International Exhibition of Art and Design + New Work 国際交流総合展＋新作

This past 6 days, I had my latest artwork on show as part of a large group exhibition called the "International Exhibition of Art and Design". It was held in the Annex Building of the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. While the title (albeit vague) may perhaps conjure up images of grandeur and shiny display cases, don't let your imagination get carried away for the reality is that was a much more humble, honest display put on by a bunch of genuinely nice Artists from Japan and Abroad.
この６日間、新作が京都市美術館の別館で行われた「国際交流総合展」に展示していました。日本の作家と色んな国から来た作家による展覧会でした。

Group shows are by nature, a display by a very diverse group of people. In this case, there were many different techniques, countries and ages represented. Textiles, Sculpture, Illustration, Painting, Ink-work; Australia, Great-Britain, the US, Finland, Japan, China, Venezuela...to name a few. You can see work from the artists here. During the set-up we tried to make sure that works looked okay next to each other but whether you can make so many different artworks look good together, I'm not so sure.  There were also some works where you go, "errr, okay..?" but the majority of works were really impressive and well-done.
グループ展というのは色んな人によるもので、今回も結構幅広いジャンルや国や年齢の方が参加しました。染織、立体、イラスト、絵、墨の作品などもありました。参加した作家さんはたくさんの国から来た人で、ここで作品の例が見えます。

view of the exhibition. My work was next to a roketsu wax-resist work by Kobayashi Shoko.

It's a group show like so many others in Kyoto; run by some kind of art organisation with submissions mostly from regular members but with fresh faces each year. However, unlike others, this group encourages foreigners to participate and seeks to encourage the exchange of ideas and cultures between Japanese and International artists.
京都ではこういう大型グループ展が毎週行われています。ほとんど同じ感じの展覧会（何かのアート団体が行うもので、毎年出品している人が居るけど、毎回初めて出品する人もいるっていうような展覧会）ですが、この展覧会は特に海外の作家を呼んで、国際交流も目指しているものです。

looking towards the back of the exhibition. On the middle panel at the back is my friend Kiyomi's wax-resist work. The motif and colours are similar to the one shown here

gallery view

This year was my first year to be involved and it was a great experience. It was a good opportunity to meet artists working in totally different techniques and to hear what they had to say about my work and to form some new connections with International and Japanese artists working in and around Kyoto. 今年初めて出品しました。全然違うジャンルで作業している作家と話ができて、京都と周りの地域で作業している人と出会えていい経験でした。

gallery view

gallery view.

Without further ado, let me show you the work that I exhibited! It's called "Going, going, gone" which is an explanation of the three parrot species depicted in the artwork; from right to left they are the Swift Parrot (Conservation Status is ENDANGERED), the Orange-bellied Parrot (Status: CRITICALLY ENDANGERED) and finally the Paradise Parrot (EXTINCT).
では！展示した新作を紹介します！「Ｇｏｉｎｇ，　ｇｏｉｎｇ，　ｇｏｎe」というタイトルの意味は、「無くなっている、無くなっている、無くなった」のです。右から左へ行くと、描写してある三種類のインコは、オトメインコ（絶滅危惧)、アカハラワカバインコ（絶滅寸前）とゴクラクインコ（絶滅）。つまり、このインコはgoing, going, goneですね。

"Going, Going, Gone" 2013. 180x200cm Silk, Yuzen Resist, Chemical Dyes

Here's some of the Endangered Swift Parrots on the middle layer. You can see how it's partly see-through. 絶滅危惧種のオトメインコです。透明感のある生地を使いました。

These are Critically Endangered Orange-bellied Parrots. You can see the small sections of stylized text here which I`ll explain below. 絶滅寸前のアカハラワカバインコです。背景に文章が見えますね。下に説明します。

Here's a female and male Paradise Parrot, thought to have become extinct around the 1930's.
１９３０年代ぐらいに絶滅したゴクラクインコです。

In this piece, I used three different layers of silk fabric, beginning with a heavy silk at the back, then a lighter georgette silk, and finally a very transparent organza at the front. I wanted to create depth as well as give the impression of the birds coming in and out of focus; appearing and disappearing. Also, the flight from right to left is taken from the tendency to show the flow of time in Japanese paintings as running from right to left.　
今回初めて透明感のある絹を使ってみました。作品は３レヤーになっています。後ろにはしっかりしているちりめんと紬で、間中に半分透明のジョージェットを使って、一番前に薄くて透明なオルガンジを使いました。透明生地を使うのは、奥行きを表現したかったし、鳥が出たり隠されたりするのを見せたかったです。

"Going, going, gone" (detail) Here you can see from right to left, Swift, Orange-bellied and Paradise Parrots. 右から：オトメインコ、アカハラワカバインコ、ゴクラクインコ。

You may be able to see the texture in the work behind the birds? This is fragments of text from writings by ornithologist John Gould (1804-1881). He was an Englishman but spent several years in Australia (mostly in Tasmania) observing and writing about Australian birds. His writings are very descriptive and I love the flowery language he used. The tragic thing is when Gould wrote about these they were still common (well, the Paradise Parrot was already on his way out) but now they are in serious danger of disappearing. 

