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～！

steps to the finish line 着物の段階

Since I last posted pictures in my post Making a Kimono..., I have gone through several important stages of the process: nori-oki (applying resist paste), ji-ire (applying pre-dye sizing), fuse-nori (covering paste) and ji-zome (background dyeing). Here I'll try and briefly explain these steps.

着物を制作なんて!を書いて以来、いくつの重要な段階もやりました。それは、糊置き、地入れ、伏せ糊と地染めです。ここで写真で説明しようと思っています。

*Nori-oki 乗り置き
literally means the putting on of paste. In all my previous work, I have used the traditional form of nori that is a combination of mochiko rice flour and komon-nuka rice bran. Traditional nori is soluable in water and dries to a stiff resist. In humid summer months, the dried nori remains leathery but in winter it's water content to dry up and it ends up cracked like an egg shell (not good!). Being winter this time, and for it's water resistance (essential to the background dyeing part of the process) I used gomu-nori, a rubber paste that has a blue colour added to it for visibility. It is much more sticky and viscous than standard nori and smells like paint (unfortunate) but on the plus side, it is nice and flexible when it's dry and it doesn't wash out in water which means it can be used in clever combination underneath standard nori to achieve layers of dye.

青花で描いた線に沿ってゴム糊を置いていきます。この場合、渋紙で作られた筒ではばく、セロファンで作った筒を使います。
applying rubber paste along the lines traced with aobana (water soluble ink) onto the fabric previously.  in the case of  rubber nori, you can use a cellophane cone (much like cake decorating), and throw it out once empty and start on a new one. Wasteful but better than getting this sticky rubber all over your fingers and nice metal tipped paper cone.

糊を置くと、ただ青花に沿っていくということじゃなくて、よりいい作品を作るために改めて見て、あちこちにちょっと変更することがいいと言われています。
They say that when applying the resist paste, you ought to be improving upon your design as  you go. That is, rather than following the traced lines passively, see the design afresh and make any changes you see fit.

前の作品は昔からあった小紋糠と餅粉で作られた糊を使いましたが、冬にはこの糊が割りやすいし、地染めのことを考えたら、今回はゴム糊のほうが適切でした。買ったゴム糊は「群青入ゴム糊」で、見えやすいように青色が入れています。ゴム糊がペンキの匂いがするけど、柔らかくて置きやすいし、乾いたらまだ柔軟です。水で解けないので、普通の糊とともに置けば賢い染め方もできます。

*Ji-ire 地入れ

Ji-ire is the term for pre-sizing the fabric before dyeing. Japanese textiles traditionally use milk extracted from soybeans and a thickener in the form of funori-seaweed. This application of sizing helps the dye 'grip' the fabric evenly and prevents dyed edges from bleeding. The ji-ire liquid is applied to the back side of the entire length of fabric quickly and in one go, keeping the brush moving and working down the fabric to ensure an even application. I made a 2 minute video of this process when I was about 70% of the way down one of my lengths of fabric. My wrist was starting to get sore by this point!  You can see it is tricky to work around the bamboo shinshi that are keeping the fabric stretched taut.

豆汁とふのりを混ぜた「地入れ」を染める前に生地の裏にひきます。地入れをひくと、染料が滲まないです（だいたい）。・地入れをひく時2分間のビデオを取りました。生地を引っ張っている紳士が見えます。

*Fuse-nori 伏せ糊
Having applied my design areas using the rubber resist, I now want to be able to dye the background colour. To do this, I need to mask all those precious birds and plants so they remain white, to be dyed later. This is where the rubber resist proves it's worth. I go back and apply a masking layer of normal resist paste over my design areas, this time using the normal paper cone with a metal tip. To help this resist dye, you sprinkle a layer of fine sawdust on top of the wet paste. When it's dry, it feels a little like sandpaper.

渋紙の筒で普通の糊をゴム糊の上に置きます。地染めの色に染めたくない部分を守るというわけです。  protecting the parts of the design I don't want to dye yet by applying normal resist paste on top of the rubber resist. 

先がねを外したら、広いところを早く伏せられます。taking the metal tip off to cover larger areas more quickly.

乾いていない糊にひき粉を撒きます。sprinkling fine sawdust over the wet paste will give it strength.

生地を全体的に紫に染めたいけど、ゴム糊で描いた部分を染めたくないですね。ゴム糊で描いてある鳥や植物を白いのままに守るために、ゴム糊の上に普通の糊を置きます。これは伏せ糊といいます。紫を染めたら、普通の糊を洗って取ったら、ゴム糊や白い模様の部分が残っています。賢いでしょう！糊の防染力を上げるために伏せ糊が乾かない内に、ひき粉をまきます。乾いたらちょっとヤスリに似ています。

*Ji-zome 地染め

Finally the nerve racking step of dyeing the base fabric colour. This makes you sweat for two reasons. 1. You'll be physically sweating by the end because you need to dye all 17 metres in one go so that your colour application is even and the fabric all dries in the same temperature conditions etc. 2. You will sweat it out mentally because you're hoping that your fuse-nori is doing it's job resisting the dye and that you aren't leaving any (too many) irregular areas in your dyeing. 

The dye is applied in the same way as the sizing, but with a more (expensive!) absorbent brush made from deer hair. You need to be applying just enough dye so that you're not dry-brushing the fabric but certainly not flooding it either. 

 紫！今回も酸性染料で染めました。紫専用の刷毛ですね。mmm, purple! using the 'purple-only' brush, made from deer hair. This is acid dyestuff. 

染めた時は焦っていたので糊が置いた状態の写真が取りませんでした！この写真では普通の糊が洗い取った状態で、ゴム糊の線と白い模様の部分が残っています。よっしゃ！I was busy in the moment of dyeing, so I don't have a picture of the dyed lengths with the paste still attached. Here, you see the fabric after the normal paste has been washed off and the rubber resist lines remain, along with my white design areas. yay!

紫の地染めした後の生地です！これで次の段階（色さし）の準備ができました。（実はこれを撮ったときはもう少しだけ色さしを始まりましたけどね）detail of the fabric with the background dyed,  ready for the next stage: dyeing the patterned areas! (actually  I had already started here, just a little bit on the grass seed pods )

地染めの段階に着くと色んな理由で汗が出ます！一つは、17メートルの生地を一気に染めないといけないので、肉体的に汗をかきますよ！もう一つは、精神的に緊張になって、汗をかきます！糊が本当に防染しているかどうかの心配もあるし、むらがないように綺麗に染めないといけないから緊張してきます。地入れと同じようにひきますが、今回はもっと高い鹿の毛で作られた刷毛で染めます。

And so now I'm off to add colour to my pattern and bring it all to life!!

さあ、このあとは模様に活気を与えるように、色さしををやります！

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!

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.