I was only back in Australia for 10 weeks to the day when I found myself in Canberra setting up my next exhibition with my Dad. (Thanks Dad!)
オーストラリアへ帰国したばかりという気持ちがした10週目のところで、キャンベラでの個展の搬入なんてしていました！
My first solo show in Australia, "The Traces Between" opened on August 6th in the long and narrow space of Gallery 3 at M16 Artspace. The opening was a packed event as three separate shows opened all at once. It was great that the visitors who came to see the group show in the main gallery then drifted through to both mine and Keith Bailey's Solo shows in the two smaller galleries. Hooray for capitalising on other people's friends!
オーストラリアで初ての個展です。キャンベラのM16 Artspaceで細長いギャラリーで展示しています。そのArtspaceにて、三つのギャラリースペースがあって、同時に三つの展覧会も開きます。オープニングにたくさんの人が来ました。
Me explaining some of my work on opening night オープニングのパーティーで、友人に作品を説明している私。
Yay! other people's friends (plus lots of my friends and family too :)) 三つの展覧会が同時に始まるので、三つの作家さんの知り合いや友だちが来るわけ。いいシステムですね！
I called my exhibition the slightly vague and arty sounding "The Traces Between". I wasn't trying to be vague or sound arty (goodness knows I've learnt a whole dictionary of meaningless arty tripe I could roll out if I wanted to). Instead I was referring to a variety of gaps both literal and not.
One is the physical and visible gap that appears between areas of dyed colour when you use a resist technique like Katazome or Yuzen. In yuzen, that will be where you have drawn fine lines of paste with a metal-tipped tube. They leave behind the colour of the fabric below; white traces. A stencil is used for katazome, so you get a distinctive silhouette-style image. This positive image is merely the reverse of lots of blank gaps and spaces where resist paste was applied.
一つの「間」は、作品に見える防染された間です。友禅の場合では、防染糊の線の所ですね。型染の型紙を通した糊のところは出来上がった作品には、ただの間にすぎないです。
That is to say, resist-paste techniques rely on the preservation of the under fabric and then upon revealing them in the final piece.
つまり、防染糊の技法を使うと、糊が守った生地の色は、完成した作品には跡になります。
Yuzen detail: the writing is where the resist paste was. In the final piece it is just a trace. A blank space. 友禅の防染した文字。染め上がった作品から糊の存在が消されて、跡しか残らない。
In the case of Katazome, the blank negative space forms the image. In between all those gaps, the imagery is brought to life. 型染の場合、余白があるからこそ、イメージが見えてくる。
Another gap I was trying to allude to is the physical space between layers of fabric; the gaps that air can flow through. Since late 2012, I have been layering sheer silks in my pieces, leaving gaps in between them and allowing them to catch the breeze or the draft from an air conditioner.
もう一つの見える「間」は、生地の層のあいだにある空気です。2012年後半から、何枚かの絹を染めて、重ねる作品を作り続いています。この薄くて透明絹が風もちくはエアーコンに振られます。
By not framing my work, or stretching them tightly over a wooden board, they have a sense of life.
縁やパネルを使わないと、何かのイキイキ感がでる気がします。
sometimes the gaps between layers are even big enough to get inside! 2枚を重ねた作品です。時には入れるぐらいの間です！
Degradation series from 2014 where I made a point of spacing layers out from each other. 2014年のシリーズでは3枚の絹を重ねて、わざと5センチずつの間で展示してみたら、良い感じでした。
Cross cultural spaces? Australian foliage meets Japanese noren
A non-physical gap is that between Art and Craft. I don't yet know where my work fits in those terms but I get the feeling it's somewhere in between; somewhere on the divide.
