Budgerigar murmurations on linen セキセイインコの群が舞い上がった。

At what point does a flock of birds cease to be beautiful and start to become overwhelming or even grotesque? Perhaps when they number in the hundreds of thousands and form a moving, evolving mass that moves across the sky in unbelievable formations.
鳥の群って、何匹で美しい光景からグロテスクなものになるのだろう？何万匹の鳥が一つの巨大な生き物になって空を流れて行っているのはそのところかもしれない。

This was something I wanted to explore in my new artwork "Murmurations".
最近の作品「Murmurations」（流動的な大群の意味）にはこういう風な巨大群をテーマにしたかったです。

凄いでしょう！？スコットランドでのムクドリ大群。I mean, seriously?! Murmuration of Starlings in Scotland. More images from BBC here

A few posts back, I shared with you a little about these flock formations called murmurations. The most well known of these dancing, swarming, phenomena are those created by starlings in various parts of Europe. But in true Aussie style, not to be outdone by the old mother country, we have our own version, and I would say its a whole lot more amazing.
いくつかの投稿前に、この「Murmuration」について書いたと思いますが、一番知られているのはヨーロッパで見えるムクドリの大群の光景です。しかし、オーストラリアにはもっと鮮やか、もっと豪華なバージョンがありますよ！

Budgerigar murmurations!
セキセイインコの大群！

オーストラリアの中心に見えるセキセイインコ大群。Budgie Murmurations in Central Australia by Steven Pearce

綺麗でしょう！Budgie Murmurations in Central Australia by Steven Pearce

Budgerigars which are well known around the world as caged pet birds are actually Australian native parrots and remained that way up until the early 1800's. In the wild, they are intelligent little creatures with vividly coloured green and yellow plumage and slender bodies. They form these giant flocks in order to better locate food and water and to make things difficult for predators like falcons.
セキセイインコといったら、世界中に飼い鳥のイメージが強いですが、実はオーストラリア原産の野生インコです。１９世紀の初めまでにそうでした。野生のセキセイインコが鮮やかな黄緑で、賢くてすらりとした鳥です。こういう大群になると、水や餌をより簡単に見つけれるし、ハヤブサなどから逃げやすくなります。

Budgie Murmurations in Central Australia by Steven Pearce

I wanted to depict budgerigars in these formations, wild and on mass; the complete opposite image of the fluffy, variously coloured, singular budgerigar pets we are now so used to.
作品では、鳥籠に入っている一匹の青とかグレーのふわふわなセキセイインコのイメージを逆にして見たかったです。

From Canberra Times article: Wild budgerigar at left versus modern caged budgie. It's like putting a little flyweight next to an Arnie... 左は野生のインコ、右は慣れて来た飼い鳥のセキセイインコ。普通のサラリーマンと力士を並べてみているって感じ。

So here is my take on Budgerigar murmurations:

Murmurations 2014. 240 x 180cm

budgies in flight

Whilst this work is not as big as I might have liked (about 180cm tall x230cm wide), it's still of a scale that envelopes you or overwhelms you, I hope. もっと大きく作ってもよっかった気がしますが、圧迫感はあるでしょうか。

I made this work using katazome and over-dyeing. The idea of 'en masse' and repetition seemed best done in a technique that is repeatable. I cut about 20 small budgerigar stencils, some singular birds, some a set of two or three birds. I made various sizes, ranging from small parrots to be used in the "distance" and larger ones to create the effect of a "foreground".

型紙へトレースTracing Budgies
onto Katagami stencil paper

この作品を型染や引き染めで作りました。型染っていう技法では「繰り返す」ことは大事なので、複数の鳥を染めるにはちょうどいいと思いました。２０枚ぐらいのインコの型紙を彫りました。大きいのも小さいのも。

Cutting budgie stencils: one of
 the fun parts!
型紙を彫るのが楽しいよ！

Because I planned to use these katagami stencils over and over again, I decided to strengthen them with a layer of fine synthetic mesh called "sha". You attach this to the front of the stencil with a thinned down lacquer. Usually, this is used to print paste with the mesh-attached side facing up. I wasn't sure if I could flip the stencils and use them to print with the mesh on the fabric side but I was able to just fine. This meant I could use the same stencils for flying budgerigars facing in both directions. (Less stencil cutting!)

