Tara McInerney, our Art Teacher, is currently working on her PhD at Keio University. She is known among the children as a patient, inspiring muse. Among her colleagues, she is renowned for her soulful singing and thoughtful musings. To see a sampling of her art, check out her website.
Origins
Where are you from?
My memory of Birmingham, where I was born, is that it was a grey and busy place. We spent many rainy summers in Killaloe, Ireland by the beautiful River Shannon, visiting aunts and uncles. Then, when I was ten years old, we moved to the Costa Blanca in Spain.
What did you want to be when you were a kid?
As a young child I was always making things; I was fascinated by different materials and their properties. I would take things apart and put them together again – so, at first, I thought I would become an inventor. Later, I realised my passion for making things was best expressed through art (though there is much overlap). Even now, my favourite kind of art is anything cognitively stimulating.
What were your favorite toys and games growing up and why?
I adored my Disney Classics picture books, and would keep them next to my bed. Any creative activity captured my attention, like Lego, dress-up, drawing and painting. I was always pleased by my own company and dedicated a lot of time independently towards creative pursuits.
What brought you to Tokyo?
I earned a full scholarship from MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) to pursue a PhD at Keio University.
What’s your favorite place in Tokyo and why?
Tennozu Isle; there is lovely street art, many galleries and cafés, and the isle is flanked by beautiful parks at the north and south aspect.
How do you spend your weekends?
Mainly drawing, or writing my PhD! Occasionally, I will do fitness events. Of course, I meet up with friends and go to exhibitions or art fairs. Some months I also partake in group shows.
What’s your biggest passion these days?
Finishing my current research comic.
MST
How did you end up at MST?
I missed teaching! After residing in Tokyo for half a year, I realised that not only would my research be complemented by continuous teaching practice, but that I missed the connection and satisfaction of helping young artists with their work. I sought out options, and luckily, at that time, MST was looking for a part-time art teacher. It all fell into place!
What did you used to do before teaching at MST?
I worked as a lecturer at Teesside University, where I designed and directed the Comics and Graphic Novels BA course, followed by the MA in Illustration. After 7 years in this full-time position, I felt it was time to return my attention to my own development.
Why did you decide to go into teaching?
I have always found it very rewarding to assist others in their creative pursuits. Even as a student myself, I was always naturally drawn to giving feedback, knowledge exchange and collaboration. This holds true today, and goes beyond the classroom, or any paid role – I enjoy putting myself in contexts where learning can happen naturally between peers.
What’s your favorite thing about teaching?
Can I choose two things? When I joined MST I was dedicated to nurturing students’ individual artistic identities. There is no greater joy than helping students become themselves through self-expression. But a new joy for me since starting at MST, is that I find working with the children so inspiring and creatively refreshing, that after every class, I just want to go straight home and paint!
Recommendations
What are you reading right now?
In terms of fiction, at present, I am enjoying The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. So far, it seems to be a philosophical musing on life and love, equal parts uplifting and heartrending – presenting love and loss as part of a whole rather than opposites. I picked it up from Grove Campus’ book swap!
For research, I recently read Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord – particularly to review his writing on authentic social life and situationist learning. I recommend To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, though, it’s my favourite novel.
What are you watching on TV these days?
I’m watching Battle Bots. For those of you who remember Robot Wars, it’s essentially the same concept – teams of hobbyists and engineers make robots that fight each other. It’s equal parts inventiveness, pluck and mayhem. It’s very silly, family-friendly, and a great palette-cleanser after reading research papers!
What’s a movie you recommend?
I love Adaptation by Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman. “You are what you love, not what loves you.”
Art
How did you get into the arts?
Like many artists, I felt compelled to make art, and the profession is a consequence of that. My art usually has a “job to do” ie: it communicates. So, I worked mainly as a commercial artist and illustrator for magazines, journals and online publications. I most enjoyed my work as a reportage illustrator and would like to revisit this in Japan.
What kind of art did you do as a kid?
I drew practically every day from when my memory begins until adulthood, and the art one makes throughout this time cannot be really described as one thing – it is defined as much by personal growth as it is skill development. One mainstay was that I always drew stories; characters and settings, scenarios and sequences. I always kept a sketchbook and would visually plot out hundreds of stories. A turning point in my art was moving to Spain, and feeling like I’d just seen colour for the first time – my work developed accordingly.
How would you describe your art?
My art is focused around communication. Right now, I’m focusing on research comics and docucomics. I’m producing a short manga about fanculture and transformative work as a learning method in Japanese manga culture — related to my PhD studies. It pays homage to traditional manga techniques and is drawn entirely by hand, with ink and screentone.
My work is mainly sequential, a bit iconoclastic but ultimately honest and representational. This comic is achromatic but my other work is generally colourful. My priorities in art are in a state of flux, and once this project is complete I look forward to revisiting single-image storytelling and painting.
What is your PhD topic and why did you choose to study it in Japan?
I developed an academic career in comic and manga studies, and now I’m pursuing further research in social learning, particularly amateur skills acquisition in manga industry/social contexts in Japan. It is the goal of my PhD to present original findings on social learning and creative skills acquisition to support educational institutions and individuals alike. It would be significantly harder to study the manga industry outside of Japan, so I knew I must come here to do this work.
Who are some of your favorite artists and how would you describe their style/message?
I am inspired by artists such as Jenny Saville and David Hockney, and in terms of comics I appreciate Bill Sienkiewicz, Sue Coe, Haruko Ichikawa and Umino Chika. I am inspired by figurative artists: writers like Virginia Woolf and painters such as Lucien Freud who show life through their own lens, as honestly as possible, and not necessarily as realistically as possible.
What do you say to kids who want to be artists?
“If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right.”