作品には見えない間もあると思います。それは「美術」と「工芸」の間。自分の作品はどちらに近いというのがまだわかりませんけど、確かにその真ん中に寄っていると思います。
You could also say that it straddles cultures too, swaying somewhere in the grey area between Australian and Japanese but let us not get carried away with ourselves! 文化の間というのもあると言えるでしょうが、今はあんなに自慢するのをやめよう！笑
This show is a combination of larger works that I completed whilst undertaking my Master's degree in Kyoto as well as a collection of new work. My graduation piece from Kyoto Seika University which features the migration cycle of the endangered Swift Parrot is the centrepiece (it can be helped since it's over 5 metres long!) and it catches the air nicely as people walk by in the space.
今回の展覧会は、京都で作った大き目の作品と、帰ってから創ってみたもっと小さな作品の組み合わせです。
My Graduation work from Kyoto Seika in March 2015 is the star centrepiece of this show. 京都精華大学の大学院終了作品で作った「オトメインコの渡り」が今回の個展では、メイン作品になっています。5メートル以上なので仕方ないですけど！
Amongst the new work (some of which were completed at very VERY closely to the finish line!) are some small pieces I'm excited about that combine the fine line-work of yuzen with locally sourced natural dyes. In some inital research (much more to be had), I managed to find foliage from three eucalypts found around my suburb and boiled them down to extract some shades of yellow-brown and peachy orange-brown. Then I used those dyes to dye little "portraits" of Eucalyptus blooms and leaves. Haha! see what I did there? it's like a textiles pun or something.
新作の中、近所にあるユーカリから煮出した染料でユーカリのイメージを染めたちいさな作品もあります。まだまだ植物染料について沢山調べないといけないと分かりましたが、はじめての実験としてとてもうれしい結果です。
New small experiments in natural eucalyptus dyes are also on show.
Anyway, the show is on at M16 Artspace in Canberra until Sunday August 23, so be sure to check it out if you are in town. Otherwise, look forward to more photos after the show is complete!
さて、個展は8月23日までです！終わったらまた写真をアップしますから楽しみにしてください！
（笑。頭の中が関西弁になってんやで。爆笑）
When I was in Australia in September, I exhibited some of my Yuzen artworks and I started thinking, "Isn't Yuzen just another way of saying Silk Painting?"
"Isn't this just Silk Painting?" シルク・ペインティングちゃうの？
よく考えてみたら、両方はペースト状の防染するもので、線を引いてから上に染料を好きなように塗るというやり方です。線のところは同じく染料をふせいで、染め上がった生地には白い線が残っている模様になります。
If you think about it, both are resist techniques where paste lines are drawn on the surface of fabric and dyes are applied over the top as you like it. The lines in both cases resist the dye and you are left with white lines as part of your design (if we are talking the most basic form of the techniques).
silk painting - hydrangea
Yuzen‐dyed hydrangea
So, what's the difference then? Is it ideological or technical?
そうでしたら、どこが違うのでしょうか？技法の詳しいやり方？それとも技法の考え方？
The most obvious difference between the two is the technical one of the resist paste used: "Nori" in Yuzen and "Gutta" in Silk Painting.
技法の面からみると、一つの明らかな違いは防染剤として使っている「糊」と「Gutta」ですね。
*糊*Nori
糊は友禅染や型染めに用いられている「ピーナツバター」色のペーストです。もちことぬかを混ぜて、蒸したもので、粘りがあります。この糊を生地に置くと、乾いた後に染料を塗ったら完全防染の効果があります。糊によりますが、絹を使っている場合では、糊の線の所に薄い茶色が残る時もあります。気にならない程度なので、問題ではないですが。これは「のりやけ」という現象です。
"Nori" (which just means "glue" in Japanese) is used as a resist in both Yuzen and Katazome dyeing. It is a thick paste similar in colour to peanut butter but sometimes paler. It is made by steaming a mixture of glutinous rice flour and fine rice bran which then gets a pummeling to make it nice and smooth and sticky. Once applied to the fabric, it is left to dry and can be dyed over and will completely protect the white fabric. Sometimes when used on silk, the paste will leave a slight beige colour after being washed off but it doesn't stand out enough to be a bother. They call this "nori-burn". You can purchase pre-made nori with some kind chemical added that ensures this burn effect doesn't happen but I prefer to make my own nori and so I just deal with it. I kind of prefer it over a stark white resist anyway.
