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～！

Dyeing Endangered Parrots 絶滅危惧種を染める

研究生であった二年間、作品に描写したのが単に「オーストラリアの鳥と植物」だった。でも、最近はそのテーマから、ちょっと知的というか、何かのメッセージを持っている作品を作りたかったのだ。「知的」という点で誤解しないでね！くだくだしいアーティストステートメントを読むときや
どっかの作家さんに無理やりに作られたコンセプトのことを聞くと、笑ってしまう人間のだ。作品より文章を過大視しるのが好きじゃないから。けれども、色んなことを研究するのが楽しいから、研究したことを何とか作品にも表現するのが面白いだと思う。

In my work made whilst a research student, my main focus was simply Australian Parrots and Australian native flora. The fact that Australia has over 50 species of parrots means there is an incredible, colourful inventory to draw upon in making work. I recently wanted to move beyond simply depicting beautiful birds of Australia to making work that has something to say or has an intellectual touch. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first person to gag when reading some long-winded pretentious artist’s statement (this arty bollocks generator always makes me laugh) or listening to an artist forcing some vague theories around their mediocre artworks. However, I do enjoy researching and it’s interesting to intertwine this and my artwork.

前に横浜絵、花鳥画や花鳥茶屋などを少しだけ研究したことがある。
Previously, this research included things like Yokohama Woodblock Prints,  Kacho-Ga Bird and Flower Paintings and Bird Tea Houses...

でも、今回興味を引いたのがオーストラリアの絶滅危惧種のだ。オーストラリア人は日常生活に色々なインコやオウムを普通に見るから、その中に絶滅の危険にさらされている種類が居るなんて知らないと思います。

This time, I've been interested to read about the endangered Parrot species of Australia. We have so many beautiful parrots as a natural part of our daily lives that we probably don’t even think much about some of them being endangered.

Just a small selection of threatened Australian Parrots. From Left to Right: Extinct Paradise Parrot, Critically Endangered Orange-Bellied Parrot, Critically Endangered Western Ground Parrot, Endangered Carnaby's Cockatoo and the Endangered Swift Parrot.
左から右：絶滅したゴクラクインコ, 絶滅寸前のアカハラワカバインコ、絶滅寸前のニシキジインコ、絶滅危惧のニシオジロクロオウム と絶滅危惧のオトメインコ

国際自然保護連合による作成されたレッドリストは絶滅のおそれのある種類を８つぐらいのカテゴリーに区分する。主にそのカテゴリーは「絶滅ＥＸ」、「野生絶滅ＥＷ」、「絶滅寸前ＣＲ」、「絶滅危惧ＥＮ」、「危急ＶＵ」、「準絶滅危惧ＮＴ」と「軽度懸念ＬＣ」だ。合わせたら２０種類ぐらいのオーストラリア原産インコやオウムがレッドリストに載せている。

The IUCN Red List  (International Union for Conservation of Nature) is a global database of threatened species which classifies species into various degrees of conservation. In order of seriousness these are Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened and Least Concern (and then those with insufficient data). According to this list and to the Australian Government, Australia has 3 Extinct Parrot species (including the Paradise Parrot), 2 Critically Endangered species (Orange-Bellied Parrot, Night Parrot), 8 Endangered Parrots/Cockatoos and 6 Vulnerable Parrots/Cockatoos.

Extinct since the mid 1900's Paradise Parrot 1930年ごろ以来 絶滅したゴクラクインコ

1930年代に絶滅したゴクラクインコから初め、色々な種類の存在を脅かしているなんて悲しいことなんだ。オーストラリアは沢山の美しいの鳥の生息地けど、だんだん減っている。自分の作品では、この悲しさじゃなくて、鳥の綺麗さや特徴を貢物か保存として描写したいと思っている。前に出来た帯もその気持ちで作ったものだ。

The fact that we already managed to wipe out the Paradise Parrot, only as recently as the 1930’s and are still pushing other species to extinction is tragic to me. We have some of the most beautiful birds in the world and perhaps don’t realize this until we go overseas. I’m happy to know that there is a lot being done in terms of conservation and protection programs for these birds but still feel a sense of helplessness that they may not be saved. Rather than lamenting or making a cry for activism in my work I am simply interested in depicting these rare species before they disappear; as a kind of tribute or acknowledgement. It was in this spirit that I also made the Swift Parrot Obi that I showed you previously. 

今回の作品は上に前述した絶滅寸前のアカハラワカバインコをモチーフにした。帯に使ったオトメインコのように、珍しい渡りインコだ。夏を涼しいタスマニアで繁殖してから、バス海峡にある小さな島々を経て、南オーストラリア本土で冬を過ごすというサイクルだ。残念のは、春にタスマニアへ戻る鳥数は減っていて、野生の人口は現在30匹ぐらいのだ。

This latest work focused on the Critically Endangered Orange-Bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster). Interestingly, (like the Swift Parrot in my obi design) these parrots are also migratory. The spend summer in the cool of Tasmania and then fly north across the islands of Bass Strait to arrive in Southern Australia for the warmer winter. Unfortunately, less parrots are returning to Tasmania for the breeding each year, so that the population in the wild is now around 30 birds.

