Issa

だいみょうを　 Daimyoo o The daimyo

馬から　おろす Uma kara orosu dismounts from his horse

さくら　かな！ Sakura kana! It’s Cherry blossoms!

Another haiku, but it reminds me so much of the silly folktale (mukashibanashi) called Hanasakajiji, the old man who made the flowers bloom. Who stops to admire the sakura and gets ash all over himself? There were some sad, sad elements to this story and my students thought it was ridiculous and unfair. It wasn’t what they were expecting. Not all stories have romantic happy endings. And I think their reactions are funny.

V. E. Pyles

My great uncle on my mother’s side was an artist. He has been the subject of many conversations off and on with my mother, sometimes with her brother (my only uncle) and now with my cousins. I’m not often in contact with them as I never really knew them when I was younger. Living overseas separated us and they were a lot younger. Our common interest in family history though, keeps bringing us together, at least by e-mail. We are particularly intrigued with our great-uncle Virgil. None of us knew him of course. However, he was still living when I was born and there is a record of a gift in my baby book. He died in 1963, and I had ample opportunity to meet him when I was younger. I don’t know why our paths never crossed. He was living in New York and surely a trip could have been made.

I have some of his paintings and have just acquired a magazine with a cover illustrated by him(the above is not that particular one). He was an illustrator, mostly illustrating pulp fiction. I’ve just learned that he studied at the Art Students League in New York and also at the Art Institute in Chicago. Somewhere, I have an old photo album with pictures he took. I think it’s high time I took them out.

Indigo

The day started with a 2 mile walk around Lake Lynn. I’ve been walking almost daily for some time now. So this is getting to be routine. Today was a change of scene though at a different nearby lake. The day was warm, the geese, turtles and butterflies were sunning. All in all it made for a good day to dye (things). That is to say, a good day for hanging things outdoors on the line.

After lunch, I got the dye pot (or vat) going in my garage. The actual dyeing hardly took any time at all. It was a good strong vat. The green was brilliant when I pulled the pieces out of the pot. I started with a shirt for myself (just to test the results), then I did the jacket.

Jacket1

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

I’ve been working on this piece for some time. I’d made a series of jacket blanks at least 2 years ago, maybe more. I’ve been slowly doing imagery in shibori on them, then dyeing them mostly in indigo. I’ve sold a few. This one though is a little different. I first dyed it in a rust colored dye, did some shibori, then overdyed it in indigo. I didn’t know how deep a color I wanted, just taking it a dip at a time. I decided not to go too deep so that the rust and the color variations between the 2 colors would show.

It’s still drying and will be for the rest of the evening. I won’t give it a good wash until tomorrow, so I really won’t see the true results until then. Even so, the ironing also brings out wonderful patterns.

Shibori Landscapes

Violet2

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

We’re calling it “Shibori Landscapes” and I think we’re nearly there. Yesterday when I dropped by school, the real aato sensei had her students out measuring the area where these pieces will hang - in the student courtyard, or the small courtyard (I don’t know what they call it). There is also a smaller inner brick courtyard. In the end, who knows how it will come out, but it looks like some will be strung from 2nd story windows and across the yard. The kids love their pieces, it’s obvious. Some were “wearing” them again yesterday.

It’s a good springtime project as it will take the students outdoors and at this point, anything to get out of the classroom is a good thing (for all of us). That’s what I should have done before having my students write their haiku yesterday. I thought it was going to be a challenging assignment, but they wrote them up in a few seconds flat. I was disappointed, because so many came out sounding the same. It’s also reflects this time of year and their perspectives. Things are winding down and they aren’t taking any of it at all seriously anymore. We still have a few miles to go and a final exam.

Gendai Aato

I learned a new word watching part of NHK news tonight, gendai aato（現代アート）, contemporary art. This first image doesn’t really convey what I saw on the news, as it reflected a fascination with anime and manga or at least that style. Some of it was bizarre and grotesque, some wasn’t. Some of it was “big eyes” which is what my day started with-scanning images from a Japanese coloring book (for my classes), which is where the second image comes from.