Rice-based Nori for Yuzen.
*Gutta*
Guttaというのは元々木から採れるゴム製のものです。名前は採れる木の学名に基づいているそうです（Palaquium gutta）。Guttaは透明のペーストがありますが、他にも黒や色や金色が付いているものも販売されています。透明のGuttaは、糊のように染料を定着した後に落とすものですが、色のGuttaはそのまま模様の部分として残すものです。Guttaは完全防染で、ゴム製なので水で取れなくて、シンナーで溶けて落とさないといけないです。最近、水で落とせるGuttaもできたらしいですが、ゴムのような防染力が高くないみたいです。
Gutta is a rubber latex paste that is extracted from certain tropical trees, eg Palaquium Gutta, hence the name. There's clear gutta available as well as those with colour added and even gold and silver. The clear gutta is intended to be removed from the fabric after setting the dyes, whereas the coloured ones are left on the fabric as part of the design. You can't remove gutta in water so it results in a strong and complete resist. There's also water-based gutta that can be washed off but apparently the strength of the resist is not as strong.
* Just to complicate matters, there is also rubber-based nori now used in a large percentage of modern day Yuzen. It's the same kind of stuff as Gutta and must be removed with solvent. The benefit of rubber nori over the rice based nori is that it isn't weakened by the water-content of the dyes applied, it's not susceptible to changes in temperature and humidity and you can fold or roll the fabric it's applied to without cracking or damaging the resist lines.
．．．といいながらも、友禅にも「ゴム糊」がありますね。着物業界での友禅はこの頃殆どゴム糊でやっているらしいです。ゴム糊は湿度の変化とかによって変わらないし、生地を曲がったり動かしたりしても糊の線は割れないので作業が楽です。
sticky, smelly rubber-nori for yuzen
Whilst the dyes and fabric may be similar between Silk painting and Yuzen, I think the major difference is the approach to applying the dye and this is what ultimately makes the two techniques look totally different.
両方に使う染料や生地は似ていると言えますが、染料の塗り方（というか挿し方）は全然違います。私は、友禅染とシルク・ペィンティングの雰囲気は全く違うように見えるのはそのためだと思います。
Silk Painting Dyeing
The use of a strong rubber resist in Silk Painting allows the dyer to be quite liberal with the dyes, applying generous amounts of dye or silk paints with brushes and allowing/encouraging them to bleed, blending them into each other and achieving gradation effects with water or alcohol. In my understanding, the silk-painter is thinking of the gutta lines as borders and working up to them and pushing dyes towards them. I know there are probably many different techniques and personal preferences for how to apply dyes but see this youtube clip for a visual of how someone might apply dyes in silk-painting.
シルク・ペィンティングの方では、ゴム製のGuttaで防染しているから、防染力が高くて、結構自由に塗れます。筆で載せて、水やアルコールで上手く暈したり、塩で色を抜けたり、色が滲むように置いたりします。考え方として、防染の力を持っているGuttaに信頼しながら、その境界へ色を広げるというような感じじゃないでしょうか？やり方は沢山あると思いますが、一つの例として、次の映像を見てね。
(If a yuzen-dyer witnessed this kind of dye application, I can guarantee he would have heart palpitations. This kind of liberal dyeing would go straight under his nori-lines and ruin his kimono before you can say "nori-bousen" (paste resist). 友禅の職人さんがこういう塗り方を見たら絶対ショックを受ける！糊の上にこんな量の染料を置いたら、直ぐに糊の線の下へ入ってしまって、作品はもうダメになりますからね）
The visual result of this style of dyeing is washy, blended colours, something akin to watercolour paintings. And I mean, the name of the technique is Silk PAINTING, so the process and result tend towards a painterly style. The rubber resist is soft and viscose too, so that even if the resist lines are drawn with a fine-tipped applicator, the lines will be rounded and fluid, not crisp.