At this point the work was unfinished, but this gives you an idea of what 5 metres long looks like!
この写真では作品がまだ製作中だったが、5メートルの長さが分かる写真。

このインコの特別な渡る習慣を表現するため、絵巻物のような横長い作品を染めることにした。出来た作品は長5.5メートルｘ縦38センチ。この11月に、京都精華大学の染織専攻大学院生6人で展覧会を開くとき、この作品を円形に展示したいと今思っている。そうすると、見る人が作品の外側を歩きながら、ストーリーが段々見えてくる。またその展覧会の詳しいことを知らせます！
In this piece I wanted to depict this cycle of migration and the passing of time. I chose to dye a long narrow piece (5.5 metres long and 38cm wide) that is reminiscent of Japanese hand scrolls, which are ‘read’ from right to left. I will be exhibiting this piece in November in an old elementary school in Kyoto (keep your eyes peeled for updates!) and intend to hang the work as a circular loop, whereby the viewer walks around the piece and sees the story slowly unfolding.

the first 'scene' of breeding in Tasmanian Eucalypts in the summer. the story progresses to the left from here.
左先：タスマニアのユーカリで繁殖している様子。ここから、ストーリーが左へ。

feeding on button grass in Tasmania
タスマニアにButton Grassが大事な食物になります。

close up. the bird was dyed in yuzen technique and the mountains behind using katazome.
鳥を友禅で染めた。背景にある山を型染めで染めた。

Flying north across Bass Strait for the winter. I really enjoyed doing this more abstract section. Its a combination of yuzen, katazome and free hand resist paste techniques.
バス海峡を渡る。こういうちょっと抽象的な部分を染めるのがとても楽しかった。

I included some topographical outlines
タスマニアの周りの地形図の線も含みました。

the birds finally flying back to Tasmania. It's thought that they travel at night time.
やっと春にタスマニアへ戻っているインコ。夜中に飛んでいくと思われている。

At this point the imagery matches back up to the start of the piece. I included a quote here that reads, "Mostly it is loss that teaches us about the worth of things"
最後の部分は最初のところと合わせるので、永遠なループになっている。ここで文章を入れてみました。訳してみると、「何かの大切さを考えさせるのが喪失のだ」というような文章です。

今回は作品の下図をなかなか長い時間取り組んだ。出来上がった作品は満足しているが、この延びた時間のせいで、モチーフを入れすぎたし、あんまりシンプルな作品にならなかった。毎回制作すると、シンプルなちょっと抽象的な作品を作ろうと思うのだけど、なかなか性格的にはそれが難しいのだ。次の作品を抽象的なものも入れたいです。今は試しをしているから、また写真をアップします。
I spent a very long time working on the design for this piece and in the end, whilst I am happy with it as a whole, I can see that I tried to put too much into one work. I’m always aiming for simplicity and some degree of abstraction but it’s a battle against myself and a slow learning process to move away from very tight, small designs. It’s this that I’ll be focusing on in my next work which I am currently doing some experimentation and samples for. Will keep you more updated this time, I promise!

FLATNESS and the vague border region between Art and Craft

Excuse me while I get a little theoretical and ranty here. The idea of flatness in Textiles has been on my mind a lot recently.
今回のエントリーはなかなか論理的になってしまいましたので、すみませんが、日本語の訳は難しくて、あきらめました！

Having entered the Master’s program at Kyoto Seika this year, I have had to also start taking some compulsory Art theory courses. I was actually quite glad to get back into some academic art subjects because the practical courses at Kyoto Seika (I might get in trouble for saying this) and probably other Japanese Art universities too, are not so concerned with critical art analysis or having concepts as the foundation of your art practice.

One of these courses is run by a very charismatic (let’s call him) S-sensei, who is a researcher into Art criticism and an absolute fountain of knowledge concerning Western Art, Contemporary Art and the Philosphy of Art. The students in this particular class were from various specializations within the Arts faculty; Western-style Painting, Printmaking, Ceramics, Video, Japanese Painting and of course me and one other in Textiles. In one of our rambling discussion sessions in class, S-sensei got onto the topic of how Textiles students at Kyoto Seika often make their work flat, stretched around a panel, as if to make it a painting.

