YUCAIPA, CA – Crafton Hills College is pleased to present Art: Eyes on Healing, an art festival featuring lectures and workshops focusing on the intersection of arts and diverse healing practices by artists and medical practitioners from Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States. The festival takes place from March 27 to 31 at the Crafton Hills College Learning Resource Center, 11711 Sand Canyon Rd. in Yucaipa.

The public is invited to a kick-off reception of the exhibit, Parallels: Medicine = Art: A Poetry of Acupuncture on Tuesday, March 28 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the CHC Art Gallery. The exhibition will feature the holistic practice of acupuncture and moxibustion, a traditional Chinese medicine therapy which consists of burning dried aromatic plants on particular points on the body to stimulate circulation.

• The Aesthetics of the Mind by Gershom Rob Spruijt Ph.D., a neuro psychologist and professor of art at Otis and Art Center in Pasadena, who will analyze the relationship of the brain’s function, intellect, creativity and healing.
• Yin/Yang and Five Elements in Philosophy of Healing and Arts by Mikio Kawasaki, a Tokyo-based performance and installation artist and practitioner of traditional Japanese healing. Kawasaki’s lecture focuses on I Ching, a Chinese divination text published in the late 9th century B.C. and a common source for both Confucian and Taoist philosophy.  The lecture will conclude with a presentation of moxibustion treatment.
• Invoking Ixchel, Mayan Goddess of Healing via Women’s Healing Narrativesby Susana de la Peña, Ph.D., an assistant professor of English and humanities at Crafton Hills College who will discuss the mythology of Ixchel, the “goddess of making children” in 16th century Maya culture.
• Performance Art and Healing by Takeshi Kanemura, a Japanese-American performance and installation artist, co-curator of  the festival and a Crafton Hills College alumnus who will lead an interactive presentation with art and dance students.
• Mind of Therapist-Psychology with Eastern Medicine by Tomoko Tanuma, a psychologist who will discuss the ancient Taishan (China) tradition of scull and facial massage with tools manufactured in Serbia.
• Manga and Healing by Hiroko Okada, a graduate student from Kyoto University School of Human and Environmental Studies who will talk about the therapeutic effect Japanese comic books have on its readers.