こういう染め方によって、作品は柔らかな暈しや水彩のような色使いになりますね。またGuttaが柔らかいから、防染の線はきっちりとした線ではなく、丸くて柔らかいものです。
Yuzen Dyeing
In Yuzen, the dyeing step is called "iro-sashi"which doesn't mean brush on dye but insert colour. The action is not like applying generous amounts of dye to soak into the fibres but rather carefully inserting colour where it is desired. Nori resist is removed in water which means that it is also weakened by the water content of dyes. This means that the yuzen dyer (and katazome dyer who uses much the same nori) is trying to avoid wetting the paste areas too much. The paste can of course withstand some contact with liquid but continous re-wetting and too much liquid on top at once quickly dissolves the paste and it no longer serves any purpose as a resist.
友禅の方では、染める段階は「色塗り」ではなく、「色挿し」といいます。シルク・ペインティングのように、繊維を染料で濡らすというより、染料を欲しい所に丁寧に入れていくという感じです。糊は水で落とすものですから、染料の水分にも弱くなります。ある程度水に強いですが、何かいも濡らしたり、沢山の染料を一遍に置いたりしたら、防染力が減ります。
So instead of thinking of the nori lines as hard and fast borders, I think the yuzen dyer sees these as delicate edges and works towards them with dye but tentatively. Dyes are even thickened with some seaweed-based thickener (Manutex) to endure they don't bleed or run. See what I mean in this video:
なので、いっぱい耐えれる強い境界のように思うのではなく、繊弱なもので糊まで丁寧に染料を入れないといけないと思っているのではないか。（だからこそ、この頃防染の強いゴム糊が使われるようになったのでしょう。）友禅の色差しはこの映像で見せます:
伝統X現代？
I guess you could also argue that a difference between the two techniques is the history; that Yuzen is "traditional"and Silk Painting is something "Modern". But Yuzen doesn't have such a long history, really. It was just something Miyazaki Yuzensai thought up in the 1700's as a convenient way to get designs onto fabric. And Silk-painting also has historical roots in Chinese silk-painting, taken to Europe (possibly) and developed from then 1800's and turned into new kind of technique.
友禅が伝統的で、Silk Paintingは現代のものだという議論もできそうけれども、そんなことないと思います。友禅はそんなに長い歴史を持ってないですし。宮崎友禅斎はただ、模様を生地に描ける方法が欲しかって、1700年ごろ発展したのでしょう。SilkPaintingも歴史があります。絹がヨーロッパへ輸入されたあとにイギリスやフランスに現れたそうです。ルーツは不明ですが、インドや中国の伝統に影響されたんじゃないですかという議論があります。
So, yes they are different techniques that share some materials and tools but ultimately allowing different kinds of creative expression. Woop, case closed! Here's some lovely examples of both techniques in celebration.
終わり、確かに二つの技法は違いますね。使う材料や道具が似てますが、作品の雰囲気が異なって、両方には別の表現可能性があります。最後に友禅とSilkPaintingのステキな例を見せます^^
I wanted to share some images of the most recent artwork I dyed in March. It was on display as part of group exhibition held at 3F Project Room in Kyoto called "Colours of Kyoto". The idea was that the 18 participating artists created an artwork based on or inspired by a particular place or scene of Kyoto. The artworks were then arranged in order within the gallery space in terms of North, East, South and West.
今回は最近作っているものをちょっと紹介したいです。特に、4月上旬に染め終わった「大文字山とトンビ」の作品です。これは18人の作家さんが出品したグループ展で出したものです。「京都の色」というグループ展で、みんなそれぞれ京都の風景もしくは好きな場所をモーチフにした作品が並んでいた楽しい展覧会でした。
I was assigned to North-east, so I chose to depict Mt Daimonji, a mountain famously bearing the Kanji symbol "dai" (meaning big) on its peak. This mountain becomes the centrepiece of the Okuribi festival held in mid August every year when mountains around Kyoto are lit with giant Kanji characters (as well as a boat and a torii gate) to guide the spirits of ancestors back to the heavens as part of O-bon. See more information about the festival here. For me though, this Kanji-topped mountain is just a beautiful landmark of my beloved Sakyo-ku area.