鳥の裏に文章が見えるでしょうか？それは１９世紀の鳥類学者ジョン・グルドがこの三種類のインコについて書いた文章から取った部分です。彼の英語がとても華やかで面白いです。悲しいのグルドが書いたときにオトメインコとアカハラワカバインコはまだ多かったけど今はもう消える可能性があります。

I was really glad to see that my work was moving slightly in the gallery space, as people walked by or just in the air-conditioning. ギャラリーで作品が下のようにちょっと動いていてとてもよかったです。鳥が本当に飛んでいるのを感じさせます！

my work moving in the breeze

And so it's onward to the next exhibition!! Coming up so soon it's frightening is this group exhibition I am a part of with the 5 other Textiles Master's course students, "How How". It runs November 12-19 in Kyoto and more information can be found here. On that note, time to go get back to work!!

次の展覧会ももうすぐです！京都精華の大学院染織コースの６人による「ＨｏｗＨｏｗ」というグループ展です！京都にいらっしゃる方、ぜひみに来てください！

では、制作しなきゃ～！

lacquerware lorikeet complete! インコの丸盆

Every Saturday for this past semester, I have been participating in Murata Koken's Lacquerware class at Kyoto Seika University. I got special permission from Murata-Sensei to take part and it has been a wonderful experience to try making work in a totally different medium like lacquer.
この四ヶ月、村田好謙による工芸の授業に参加しました。先生から特別な許可を貰って、漆で制作のチャンスなんてすごくよかったです。

I have shown you some progress pictures before but now I can happily share the final product. Ta-da~
前も段階の写真をアップしましたが、今回は出来た作品を紹介しま～す！

つやつやしているから写真が撮りにくくて、天上も映しています！
The final product! It's so hard to photograph because it's super glossy. Forgive the reflection of my ceiling.

銀の粉も色の粉が見えますね。太陽の光でキラキラ！
Detail of the Rainbow Lorikeet. You can see both the silver & coloured powders. It really sparkles when the sunlight hits it.

フラッシュを焚いたら、色がちゃんと見えますが、普通に見るとこんな鮮やかじゃないです。
Taken with a flash you can really see the colours. Normally though, it's not this bright.

前の作品のように、今回も鳥と葉っぱのラテン語の名前も入れました。先生に「英語うまいなあ～！」といわれて、何を答えたほうが言いか分からなくて、、、もちろんでしょう！ふふふ
Like some of my other works, I again included the latin names of the Rainbow Lorikeet & Eucalyptus in the design. I wasn't really sure what to say when my teacher remarked, "Wow, you are good at English!" umm...haha

The lacquer process was an interesting one, albeit quite stinky and using mildly dangerous substances. It's so great to see the subject matter I've been depicting in textiles now depicted in a totally different medium,
Now the question is what to do with this precious thing!
漆のやり方はとても面白かった。かなり危なくて臭いものも使ったのに。今までにテキスタイルで表現した内容を全く違う方法で描写するのがとてもいい経験だった。
今大事な問題が、この貴重なものをどうすればいいのか！？

Learning the Art of Lacquer 漆を塗るし。

This semester I have been lucky enough to join a lacquer ware class offered by the Japanese Painting department at Kyoto Seika University. We were given free reign to create whatever design we liked, to be applied to a round platter shape called 'marubon'. I chose to keep with my research theme, and used a section of the Rainbow Lorikeet & Eucalyptus design I used to dye a dress last year. On the side of the image, I've included the scientific names of the two species in English lettering. It's so funny to hear Japanese classmates and my teachers say that English lettering looks so "chic" or "stylish". To me it's just English!

