Last night I sat in my peaceful little room with deep contentment. How can I even begin to descibe this first week? Rich, full and awe-inspiring. This group of artists touch me. I am surrounded by youth, strength and promise. We have become our own little family.
We chose our studios this week. It was very intuitive and easy.
I spent a wonderful day with my friend Kazu. First, we went to the Takehisa Yumeji Ikaho Memorial Museum. It is situated near Mt. Haruna in a lush, green setting. Yumeji was a painter, illustrator and poet. In addition to oil and watercolor painting, Japanese style painting (Nihonga) and prints, Yumeji also designed book and magazene covers.
It was very humid and sticky so, after about an hour at the museum, we decided to go to an Onsen! (you remember, a HOT spring). Anyway, we did feel refreshed after a good soak. I went to the female side. It's so beautiful to see bodies of all shapes and sizes just enjoying the water and soft conversation.
Then we went to a shrine, took a walk around a lake and had dinner at a soba noodle joint. Very nice.
On Thursday, we all went to the Takasaki City Dye Plant and Botanical Garden. We had an informative lecture on indigo dying. We arrived at a very special time of the year because we were able to pick the indigo leaves to create the unfermented version of the dye. This happens only in August. Gail Gilbert, you shoulda been there!
Yesterday, we visited the studio of the very talented Anita Gratzer http://www.anita-gratzer.net/ph/. She is from Austria and is spending several weeks in Onishi to concentrate on a body of work. She spent several weeks creating 5 traditional Japanese garments from old books. And, she is raising silkworms on the side. Lazy gal....not. As Berenika (my studio mate) would say, "If this isn't amazing, I don't know what is."
You can find dear Berenika's work at http://berenikakowalska.com/.
Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!
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Yumeji was inspired by Western culture and loved to paint faces of everyday people. He was also intrigued by beautiful women and loved painting them with sad eyes.
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These are indigo leaves growing at the dye plant and botanical garden. You must use them immediately as they will lose their potency very quickly after picking. We put the leaves in a blender with water and an oxidizer to a create a liquid. From there, we were able to dye silk pieces. The indigo color is a paler blue than the fermented version.
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You can see the differenc in color....the silk scarf is from the fresh leaves and the instructor's shirt, the deep blue that I love so much is from the dried pigment.
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| This is the Takasaki White Coat Kannon. He was constructed in 1936 and boasts a size of 137 feet in height and a weight of 5985 tons. The interior has enshrined the statues of 20 high priests and Buddha. It is a temple with a history as a place for scholar monks. Can you see me?.. |
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| Anita Gratzer and one of her fabulous garments. Anita is also responsible for planting a delicious vegetable garden for us. We pick fresh tomatoes, okra, peppers and egg plant daily. |
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| Close up of one of Anita's sewn garments. |
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Anita's husband Manuel Schilcher is an exhibition designer, curator and artist. He has written a book titled "Appropriate Japan". In his research he attempts to evaluate how Western art and the methods of exhibition helped to "distinguish or connect the present and the future of an era with preferred visions of the past as a part of building a modern nation and national consciousness." Whoa.....
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| Manuel and resident artist Yasmin Bawa. |
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| We had a cooking class at our nearby sushi restaurant. This is sushi master, Toru, making sticky rice. |
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We all made kappamaki (cucumber roll) and tuna, salmon, squid and tamago (egg). Yoru also prepared a delicious soup made from dried, smoked fish. Fish bacon. Artist Edmundo Fernandez is a natural sushi master!
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| Yep, I made this! |
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Yep,
we made these!
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"I have slowly come to realize that a family is composed of people who are teaching one another." Anne Truitt
