Guest Lecturer: University of the Fraser Valley,
Kwantlen University,
Capilano University
Universtiy College of the Fraser Valley,
Abbotsford, British Columbia
1998-03
Capilano University, North Vancouver
Education and Awards
for Excellence in Craft (Craft Association of BC)
recipient for Craft and Design
Port Moody Art Center, Port Moody,
British Columbia
Port Moody Art Center, Port Moody,
British Columbia
Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, USA
Palos Verdes Art Center, California, USA
for Excellence in the Crafts
University of British Columbia
Through the folds of arashi shibori that imprint memory on the fabric and the textile surface that remembers the dye, I record the values and sense of self that have been bestowed on me.
My work is enriched by the blending of the ancient Japanese cultural traditions of my ancestral heritage and new ideas and processes from the modern world. A strong sense of family that anchors and comforts me is fused with my art. In 1983, my identity was reborn when I attended a workshop with Hiroyuki Shindo, a Japanese Indigo Master and a contemporary shibori artist. Soon after, I visited Arimatsu where arashi shibori and indigo-dyed cotton for kimonos have been developed over centuries.
The ancient process of creating arashi shibori produces an undulating surface that is evocative of ever-changing waves - reminiscent of the ocean of my family’s ancestral island in Japan. The waters of B.C.'s coast, my present home, have also been a source of inspiration. I use sea anemones and other sea forms extensively as themes in my work.
I work with silk that is produced by a small family mill in Japan's Gunma Prefecture. This crisp raw silk with its sericin left in responds well to the crafting of sculptural forms and allows me to manipulate the undulating shibori pleats into wall pieces and artwear. Screen printing on this silk with metallic paints adds further body. As in nature itself, my art is both delicate and durable.
Technically, my process is an adaptation of Arimatsu's traditional arashi shibori in which fabric is wrapped around thirteen-foot wooden poles. Artists, including traditionalists, now use plastic tubings. I use hot dyes, discharge baths, and metal poles to produce sharp pleats with strong retentive memory.
Teaching has kept me open to Western and modern processes. The reciprocal relationship between teacher and student has enriched and nourished my ideas and affirmed the endless possibilities with which to view and create art.
My goal is to continue exploring shibori’s possibilities, to combine it with Western aesthetics while always respecting and honouring its Japanese folk craft origins. In this way, I make memory visible.
– Yvonne Wakabayashi