Hard to see but this stencil has a fine mesh attached to the front surface with a black lacquer. stinky stuff but it makes the stencil much stronger and more versatile. 紗を張った型紙。張る時に使うカシュ―のにおいがきついですが、紗がついていると使いやすいし、丈夫になります。

Here's a few more low quality photos (sorry!) of the work in the making! 制作中の写真を何枚か、

in the middle of pasting the budgies using various stencils. You can see the blue aobana ink on the fabric which i was using as a rough guide and later dissolved in water. 糊置きの途中。生地に見える青い線はまたあとで水で消える「青花」です。

explaining my work to some wonderful Australian ladies who happened to be visiting Kyoto and Nara on a textiles tour. Good fun! 京都と奈良へテキスタイルを見に来ていたオーストラリア人のおばさん組に自分の作品を説明最中。楽しかった！ 

first dyeing finished, paste still on fabric. １回目の色差しを終わった時。糊はまだ生地に置いている。

first dyeing finished, steamed and paste removed　一回目の色差しが終わって、蒸して、糊と余った染料を見ずで落とした。

This work will be in display for the first time at a 3-person group exhibition starting next week. It will be at a gallery in downtown Kyoto, Gallery Maronie, which is quite well known for shows of contemporary art and craft.　More details here. Although it's very hot in Kyoto at the moment, here's hoping we get a pretty good turnout. Perhaps people will flock to see it?!? Hardy har. And that terrible Dad joke I'll take my leave to go and finish the hand sewing on the other piece I will exhibit next week!
この作品を初めて展示するのは来週からのグループ展でします！京都の四条河原町に近い「ギャラリーマロニエ」に京都精華大学染織コースの大学院生３人でやる展示会です。詳しいことはここへ。京都は今の時期すごい暑いけど、たくさんの人が見にくれるのだろう。群のように？！へへ。また展覧会場の写真を見せます。とりあえず来週までに一つの展示する作品を仕上げないと！

「外から来た人たち」ギャラリーマロニエ２０１４年７月２２-２７日　京都　3 person group show at Gallery Maronie in Kyoto starting next Monday (July 22nd) and running until Sunday July 27th. 

Fragmentation: Red-tailed Black Cockatoos 分解化 赤尾黒オウム

My most recent artwork was breaking new ground for me in several ways. It's the largest work I've made so far, it's the first time I've dyed predominantly black birds and it's visually different from my previous pieces.

一番最近の作品は幾つかの理由で私には斬新でした。今までに作った物で一番大きいし、ほとんど黒の鳥を染めるのが始めてだし、デザイン的には前の作品とちょっと違う感じでした。

Let me show you the final piece and then I'll tell you a bit more about it. 

作品を見せてから作品の話しをさせていただきます。

Here it is on show last week at Gallery Fleur in Kyoto Seika University, as part of an exhibition held by 1st year Master's students of the Art & Design Graduate Schools. 

これは、先週行われていた「京都精華大学大学院一年生展」に展示していた様子です。

"Fragmentation: Red-tailed Black Cockatoos" 2014. katazome and yuzen resist techniques on linen. 6 panels of 60x180cm. 「分解化・赤尾黒鸚鵡」　型染、友禅、他。麻地6枚。

This work as displayed at the 1st Year's Masters Exhibition last week. To the left you see the work of my Textiles classmate Kiko Takahashi and in front is the work of Endo Ryotaro. 「大学院1年生展」での展示。左側に同級生の染織専攻高橋紀子の作品です。前景に、陶芸専攻の遠藤良太郎の作品です。

One thing I felt from my last exhibited works at Rissei Elementary School was that they would have had more impact if they were bigger. It always feels as if the work is enormous when you are making it, thanks in part to the detail involved, and the way you have to reach and use your body but then you display it on a wall and realize with dismay that it's actually not that big. 

