OT: Kimono exhibit

Hi John I just adore anything Japanese* and use indigo dyed fabrics in my quilts. I just love kimonos - they are truly an art form with the patterns of the seasons scrolling across the panels. I have seen some beautiful exhibitions in my time, both here in Oz and in Japan. DH and I are hoping to travel to NE USA next fall, maybe I'll find a similar exhibition some place.

• love their lacquerware, fine china too and of course, their food. I don't like their whaling habits though in the Southern Oceans and last year I designed a wall hanging depicting my displeasure. You can see it here:-
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  Bronnie

Oh my.....John I would hand over a good piece of my stash if I could just stand in front of those kimono and see them in person. I never knew anything like this existed. I love Oriental textiles (although the youngsters who hang out with my sons tell me that Oriental is not a good word -- it's Asian now) and I desperately want to learn Shibori. I know, it isn't something that can be learned in one lesson....it's something to work with and learn through the doing and experimenting.

Anyway, you are lucky beyond compare. What a joy to see such art.

Sunny

Just glorious. . In message , John writes

The process this man rediscovered is a lost 16th century process that involves stitching a design into a piece of fabric, and then tying the design into various forms that constrict the design and using resist dying, then imparting various layers of color into the overall pattern, When all that dying is done he then has to undo all that stitching and wash out the fabric and smooth out all those puckers and finally stitch the panels of the fabric into a whole kimono. The various panels of the fabric are not very wide and the created pattern has to match the adjacent pattern on the fabric along side of it. That rather rudimentary explanation is a faint echo of the total visual experience. To give you an idea of the importance of this art form, The Smithsonian Institution, held a show of his work. This is the first time that the Smithsonian had held a show of a living artist. They must have thought enough about it to break with that tradition. He built a gallery and workshop at the base of Mt. Fuji to showcase his life work and continue his craft with succeeding generations of help, and show the fruit of their labors. A truly remarkable undertaking. If anybody is ever going to Japan, this would be one of the Must See venues.

John

John

I went to the link and was so excited to see the exhibt in San Diego. Then found out it ended in January 09, and went to your area, John. Dang, I would have driven the 5.5 hrs to see that! How beautiful they are.

G> >

I too, have been fascinated by the Japanese esthetic, in art and design. Your Kimono is an example of using the Kimono form as a palette for the visual transmission of and idea or concept. I have been exploring a lot of three dimensional quilting as an interesting way of combining quilting and functional three dimensional forms into a unified whole. Not that standard quilts are not usable, but they are two dimensional, not three dimensional, and therein lies the challenge. It is always exciting to find a new element that you can try to incorporate into your design perspective. I think that keeps it fresh, and coming back for more.