Taisho Kimono
Taisho kimono
The beautiful kimono that has been hanging on my wall since our return from Japan had lately been enticing me more and more to deconstruct it. In my mind I was sewing marvelous scarves with the large areas of vibrant red-orange shibori and the black shiboried pine trees against the swath of white, the delicate passages of gold seigaiha waves. It was not until I received a spectacular vintage Taisho kimono (from 1912-1925) that I could not ever imagine altering in any way that these scarves became reality and my wall has a magnificent new hanging. I think you can see in the details that the rinzu woven into the silk is an exotic pattern of cranes.
Where have you been?
I really have neglected this blog for far too long. I promise more words of wisdom–of sorts–for my not quite new year’s resolution. I have been tooling away on my sewing machine hoping that my beautiful Japanese kimono scarves will make a big splash this Christmas season. Etsy tells me I can embed some here in ubaguito.us for the perusal of anyone who visits. And Voila!
Another Voila! Teaching Children to Draw is finally out. Here is a picture of the star of the new edition holding the book with her (slightly) younger self on the cover. 
Music of The Spheres
According to Wikipedia, Music of the spheres or Musica universalis is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies as a form of music.
Considering that my first memory of the telephone was a simple black object with a dial on the bottom and a receiver that hooked onto the body of the phone and music came out of a huge unreliable box called a radio or a phonograph that you wound by hand so that it would play “Rosemarie” or a favorite, “Yes, We Have No Bananas” albeit generally ending in a slow-motion version of itself, I don’t think I have ever been so much in awe of any of the wonderful things that have been developed in my nearly eighty years as I have of Ocarina an app for the iPhone by Smule.
The fact that someone could conceive of an app that transforms the iPhone into an Ocarina that can be played as a sophisticated instrument is amazing enough, but the fact that, at any given point in time you can hear someone or several someones on the other side of the globe playing this marvelous instrument simply blows my mind–truly Musica Universalis, the Music of the Spheres.
Catching Up
My friend, Marjo, who evidently keeps up with my ramblings from the Netherlands, reminds me that I haven’t added anything new for nearly two months. One reason is that I have been laboriously re-editing our 1980-something book, Teaching Children to Draw, for Davis. They worked with one manuscript which I then checked and reworked, but Brent kept saying there were missing pieces. Since it has been ten years and many computers since Brent submitted the manuscript to them, and he had no idea where the manuscript could be, I finally managed to locate his ‘final’ draft on a remote hard drive in a file that somehow managed to survive. The production process was halted while I tackled this whole other manuscript, and with much painful rewriting and re-editing, I am beginning to see the light at the end…. At one point, I voiced my extreme frustration to the nice folks at Davis who responded the next day with this beautiful orchid. Almost makes it all worth it.
About, updated
As if I needed further proof of the absolute genius that is iPhone, here are at least two or three more reasons to love it.
When we were in Hull in June, we contracted for a week at a new place in September. On Friday we met with our publisher at Davis in Worcester which is on the way. Our new landlady whom I had contacted about the uncertainty of our arrival time on Saturday was concerned about being at the house when we arrived. Because she didn’t have my cellphone number, she sent me an email. The iPhone in my pocket pinged, I read her message, then called her with our eta, all within a few minutes.
Last night her wifi went kaput and Brent couldn’t get his daily dose of news so who do you call? IPhone! The NewYork Times app gave him everything he needed.
And, of course, without the Wordpress app, I couldn’t have posted this blog.
WOW!
Kimono cont’d & Shibori
The kimono arrived–promptly, as I have come to expect of Ichiroya. It is all that I could have wished for; it is so beautiful. From the full kimono picture, it is difficult to see all the wonderful shibori and subtly-dyed detail, but it is a joy to look at, to examine, and to discover new nuances of pattern and design. The color is more vibrant than the image from which I ordered the kimono, but I was already certain, from experience, that it would be the case. The close-up is only a small segment
of the design but it is possible to see the variety of ways in which the shibori has been used. I have always been fascinated with shibori; in case I haven’t already explained, shibori is shaped-resist dying that has been used for many centuries in many countries, Japan being perhaps the foremost.
Because they knew of my interest, Andrew and Linda, my son and daughter-in-law gave me this wonderful volume on shibori that I have had sitting in a prominent place and have probably perused and oohed and aahed over only once or twice since I received it. Last night, having hung the kimono in its place of honor, I brought out the book again and I was blown away. The part of the shibori story that I have been planning to tell is my discovery in the Museum of Kyoto of contemporary uses of this ancient artform, in other words, Shibori Now, which just happens to be the subtitle of the book. I bought these beautiful scarves in Kyoto as gifts and Brent bought the single one for me.
Coals to Newcastle
You would think that bringing to Japan one of my bags, made entirely of traditional Japanese patterns like the wonderful large wave or seigaiha pattern on the front flap–repeated many times over on our Tokyo hotel’s elevator doors for example, would be superfluous, like bringing coals…., but I have never had such an enthusiastic response. We were first checking out a department store in Osaka and wandered into one department where we attempted to communicate with a saleswoman about the various kimonos. At one point she pointed admiringly at my bag and when I indicated to her that I had made it myself, she clapped appreciatively. The same response–with variations–came from a Ryokan matron, a taxi driver, a museum shop salesgirl, and various and sundry other folks.
Those Japanese have such good taste.
Japan: The Art of the Kimono
Contemporary Yellow Kimono
I have written much about my working with traditional Japanese patterns and deconstructed kimonos, a search that has taken many hours of my retirement–a joyous search, I might add, because I have always been fascinated with the Japanese aesthetic. I can probably trace that passion back to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and one of the finest collections I know of Japanese art and design. Mass Art was just a stone’s throw away and the teachers there were fond of using the Museum’s collection as source material for assignments. I can even remember a fabric design–probably my first–using the ubiquitous stylized waves of Japanese art. So I was excited that a major exhibition of “Kosode: Haute Coutoure Kimonos of the Edo Period“ would be at the Suntory Museum in Tokyo when we were there. While we were in Kyoto, we had visited the textile museum and arrived in time to see a fashion show of contemporary kimonos which, while pretty, were less than awe-inspiring. Most of the kimonos sold on Ichiroya’s web site–and certainly many of those I had bought in order to deconstruct them–were far more compelling. Read more
Japan: Performance II
Pink Awning
Many respondents regretted the fact that I hadn’t documented Brent’s Tokyo performance. In answer, I am posting a picture of the designated spot where he stood, the pink awning, taken with my iPhone–the only camera I brought to Japan–from my 23rd floor vantage point. You can see the awning on the right side of the picture, just about in the middle (from top to bottom).
Japan: Performance
A Needle Woman Mexico City
There is a Korean performance artist–Kim Sooja–whose videotaped performance, A Needle Woman, consists of the artist, wearing traditional dress with a long braid down her back, seen only from the back, standing very still in one spot in the center of crowded areas of major cities–Tokyo, Singapore, Delhi, New York, London etc.–while rushing pedestrians maneuver around her.
Brent and I are presently in Tokyo; I have made loads of notes and will post some experiences, but this is my first chance to go online for any extended length of time. It has been extremely hot since we arrived more than a week ago, first in Osaka then in Kyoto which appears to be the hottest spot in Japan with temperatures in the high nineties–or thirties, depending upon how you’re measuring, and now, in Tokyo the temperature is hovering around the ninety mark. We were out earlier in the day, then walked a few blocks to lunch and returned to the cool of the hotel room where Brent slept off his persistent sinus headache. Read more
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