11月元・立成小学校で作品を展示した時に気づいたのが、j作っているところは大きく感じるが、やっと壁にかけて、離れて見るとがっかりするぐらい小さくみえることでした。

when you are working on it in 6 pieces (only 4 visible here) the work feels enormous! こういう風に6枚に分けたら（ここで4枚しか見えないけど）、作品がものすごく大きく感じるんですね！

So I tried going bigger this time and in the end the work cam out to be 180cm tall by 360cm wide. Because of fabric width limitations and also because I enjoy the movement of fabric in spaces, the work is made up of 6 free hanging panels of a lightweight natural-coloured linen fabric. 

というわけで、今回の作品は横360センチかく縦180センチです。使いたっかった生地の幅や、空気に揺れる生地の感じが好きということで、60センチ幅の麻地を6枚合わせた作品です。

see the way the design is split over a set of panels. Japanese viewers are used to this format thanks to folding screens and noren split curtains. こんな感じでデザインが何枚かに流れています。日本では屏風やのれんなどに見える方法です。

In my work to date, I have been exploring depicting birds in flight and trying to give a sense of movement. This time I attempted to add to that effect with a grid of diagonal lines in the background. This background fades out slowly towards the left side. 

今までの作品では、動き感や時間の流れを感じさせるように、飛んでいる鳥をよく染めます。ここでそれをより深く感じるために、背景に斜線でできているグリッドを入れてみました。鳥の方向に沿って、背景の色はだんだん薄くなっていきます。

飛んでいる鳥の表情が一番好きです。I like the expressions and shapes of birds in flight the best

I titled the work "fragmentation: Red-tailed Black Cockatoos" (I don't much like titling work, it can sound so arrogant) because the south-eastern strain (Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne) of the Red-tailed black cockatoo is now endangered and this is in part due to deforestation and fragmentation of eucalyptus habitat. As at 2013, less than 1200 birds were counted by volunteers in South Eastern Australia. See this website for more information. 

タイトルというと(本当はタイトルを付けるのがあんまり好きじゃないけど) 

「分解化・赤尾黒鸚鵡」なんです。アカオクロオウム属では、5種類がいます。オーストラリアの東南に生きる種類(Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne)は絶滅危惧種になっています。2013年、ボランティアによる調査でオーストラリアの東南に1200以下の鳥が数えられました。

In terms of technique, this time I combined hand drawn yuzen resist (the cockatoos), katazome stencil resist (the Eucalyptus leaves silhouettes in the background) and dyeing directly on the fabric with the help of some clever masking.  

技法については、この作品に三つの染め方が混ぜ合わせています。オウムは友禅でそめていて、背景の葉っぱが型染めのもので、幾何学的な背景はマスキングしながら直接染めた所です。

The birds are dyed with the thin resist lines of yuzen and the leaves and gumnuts in the background were applied with a hand-cut stencil - katazome.　オウムは友禅の細い線で染めました。背景にある葉っぱや実は型染のしゃっきりとした線で表現したかったです。

here you can see the soft gradients I dyed in the background, using slightly thickened dye, a big soft brush and lots of masking tape. ぼかしのところをテープと染料と糊剤と丸刷毛で染めました。

I had some good feedback on this piece at last week's exhibition and I'm happy with the direction this artwork is taking me in. 