私はお盆の「送り火」に有名な大文字山をモーチフにしました。私にはお盆だけではなく、年中に大好きな左京区のシンボルになっています。
Photo I took of Daimonji from one of the other "kanji mountains" in Kyoto, the hill bearing "myo"
You can hike up Daimonji mountain to the large stone fireplaces that are lit during the festival. I have done this hike up through the forest several times and it affords an amazing view over Kyoto, both in the daytime and at night. For my artwork I wanted to depict this natural forest of Daimonji mountain and also incorporate some birds (because what would my artwork be without some?!). 大文字山の山頂まで登れます。送り火の祭に火がつけられる「大」のところから、京都の景色は見事です。昼間も夜にも北の山から京都駅や（晴れている日に）大阪が見えます！作品には、登った時に味わった「森」や「葉っぱの緑」を表現したかったです。それで、私の作品では鳥が欠かせないものですから、トンビを染めてみました。
one "stroke" of the "Dai" kanji atop the mountain. You are seeing those concrete fixtures where the fires are lit for the okuribi festival
My artwork. sorry for the poor lighting, 私の作品です！
I chose to dye circling Black Kites which I have seen up the top of the mountain, and let's be honest, anywhere in Kyoto that somebody is picnicing or waving around food. They have always been scary birds for me, but I also think they are so cool the way they fly with precision and wheel around in the air. To recreate the sense of circling kites, I made this work with two layers of fabric which hang slightly apart and sway in the breeze. The birds are on the front layer on a sheer organza, dyed using the yuzen technique.
大文字山の山頂でも、弁当などを食べている人が居ましたら、トンビは絶対上に飛び回っています。友達が持っていたおにぎりが目の前に取られた事件以来は怖がっていますが、トンビの飛び方や鳴き声はきっとカッコウいいと思います。空に飛び回っている行為を描写したかったので、二枚の生地を染めて、空気に揺れるように間を空けて吊るしました。
トンビ！ ピーヒョロロー Black Kites detail. In Japanese their whistling call is put on paper as "pii-hyororo--"
kites mid-dyeing. brown, brown and more...brown. トンビを染める最中。茶色、茶色、茶色
I also included snatches of text from 18th century descriptions of Kites like, 18世紀からのトンビについての文書もあちこちに入れました。
"The flight of this bird is peculiarly easy and graceful, as the wings are seldom flapped, and the Kite sails through the air as by the mere power of volition"（私の訳：この鳥の飛翔は妙に楽で雅やかである。殆ど羽ばたかせずに意志の力だけで飛んでいるそうです）
snatches of text during the making
The back layer is a heavy hakusan tsumugi silk which I dyed using katazome stencil technique, depicting Daimonji mountain with cherry blossoms for spring and the roof of Ginkakuji temple (complete with ornate phoenix statue on top!) which sits nestled in the base of the mountain. 一枚目は透明感があるオーガンジーですが、二枚目はわりと厚い白山紬を使いました。型染で大文字、桜、山のふもとにある銀閣寺（屋根の鳳凰も！）をデザインに入れました。
two layers of cherry blossoms, on organza in the front and pongee at the back. 桜模様２層。前はオーガンジー、後ろは紬。
森のディテール。紬に型染 detail of the forest. katazome on tsumugi silk.
The response to my work at the exhibition was good. A lot of guests said they thought it looked "so Japanese!". I guess that is because of the temple roof and Cherry blossoms which are ubiquitous in Japanese art. It was also pointed out that these colours are quite subdued for me. It's true! It was my first time to dye Japanese birds and as I was dyeing them in brown, brown, lighter brown, darker brown and brown, I was realising how vibrant some Australian birds really are! But all in all, a good experiment with layering fabrics and combining techniques.
