the sensibility and creativity that education in art and the environment nurtures.” It will feature works from the students of Tama Art University’s Studio 3, who major in Product Design. Their work will replicate various iconic Pokemon made using found materials. This process of turning unused materials, waste products, and other refuse into things with a greater perceived value is called upcycling. As such, their crafts exhibit is called “Pokemon Upcycle Sculpture” and features over 20 different Pokemon sculptures. The sculptures on display will include Pikachu, Charizard, Ho-Oh, and Shinx. A related exhibition will focus on the problem of waste and waste disposal, presented in a Q&A format.

The Tama Art University Pokemon crafts exhibition will also have a workshop aimed at elementary school students and their guardians. The workshop will focus on teaching the students to make their own Poke Balls. It kicks off from April 1st and will help guardians and students craft and customize their own Poke Balls from upcycled materials.

Here are a few of the upcycled sculptures.

Think with Pokemon: Art & Environment Education will run from March 26, 2023 through April 8, 2023 (with a break on April 2, 2023). It is located at the Midtown Shopping Mall in Tokyo, Japan. Admission is free. Pokemon games and media are available on Nintendo devices and mobile platforms, as well as through streaming services and retail.