"Ways of Learning: An Apprentice Boat Builder in Japan"

What: Douglas Brooks '82 has apprenticed with four boat builders in Japan since 1996, building five types of Japanese boats.  In a slide talk at Trinity College, Brooks will share his experiences with traditional crafts drawn from over a dozen trips to Japan since 1990.  This event is free and open to the public.  This event is sponsored by the Center for Urban and Global Studies, the Multicultural Affairs Office, the International Studies Program, the Dept. of Language and Culture Studies, the Dept. of History, and the Dept. of Fine Arts.

When: Wednesday, October 28 ~ 7:30 p.m. 

Where: McCook Auditorium on the campus of Trinity College
300 Summit Street, Hartford, Conn., 06106

Background:
Douglas Brooks is a boat builder, writer and researcher.  He specializes in the construction of traditional wooden boats for museums and private clients.  He served as the museum boat builder at the National Maritime Museum in San Francisco from 1985-1990 and has since built boats at museums in Japan and across the United States.  He teaches classes in boat building and regularly publishes articles on his research.  Brooks is a 1982 graduate of Trinity College (B.A. Philosophy) and a 2002 graduate of the Middlebury College Language School (Japanese).  
 
In addition to building replicas of North American boats, Douglas has been researching traditional Japanese boat building since 1990, focusing on the techniques and design secrets of the craft.  These techniques have been passed from master to apprentice with almost no written record.  Douglas will be leaving in November for his fifth apprenticeship, building a boat with one of the last boat builders on Okinawa.  His first book, The Tub Boats of Sado Island: A Japanese Craftsman’s Methods was published in Japan in 2003.  In 2005 his book was honored by the Japanese Ministry of Culture as an important contribution to maritime preservation.

For questions about the event, please contact Rieko Wagoner at 860-297-2434 or Reiko.Wagoner@trincoll.edu.  For more information about Brooks, please visit his personal webpage at
www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com.

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