展覧会での反応は良かったです。たくさんのお客さんに「とても和風！」と言われました。それは日本画などの定番である『桜』や「お寺」のせいかもしれないですか？それで、友達にも言われたのですが、今回の作品はかなり地味というか落ち着いている色合いでした。それはそうですね。日本原産の鳥を染めるのが初めてでした！染めの段に「茶色、薄い茶色、濃い茶色、黒目の茶色」のような色を作った時にも、オーストラリアの鳥は本当に鮮やかのだ！と改めて思いました！全体としては、違う生地を重ねったり、違う技法を同時に使ったりすることでいい実験でした。
details
With that, I'm now onto my next piece, based on giant flocks of Budgerigars that gather in central parts of Australia. I had never heard of the term "murmuration" before but it is word usually used to refer to enormous flocks of starlings that move fluidly as one, almost like a school of fish. These are incredible things to watch in motion, see the video below for an incredible 3 minutes 36 seconds!
それで、さっそく次の作品の制作へ！今回、オーストラリアの中心にあつまる（信じられないぐらい）大群のセキセイインコをモチーフにしています。セキセイインコはオーストラリア原産のインコですからね。英語では「murmuration」（マーマーレィション）という言葉が初めて知ったのですが、大群の鳥、特にムクドリ、の液体な動きを表しているらしいです。この現象はもう～、すごいですよ！！Youtubeで「murmuration」を検索したら、何時間も潰してしまいそうです。ムクドリの例として、このビディオを見てね
Well it's not only starlings that form these giant flocks, Australian Budgerigars do it too, apparently to protect themselves from predators and find food and water more efficiently. The budgerigar's yellow and green plumage really adds to the visual effect as they turn and curve around. See this video for the budgerigar version of a murmuration! ムクドリだけではなく、オーストラリアのセキセイインコもこういう行為をします。大群だと、えさや水をより見つけやすくて、捕食性の鳥から逃げやすいらしいです。セキセイインコの黄色と緑の羽のおかげ大群の動きがでさらに綺麗ですね。
I've just finished cutting my own giant flock of budgerigar stencils to create a murmuration inspired work in katazome. I cut the stencils from smoked katagami paper with it's distinct smell and then went about applying a fine mesh to the front of the stencils using black lacquer. I hate the way it smells but once applied, the fine detailed areas and pointy sections will not catch on the spatula whilst applying resist paste.
tracing budgies onto katagami stencil paper using a light box 型紙にセキセイインコを写して
大好きな段階の一つ：型彫り！one of my favourite steps, cutting detailed stencils!
stencil after applying netting with a layer of black lacquer. stinky stuff but it really makes things easier for pasting the fabric!
I'll show you the final artwork in the near future! I'm hoping this artwork will show people that unlike the well-bred, pretty, caged Budgerigars we are now used to, Budgies are actually native parrots, beautifully wild, uncaged and intelligent.
近いうちに出来上がった作品を見せます！この作品では、多くの人は習ている籠に入っているセキセイインコに対して、野生のままのセキセイインコは賢くて、自由で美しいということをみんなさんに伝えたいです。
これから楽しみにしてください！
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.
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!!