6枚の生地をバラバラにして作業しましたから、展示した時は自分で始めて見ている気持ちでした。お客様や先生ににいいコメントをもらいました。自分の中でも、この作品が向かっている方向が好きで、次のステップをワクワクしています。

My work in Gallery Fleur alongside work by 1st year Master in the Japanese Painting Department, Hiroko Kanayama. ギャラリーフロールで日本画専攻の金山ひろこの隣でした。

Already turning the mental cogs about the next big piece and I'm thinking FLOCKS! Big swarming flocks of parrots! Very exciting. Stay tuned :)

次に大きい作品を作るときのアイデアはもうあふれています。「群」について考え中です！インコの鮮やかなでっかい群！いいでしょう？楽しみにしてください☆

床の間 An Installation - Tokonoma

I'm currently showing some of my work as part of an installation at Kyoto Seika University. 6 of us Research students and Phd Students hailing from England, the United States, Denmark, Germany and Australia are utilising cupboards and wall spaces here and there in the Administration building on campus.
今週の土曜日まで、京都精華大学で勉強している研究生や博士課程の学生と一緒に展覧会をやっています。私たち六人が「独英米豪丁」のように、ドイツ、イギリス、アメリカ、オーストラリアとデンマーク出身です。京都精華大学内の本館を使って、３階から５階にある壁や倉庫を生かして展示しています。

International Postgraduate Students Exhibition. 独英米豪丁

I was allocated the 3rd floor storage cupboard beside the elevator. It's a narrow and airless room but it's in a location that has a lot of students and staff walk by. At first I wasn't sure how I could use this unusual space to display my work. I decided to create a relaxing space, in the style of a tokonoma.
私は３階の倉庫を使うことに決められました。エレベーターの側にある倉庫は狭くて、空気のない部屋なんですけど、たくさんの学生やスタッフが通る場所です。初めは、こんなスペースにどのように私の作品を展示すればいいか迷っていましたが、結局床の間のような空間を作ることにしました。

床の間って？
In a traditional Japanese home, one tatami room is reserved for entertaining guests which will have a set-in alcove on one side of the room called the tokonoma. This space is used to display artistic objects for quiet contemplation including hanging scrolls, calligraphy, decorative incense burners and flower arrangements. When observing the items in the tokonoma, you sit in seiza position; on your knees.
Here's a picture of my own 'Tokonoma'
これは私が作った「床の間」

My Tokonoma, open to visitors. 床の間ができた！

Peek inside to see my work and a nice place to sit. 覗き見るとこんな感じです。

Noren (split curtain) dyed on linen. I used silhouettes of eucalyptus leaves for this design. 麻で作ったのれん。デザインはユーカリの葉っぱのシルエットです。

A kind of logo I made last semester that I was able to print in the corner. It says "So-meru"
染めた「印鑑」染める・染Meru・染メル

I "wallpapered" the space and built a small raised tatami platform. One of my scrolls hung on the back wall and I arranged some flowers in front too. I was able to display some of the washi paper fans I made last semester on a side wall too. As an entrance to the cupboard and to empashize the tranquility of the space I dyed a noren hanging curtain on linen for the doorway. A zabuton cushion is on the floor in front of the work so that the viewer can sit quietly and enjoy the work.
壁に落ち着いている色を張って、畳の台を作っておきました。掛軸を奥の壁に掛けて、その前に花を生けました。（ちなみに精華の華道部に入っているんですけど、まだまだ初心者なので間違っているかもしれない！）左側の壁に和紙の団扇も展示しています。事務所からくっきり分けるために、のれんを倉庫の入り口に掛けました。見る人が座布団に座って、ゆっくり作品を眺めれるように工夫しました。


Just how I pictured the space being enjoyed. 友達が見に来た時の写真



Detail of the scroll. 掛軸



3 of the fans I made using Japanese paper. 染めた和紙で作った団扇。今回は３枚組

It was an interesting experience to make an installation for a change. I had a lot of fun putting together the look and feel of the room and am really excited to read comments left in the notebook in the room saying that people have enjoyed the feel of the space and spending time there. If you have time and happen to be in Kyoto, be sure to check out the exhibition until this Saturday.
ただの作品展示ではなく、全体的な空間を創造するのがとても面白かったです。部屋に置いたノートにたくさんの親切なコメントや感想をいただいてうれしいです。この土曜日までに見えるので、もし時間があれば立ち寄って、コメントを残してくださいね！

