As part of the third grade RYNJ art curriculum students studied Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai (1760—1849) was the first Japanese artist to be internationally recognized, and he continues to inspire artists around the world. Hokusai is best known for his woodblock work The Great Wave which depicts an enormous, frothing wave as it crests over a distant Mount Fuji. After learning about Hokusai, RYNJ artists got to work. They painted their horizon of sky and water and then created their own great wave out of paper mache with Mount Fuji always appearing in the background.