「クリエーションに必要なことは、できるだけ多くのものを見たり、体験したり、勉強したり、また遊んだり、そんないろんなことで自分自身の感性を豊かにしていくことだと思います。経験は時間やお金に変えがたいものです。一日一日すべての事の積み重ねが自分達を成長させるエネルギーです。」今井 淳裕、千總 図案家
(my own translation) "To be able to create something you need to look at, experience, study and play with a wide variety of things. I believe all of these things enrich your own sensitivities. Money and time are no match for EXPERIENCE. The accumulation of your experiences each and every day become the energy that allows you to grow and move forward." Imai Atsuhiro, Designer for Chiso, Kyoto-Yuzen Kimono Company この言葉が机の上に張ってあります。去年、今井さんが京都精華大学で毎年開催されている「京都の伝統美術工芸」講座に発表した時にこの言葉に感動しました。確かに制作したい気持ちを持つだけのが足りないですね。日本で大学院に入ったばかりで、これからの二年間を今井さんがおっしゃったのように時間を豊かに使いたいです！ということで、この二週間に三つの工房を見学しに行って来てしまいました！ I have these words pinned up above my desk. I was able to sit in on a talk given by Imai-san at Kyoto Seika University last year as part of the regularly run course "Kyoto's Traditional Arts & Crafts". As a creator of sorts just starting out, these words really resonated with me. It's true that you can't force creation in a vacuum and something will always be lacking if you produce work with blinders on. Having just entered the 2 year master's course at Kyoto Seika, I am especially keen to make the most of my time and widen my experiences as Imai-san suggested. And so, partly by chance, it happens that I visited 3 different dyeing studios in Kyoto in the past 2 weeks.
The central garden space in Takahashitoku 高橋徳YDSの庭。素敵！
行って見た一つ目は「高橋徳」という友禅工房。味がある伝統的なビルにあって、一階が座敷のギャラリーと友禅小物の展示室になっています。中心に素敵な庭もあります！それで、二階には素敵なものが作られています！作業中の様子が見えて、染めている着物を見たら、「細かい！」と思うしか出来なかった。防染糊としてゴム糊が使われていて、指で触ってみたら生地に何も置いていないと思うほど細かい糊の線でした。染める人々が１人ずつのスペースがあって、筆や染料が色の試し布が全部並べていた。そういうきちんと整っている作業場所を見ると何よりも羨ましかった！ The first was "Takahashitoku" a Kyoto Yuzen Dyeing Workshop that has been around for 100 years or so in the heart of textiles territory in Kyoto's west. They create quite traditional looking yuzen dyed items and work as a contractor for other kimono companies in Kyoto. It's in this beautiful old building with a gallery and shop downstairs and the magic happening upstairs. We were able to see some kimono being dyed and...just, wow! The resist lines of the yuzen were so fine that you would barely see them were they not using a blue rubber based resist paste. The dedicated workspace for each dyer, with rows of brushes and small dishes with the various colours of dye all ready to go really appealed to the perfectionist in me! I'm standing there thinking, "What am I doing in Master's?! I want to come here and just concentrate on dyeing this ridiculously detailed kimono for 6 hours straight a day!" Call me crazy, perhaps. I was also happy and relieved to see that what I thought were my shonky methods (using laundry pegs and old plastic containers etc) are totally legitimate! Well, I'm not the only one, at least.
Laundry clips and plastic containers and creative mess is legit! Phew!!
訪ねてみた二件目は「栗山工房」でした。京都の右京区にあって、自然に囲まれている綺麗な場所です。オーストラリアから旅行に来たイラストレーターに一緒に行きました。工房のツアーで色んな段階を見せてくれました。大きな部屋には染作業に集中している６人ぐらいが居ました。１人ずつが着物一反を染めていくらしいです。それで、糊置きの部屋も見えました。糊板がびっしり頭の上に並べていました。その時間糊置きはしていなかったですが、紙の上に親切に糊置きのやりかたを見せました。何十年もやっている手しかできない速さで丁寧に型紙を繰り返して模様を完璧にあわせました。さすが！ The second atelier I visited was "Kuriyama Kobo" a katazome studio out on the beautiful western edge of Kyoto. I went with a fellow textiles fanatic, Tallulah who was visiting from Australia. We were given a tour of the various parts of the studio. First, the dyeing area where a group of dyers were each quietly working away on one entire length of kimono fabric, kept taut on a special roller system. Clever! Also the pasting room with a very low ceiling where one man was busy smoothing a length of kimono silk (approx 12 metres) onto a sticky wooden table, making sure it remains straight and wrinkle free. This then gets left in the hands of the very skilled paster. There wasn't anything being printed while we were there but the pasting man kindly gave us a quick demo on some paper, flicking the spatula around with such confidence. The studio had a great family vibe about it, the older staff supporting fresh graduates who have recently entered the company and everyone working closely together.