今学期、京都精華の日本画コースによる漆の授業を取らせて貰っています。丸盆に好きなデザインを塗るという課題です。テキスタイルの作品と同様な感じで塗っていくことにしました。それで、今年の３月に染めたワンピースのインコ（五色青灰鸚哥)とユーカリの模様を使いました。葉っぱの間に鳥と木の学名を英語で入りました。同級生や先生がよく、「英語がおしゃれですね！」と言いますが、私にはただの英語ですよ！

As you might expect from a Japanese technique, it is time and labour intensive!
日本の伝統的な技法だからやっぱり時間と手間がかかります！

After first polishing the sheen off our already black platters and ensuring they were nice and flat, we transferred our designs onto the surface with a chalky white paint called 'gofun' ("whitewash"). From there we painted a thin layer of black (almost transparent) lacquer and proceeded to sprinkle very fine silver and coloured powders onto the wet lacquer.
胡粉を使って、丸盆にデザインを写した後、段々白い線に沿って漆を塗って、その上に銀や色の粉を撒きました。

stage one was to transfer the design onto the platter with a white chalky paint, 'gofun'
最初は胡粉でデザインを写す。

the leaf on the right has just been painted with the black laquer, which acts as a glue. After sprinkling over the various powders, it looks like the leaf on the left.
右の葉は漆を塗った状態です。その上に粉を撒いたら、左の葉のようになります。

the "stylish" English lettering reads "Trichoglossus Haematodus Molucannus & Eucalyptus Leucoxylon Megalocarpa"
いわゆる「おしゃれ」な英字

Keep on adding layers of lacquer and silver and coloured powders and the design starts to appear
段々漆を塗って粉を撒きいったらデザインが出て来ます。

getting there....進んでいる。。。

Done with the powders! 全部撒いた後。

And then, in what seems like a backwards way of doing things, the whole thing gets a coat of thick black lacquer, which is left to dry til hard, then you polish the black away to reveal the design below, magic!
それで、全体的に黒うるしを厚く塗ります。それが乾燥すると、研いたら、ジャーン！！下に塗ってあるデザインが現して来ます！何かの魔法のように。

suffocating the lorikeet beneath a thick layer of lacquer...黒漆を全体に塗って（インコが可愛そう）

then digging him out again! で、研ぐとインコを解放する！

We still have 3 classes left, with some more polishing to take place. The surface will be all shiny and the silver will really sing once its all finished. I'll post pictures of the final product in January!!
授業はまだ３回残っています。ぴかぴか、つやつやになるまでもうちょっと研がないといけないです。１月に完成したらまた写真をアップしますので楽しみにしてくださいね！

End of Semester Assesment 前期の「ミニ合評」

English Below

これから、日本語にも書こうかなと思っていますので、間違いがいっぱいかもしれないけど、よろしくお願いします！
月曜日に先生たちに前期に終わった作品を見せました。今は研究生なので、各年生の合評に入れなかったので、個人的な「ミニ合評」を行ってもらいました。下はミニ合評の風景です。

ミニ合評の風景です。My works up on display for my "mini Assesment" on Monday.

糸目糊（友禅染）で和紙を染めて、団扇に作りました。I dyed some washi (Japanese paper) using hand-drawn line resist (yuzen) and turned them into these summer fans.



これは型染めで染めた和紙で作った団扇。今回、古い団扇の紙を外して、新しく張りました。I dyed these fans using katazome on washi  and stuck the paper onto two old fans frames which I had dissected.

先生たちは皆、「いいね」「すごいな」「あ！きれいね！」といってくれたばかりなので、今からどこの点にもっと磨きをかけたほうがいいかどうかは分かりませんが、ほっとしました。＾＾
「着物を作ってみて」という声が多かったので、後期からの作品は着物です。夏休みの間に色々な着物の本や昔の着物の例を調べて、自分の着物をデザインするのを楽しみにしています！

I've decided I will try posting in Japanese and English from now on, so apologies that these become a bit longer and possibly hard to read! I had my assesment for the end of 1st semester on Monday this week. It ended up being me with about 6 teachers but they were all very positive, to the point where I didn't really recieve any constructive criticism to go off of, but I suppose this is a good thing!

You can see above how I had my works set up in the room, including the Major Mitchell's piece I recently finished, as well as a selection of Japanese fans I dyed, mainly for fun. Also, I hung up the two scrolls that I got made out of two of my textiles. They cost me a few limbs but I'm really happy with how they turned out. Here are a few details.