Expressions in Silk vs Linen 麻と絹の表現

It's now Spring holidays at Kyoto Seika University but I have been going into school to use the space and facilities to do some different experimental works. One of these has been some scroll format works. Here is the stencil I cut. It's of a male Red-rumped parrot. They are really cute little birds, shy and stick to the ground. They are often hanging around the edges of water, too.

stencil of Red-rumped parrot. You can see lots of 'bridges' holding the parts of the design together which are later erased with the resist paste.

I ended up printing 3 versions of this stencil. The first one on silk came out ok but I was unhappy with the dyeing so I reprinted it again, once on old obi silk and once on some beige natural linen. The difference in the outcomes is pretty significant! take a look for yourself.

Psephotus haematonotus (silk) 2012.  on the silk the colours are bright and crisp.

Psephotus haematonotus (linen) 2012. This time on a crispy natural linen the colours are more subtle.

close up of the Linen

Of course the dyes used on linen and those on silk are different, so that also comes into it but it was really exciting to see such different results from the one design. I like them both, for what they are. I'm interested to hear what my professors might say when I show them these two side by side after the holidays.

New Works! 完成したばかりの作品

Last week I finally finished two of my initial 'trial' artworks. They've been a way to get back into the swing of Katazome again but I also wanted to try out a few new techniques, including coloured resist paste and using a paper cone (づつ) to apply resist paste. Of course, they are also depicting Australian birds, in keeping with my research here in Kyoto.

First up is a linen Noren curtain dyed using Katazome technique. It shows the Kanji for Australia, "Go" 豪 and Australian flora and fauna.

「豪」'Australia'. Linen Noren. Katazome. 2011

Detail of Wattle.

Close up of my Crimson Rosella

 Second is this piece depicting a male King Parrot and Blackwood Wattle. This piece incorporates both katazome (resist paste applied with a stencil) and tzutsugaki (resiste paste applied with paper cone). I'm really happy with how this combination turned out.

King Parrot & Blackwood Wattle. Katazome and Hand-drawn resist technique on cotton. 2011

You can see the white lines which is where resist paste was applied with the cone. It gives a very different, drawing-like feel compared to stencil resist.

I have two more bird pieces *THIS* close to being finished. Once those are complete, I'd like to see what's been most sucessful in terms of technique and move on to making one or two much larger pieces.

Cut & Paste 型彫り＆糊置き

This week at Kyoto Seika I've been cutting and pasting.
To be more precise, I've been cutting stencils and resist pasting them onto cotton and silk fabrics!

I came up with 3 designs to use for trial artworks.

The first one I am using to dye some noren (narrow width split curtain) for the entrance to my bedroom. The design is based on katazome works by Serizawa Keisuke (one of my katazome heroes) where he takes a singular Kanji (chinese character) and surrounds it with design elements. For example:

Serizawa Keisuke,  「夏の字」 Kanji for Summer. Katazome on tsumugi silk. 1954

Serizawa Keisuke, 「飛の字」Kanji for "Fly". Katazome on linen. circa 1961

I chose to use the Kanji which is used to represent Australia, 豪 which reads as "Go" (you can maybe translate it as 'splendid' or 'grand').

And printed with resist paste onto linen.



Here it is in it's stencil format...





Here are some images of my other two designs in progress...

Crimson Rosella

Getting ready to print the King Parrot design

Close-up of King Parrot's face after I had added some extra details...

The next step will be to apply a soybean mixture that helps stop the dyes bleeding and then I can start dyeing!

Wrens and Wattle 鷦鷯とワットル

Some pieces I've dyed lately.

different coloured silks

wren design on blue linen

 

the full repeat of this design. (I originally designed this to repeat lengthways)