The dyers at Kuriyama Kobo. I want one of these roller systems! 栗山工房の染所
Mmm, blue resist paste. They put this strong blue coloured pigment in their paste to make it easy to see. Looks nasty though. 栗山工房では糊に青いを入れています。使いやすいかもしれないが、見た目はなんか気持ち悪い。
He's never done this before. Not. 全然糊置きしたことないようね。嘘です。
apparently there are some avid bird watchers at the studio!工房の誰かが鳥が好きそうです＾＾
one of the dyers was dyeing a goldfish pattern. I think this was on linen. 金魚の模様が色差し中。
それでは、最後の工房はロウケツ染めの「青野工房」でした。（今気付いたばっかりだけど、３軒とも違う防染技法を使っている工房だった！）京都の西本願寺の近くにあります。１９８０年に工房を設立した青野保夫さんがその日居て、とても楽しい出会いでした。工房の壁にビートルズの時計やジョン・レノンの写真とかがあったり、ギターも隅に置いたというような雰囲気がある工房で作られている着物や帯は確かにカッコイイ物ばっかりです！今までに見た着物とは全然違う気がします。青野さんの性格がその鮮やかで独特なデザインに出ていると思います。 And finally, (I've just realised that I managed to visit 3 different studios using 3 different resist dyeing techniques! Go me!!) "Aono Kobo" a rouketsu-zome (wax resist dyeing) studio tucked away in the suburbs not too far from Kyoto Station, near Nishi Honganji Temple. This place was such a treat. Aono Yasuo the master of the place is such a character and we were lucky that he was there that day. The walls are decorated with Beatles paraphenalia and the bathroom has become guitar storage, The Kimono that Aono kobo produce are so different from what I have seen before and I think it's really the playful, independant attitude of Aono-san coming through in the designs. Think kimono with words like "PEACE" and "LOVE" spelled out in large abstracted lettering or flame designs or bright blocks of colour with aztec-like border designs.
Aono-san doing his thing. Applying dye after the wax resist had been hand-painted on. ロウが筆で置いたあと、手早く染めている青野さん。
Aono-san working on this kimono influenced by city nightscapes.
It was great to hear Aono-san talking (and laughing) about what Kimono mean to him and how others in the Kimono world may view his style as almost taboo but that making something the same way as someone else serves no purpose. He is dedicated to the traditionally held virtue of kimono, that is, beautiful to look at on display as well as bringing out the beauty of the wearer. But at he really builds on this is very playful and unconventional with the placement of design elements, use of colours and fabrics. It was a breath of fresh air to meet someone (especially someone who is Japanese) with an open-minded approach to Kimono. It gives me the hope that Kimono may be able to be kept alive and relevant to young generations.
工房の見学っていうのは他人の創造的な脳にお邪魔するのようなことだと思います。作業のやりかた、何から影響を受けているのか、生活の中に作業がどういう風にに入れているなどが見えます。そういう大切なところが見えてすごくありがたいです。この３つの工房を見に行ってから新しいアイディアやインサイトが出来て、今井さんが京都精華での発表に言った「エネルギー」も与えられたと気がします。 Visiting a studio is like going inside somebody else's creative brain. You see how they work, what they are influenced by, how they integrate their life and their creation. I'm really grateful to have been allowed to see inside these quite private places. These visits have given me new insights and ideas and the energy to move forward that Imai-san spoke about in his lecture.
My first solo show in Australia, "The Traces Between" opened on August 6th in the long and narrow space of Gallery 3 at M16 Artspace. The opening was a packed event as three separate shows opened all at once. It was great that the visitors who came to see the group show in the main gallery then drifted through to both mine and Keith Bailey's Solo shows in the two smaller galleries. Hooray for capitalising on other people's friends!
.JPG)