The correct way to store the scroll in its special box. I had to take a photo so I could remeber how! 紐の巻き方を覚えるように、初めて掛ける前に写真を撮りました！

Rainbow Lorikeets piece becomes a scroll! It's giant! Almost 2.5 metres tall... インコの作品は掛軸になりました！でっかい！２．５メートルに近い。

You can see there is a small border of gold silk in between my work and the edging silk. 作品と周りの間に金色の絹を少しだけ見える。

Red-rumped parrot piece as a scroll. The scroll-maker said he usually works with turning Calligraphic artworks into scrolls so he's used to black and white works that match with many colours. My colourful artworks were a new challenge for him! 表具屋さんはだいたい書道を掛軸にしているので、こんな鮮やかな作品に合わせる生地を選ぶのが新しいチャレンジと言いました！

After all that, I'm off on my summer holidays! Will catch you up with the kimono design progress in a month or so.

Kacho-ga 花鳥画 - The Art of Birds & Flowers

There is a genre in traditional Japanese painting called 花鳥画 kachou-ga, which literally translated means 'a painting of birds and flowers'. It has its roots in Chinese painting traditions where themes of natural beauty were highly valued. I've been reading about kachou-ga because my textiles are also essentially paintings of birds and flowers.

There are some things that are inherent in a kachou-ga that make it more than a mere image of a flower of bird or animal. These things are hard to define but according to Uemura Atsushi, a famous Japanese painter from a lineage of famous painters, the following is a clincher:

"Depicting natural phenomena as is doesn't make something a painting. To produce a work of art, the artist must give shape to the world he imagines in his own mind and heart" (forgive the translation)

Folding Screen by Suzuki Kiitsu, "White Crane & Willow Tree"

Another Japanese painter, Kawaguchi Naoyoshi, says that if an artist is to paint kachou-ga , they should not be painting the true to life external appearance of a subject but incorporating their own feelings and spirit into the work.

Also, Uemura adds that a frequent ingredient in kachou-ga is 「余白」yohaku, meaning "blank space". He says that it is by incorporating blank space in a work, the artist is hinting at this otherworldliness.

From the series "Birds & Flowers of the Twelve months" by Sakai Houitsu. Left: October. Right: September.

There's still a lot to read about kachou-ga but these are some of the most fundamental ideas.

I'm currently planning new work that follows some of the kachou-ga  styles and ideas, this time depicting Major Mitchell's Cockatoos. I'm still in the sketching and designing stage.

Also here's a few images from this week at school. I put up all the pieces I had finished during the spring break to show my professors. They were very positive and encouraging which was nice.

Lorikeets finally take flight

It's been finished for a while now but I am finally putting up some photos of my Rainbow Lorikeet panel. Its the largest piece I've made so far and the fact that I could barely fit it on the floor of my apartment to photograph it attests to that! (though it is a small apartment!)

Trichoglossus Haematodus Molucannus & Banksia Integrifolia. 2011. Approx 65cm by 190cm. line-drawn resist on silk.

 I've recently been naming pieces with the proper scientific names of the species. This is partly because they sound pretty (there are some beautiful ones once you start looking) but also because I want to be truthful in my depictions of Australian flora and fauna.

detail of flying lorikeet. The under-wing is so colourful in these birds.

detail of banksia seed-pod and flower.

the scientific names as written in resist at the bottom of the work. My Japanese professor is well versed in English so couldn't understand why she didn't know what this meant until I explained it.

I'm pretty happy with how this piece turned out. It's the first time I had done a piece solely using the hand-drawn resist paste technique (similar to yuzen dyeing). I wish I could have made the final purple background more variegated instead of one flat colour but I'm still not very good at gradient dyeing techniques (bokashi, in Japanese). Something to work on for next time!

Rainbow Lorikeets - new works in the works

I've temporarily put aside the adorable Gang-gang cockatoos to produce a new (larger, eep!) work depicting Rainbow Lorikeets.

I did a lot of sketching and playing around with the design before starting this piece. Somehow, I always feel like I lose a lot of detail and authenticity when making the transition from sketches to full size work, so I am trying to remedy that this time. Unfortunately, I dont have a picture of the design, as its too big to take a good picture of... But here are some "in-progress" shots.

Watercolour on sketches

trying to get gestural poses. Rainbow lorikeet aren't exactly shy parrots so it's not hard to get them mid movement

My fabric hanging up, midway through applying resist paste.

to give you an idea of the scale

applying the resist paste with a cone. Gah! its time consuming...but fun somehow

section of the design. Birds in flight!

Will fill you in with more photos as it goes along. Lots and lots of ideas for new pieces in my head at the moment. I have the fabric and the tools to do it, it's just a matter of getting the designs out of my head and onto paper (and then fabric!). Very exciting.