When I first came to Kyoto Seika as an exchange student over 5 years ago, I remember being taken aback by this same thing. The students in the first and second year classes all owned a wooden panel about 90x60cm that they reused for each set project as a base to stretch and pin their dyed fabric works on for critique. They will make the same sized work in wax-resist dyeing, hand drawn resist and katazome stencil dyeing. Some students continue to make panel-stretched works into 3^rd and 4^th year. Amongst those students studying dyeing techniques, I feel this is the majority.

A critique for Seika 2nd year Textiles students where they all presented their works tautly pinned to wooden panels.

It only takes a quick look at the works of the current dye technique Professors and their pre-decessors’ works to see that flat works are the order of the day.

Toba Mika, 'Kagerou' Hakusan Tsumugi Silk, Katazome, Acid Dyes. 198 x 340cm

Ichimura Fumio, 'Phase' Fuji Silk, Silkscreen print. 180x270cm

Asadu Shuji, 'WORK D2' Cotton, Pigments and Stencil. 197 x 324cm

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Takaya Mitsuo, 'Coexistence' Shinshu Silk, Acid Dyes, Mixed Dye Techniques, Wax Resist. 140 x 160cm

Kawata Koro, '2002・MITTIE -Wall-’ Silk, Paper, Acid Dyes, Ink, Stencil Resist, Collage. 210x340cm

I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I’m just intrigued by why this is.

Afore-mentioned S-Sensei, being the inquisitive person that he is, is famed to have attended a Kyoto Seika Textiles critique and posed the very same question to the head of the department; ‘Why go to all the trouble of dyeing fabric only to stretch around a panel and make it flat?’. The story goes that the Textiles head Professor let rip about how panels were a tradition in themselves in dyeing and presentation and how S-sensei couldn’t possibly understand the complexities of the contemporary dyeing field. Needless to say, that’s not much of an answer.

I have some theories and they take us into tricky territory about what is art and what is not.

My first theory is this. Japanese art has long made use of the folding screen as an artistic surface. Great painters of the Rinpa movement or Yamato-e for example, used the folding screen format often. This form is so familiar in the field of Japanese art and perhaps those making panel and folding screen works today see no disparity at all. 

Sakai Houitsu of Rinpa School, 'Summer and Autumn Grasses' 「夏秋草図屏風」Collection of Tokyo National Museum

typical Japanese Folding Screen Paintings

These old examples of folding screens were painting on the panels. For this new textile folding screen category to have arisen, then it must have been concluded at some point and in a certain stream of the field that textiles can also function as painting. I feel that this was probably around the 1950’s when many textile dyers were starting to make these big abstract panels that were a split from the tradition of ‘functional textiles’, instead treating them as modern art. Today I think this ‘flat textiles as modern art’ idea still exists.

I'm thinking of people who were working at the point when functional textiles crossed over into artwork textiles such as Miyosawa Motoju. His works shown here on display in Kobe.

Also, from the 1950's, Minagawa Taizo. A work based on sketches of traditional homes in Hachijo, East Japan.

The second theory, or perhaps a contributing factor, is that of public entry juried exhibitions. These are the sort that are held by the “Such and Such art society of West Japan” or the “Something Something New Artists Association” where anybody can pay a fee to enter a work for consideration. These exhibitions most often split entry into categories; paintings, sculptures, craft objects, glass etc. The organisers usually specify that only artworks within certain size limitations will be accepted and some formats may be ineligible. 

You know the sort of exhibitions I mean. This is a lesser one, the annual Shinshokougeikai Exibition. 

Could it be that when this split occurred between functional textiles and modern-art-piece textiles that textile dyers wanted to enter their pieces as ‘art’? Perhaps they saw that to enter into the art category (and therefore the art sphere) as opposed to ‘craft’, they need to make their textiles look like what was commonly thought of as ‘art’. That is, art=flat, craft=object.

The Dyeing course in Kyoto Seika’s Textile department leans both ways, both towards this “dyed flat panel textiles=art” approach, and towards the traditional “dyed textile as kimono or functional object” approach. Which makes it a confusing place to ponder what textiles is.

Textiles Student's graduation works, Kyoto Seika 2008

Textiles works at the 2012 Graduation Exhibition, Kyoto Seika

Whether you call your textiles a piece of craft or art is probably not important. Perhaps it is both. These terms maybe do not even apply to a Japanese understanding of art and craft. What I am currently most interested in out of all of this is things like:

Are you just sticking your dyed artwork on a panel because that’s what everyone does? Or is the flatness of the panel important to the work you are making? Are you dyeing your fabric and then making a panel for it because you like it that way or because you think it needs to look like a painting otherwise it’s not really an ‘artwork’. Are you making something where its textile-ness is essential or could you just paint it?

There may not be answers because everyone’s approach is different and textiles is difficult to define as a field. Ultimately I just hope that people will maybe recognize these tendencies in the dyeing field and be aware of why they are making things the way they are making them. It would be great to see more diversity within Textiles in the traditional textile dyeing capital of Kyoto.