Bare monogatari - Jizeru.

At some point, I think my students are going to play with this coloring book.

Wabi Sabi

WisteriaOriginally uploaded by SOFennell

One of my classroom topics last week and this was Wabi Sabi, that intimate moment when you encounter nature, a piece of art or an ordinary object you may see on a daily basis that gives you a sense of transience. It’s more than that. Leonard Koren discusses it in depth in his book on the topic. To put it in a nutshell, as I did today, it’s “the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.”…”things modest and humble” and “things unconventional.”

We went from this idea into a short look at haiku and then quickly before the bell rang you know what I assigned for homework. But before all of that happened, we also looked at a couple of haiku, one from Basho and the other a Buson. The one that I found particularly appropriate for the day was the one by Buson:

春雨や Harusame ya

物語り行く Monogatari yuku

蓑と　傘 Mino to kasa

I think there are various ways to translate this one.

Spring rain

talking and walking (or telling stories and talking) go

raincoat & umbrella (which refer to a man dressed in an old straw raincoat and woman with an umbrella)

It’s been an off and on rainy day today and the images just seemed to suit.

Japanese Stab Binding

towels

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

This weekend some of my time went into a book making workshop held at Gallery Shibui, one of my favorite haunts in Raleigh. Once I’m there, I can’t leave. The shop has so many things Japanese. But, this weekend, I joined with a few friends, to learn Japanese Stab Binding. Alice set us up at a table in the back of her shop where we were surrounded with wonderful papers and supplies for bookmaking. In the first 3 hours on Friday, we mostly completed our books. Yesterday, I did the stab binding and worked on the cover which would hold 3 small books. I only managed one this weekend, but I’d like to fill that cover with a couple more in the near future. I love the process, the tools and of course the results. No pictures of my book yet, but soon.

I should also add that Alice took very good care of us while we worked. Kathy Steinsberger was our instructor and she was very thorough and patient. I also enjoyed being a student as a opposed to sensei for a change.

Shibori workshop-in class

Fuchsias & Reds

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

I get carried away with the camera when I see newly dyed fabric out on the line. Yesterday was a particularly beautiful day and there was a strong breeze which helped them to dry quickly. There were 40 pieces (roughly) and I only had 3 lines strung. So, I hung them 20 at a time. By the time the first batch was hung, the first pieces were dry and it was time to get more up on the line.

It’s all student work with a couple of sensei pieces as well, but they all blend in. I love the work the kids do, it’s so uninhibited. One girl described it as “sick” which is defined as good!

Today I took the pieces to class for a discussion and evaluation. We still haven’t come to the final part of the project yet and I’m not going to divulge that until the right time. Anyway, we distributed the pieces so the kids could look at and enjoy them. They wound up wrapping themselves up in them in as many ways as they could think of. They loved their work. My camera batteries died, so I couldn’t get shots of this, but it was funny to see…scarves around their necks, headwraps, shawls, blankets or hoods. At the end of class, however, they had to part with them for the next stage - hemming and putting in a casing.

Shibori workshop cont.

Rinsing & washing

Originally uploaded by SOFennell

Yesterday was a long one. The Shibori workshop extended into this week with unbinding the pieces and washing them on Tuesday. It took 2 class periods to accomplish this. It really was like a party around the sinks. In the process we found a leak in sink #3, so we were limited to only two. I took the pieces home in the afternoon to hang on my clotheslines and I’ll post more images of that later. I’ve started ironing them and we’ll complete that process over the weekend. Next week, the home ec dept. will finish them, then we’ll finally hang them somewhere around school (not sure where yet, maybe the courtyard).

Art to Wear 2

Today’s News & Observer carried a big article with a photo gallery about that fashion show at NCState.

The article is here and the
photo gallery is here.