Former avant-garde artist advocates Japanese paper washi
December 2006 Cultural News
Hiromi Katayama, former avant-garde artist, advocates Japanese paper washi at her store in Santa Monica. (Cultural News Photo)
By Gavin Kelley
With a collection of a paper from around the world, Hiromi Katayama, owner of Hiromi Paper International, has found a niche that answers the needs of both the conservationists and artists. Located out of a store front at the Bergamot Art Center in Santa Monica, Hiromi Paper International has been offering paper to the general public, artists and conservationists since 1987.
Hiromi Paper International offers over 800 varieties of paper from 20 different papermakers in Japan. The company also offers a variety of paper from Asia and Europe.
Hiromi Katayama was born in Sapporo but raised in Kyoto, where she was first exposed to avant-garde and performance art from an art movement in the 1950s and 60s known as Gutai Bijustu. This movement served to awaken a metamorphosis in Katayama`s life, influencing the eventual opening of Hiromi Paper 20 years later.
"They (Gutai Bijutsu) started putting many different materials together," explained Katayama who was a painter at the time. "That`s when I realized that art has no boundaries."
Katayama, started to see her paintings differently, and instead of using the standard canvas, she began using washi (Japanese paper) as a canvas.
"As washi as an art grew in popularity, people were using it to make two and three-dimensional art," Katayama explained. "Before I used paper only as a place to put art, not as a part of art."
Seeing how her work changed, Katayama wanted to go further back to the roots of traditional Japanese art and began studying the process of making washi.
In 1980, she began showing her work overseas in San Francisco and Canada. But it wasn`t until she was invited as a guest lecturer on washi at the University California at Santa Barbara in 1986 that Katayama realized she wanted to move to the United States.
"The art world was so conservative in Japan, so I thought it was better to stay here," explained Katayama.
So in 1987, Katayama moved to Marina del Rey, California, to continue to pursue her art. But it was during this time that she became acutely aware that washi in the United States was misunderstood.
"American people call Japanese paper ‘rice paper’ but rice is not used for the paper. There was no correct or good information about the washi paper," Katayama explained. "I didn`t want to say which is better, but I wanted to show the difference between Western and Japanese paper."
It was around this time that Katayama and a friend put together a catalogue of acid-free washi paper for conservation use and sent it to museums and editors, who began purchasing the paper from Katayama for mending maps, art work, bibles and scrolls. This was the beginning of Hiromi Paper International.
Katayama then introduced the water-based washi paper, unlike Western paper that is oil based. Hiromi Paper International also had washi paper specially made to work with Western oil paints.
In 1993, to counter the slowing mail-order of her art and conservation paper, Katayama opened a retail store in Marina del Rey that sold decorative paper and stationery to the public. After about five years, Katayama closed the retail store and moved Hiromi Paper International to its current location in Santa Monica, where most of her sales are still mail-order based, but also features a small retail shop and showroom.
Hiromi Paper International distributes paper from a variety of sources, including Japan, Indonesia, Germany, Spain, England, and India. She also accommodates requests for specific needs, such as washi paper that can be used with modern day ink-jet and laser printers.
Katayama explained that while many people don`t want to use the more beautiful washi paper, she tells people that "Using washi is a way to support papermakers. Paper should be used in many different ways."
Hiromi Paper International is located at 2525 Michigan Ave., Bergamot Station, Unit G-9, Santa Monica, CA 90404, (310) 998-0098, www.hiromipaper.com.
Gavin Kelley is a Los Angeles-based writer who is currently working on a compilation of short-stories.
Fourth generation bamboo craftsman preserves tradition and turns bamboo into modern art
October 22, 2006
Fourth generation bamboo basket master Takeo Tanabe, left foreground, explains how to weave his bamboo sculpture at the Lee Institute for Japanese Arts in Hanford, California. (Cultural News Photo)
The Lee Institute for Japanese Arts in Hanford, California, is running an exhibition through December 2nd devoted to one of the great lineages of bamboo basket makers in Japan. In conjunction with this exhibition, 33 year-old Takeo Tanabe, the fourth generation of bamboo basket masters in Sakai city, Osaka prefecture, presented a lecture and demonstration at the museum on Oct. 22.
Takeo learned the art of bamboo as a child. He studied at the prestigious fine arts department of Osaka City Crafts High School, and graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music as a sculpture major.
He then entered apprentice training for two years in Beppu city, Oita prefecture.
Even though Takeo grew up in a family of bamboo craftsmen, he first became a modern sculpture artist, and later, chose to inherit his family tradition.
On a dual mission, Takeo is preserving the traditional techniques of bamboo basket weaving while seeking new designs and concepts to turn bamboo into modern art.
Takeo’s exhibitions were held in Boston in 2000, Philadelphia in 2001, New York in 2002, New Zealand, Switzerland and Holland in 2003, and again in Switzerland in 2006. His bamboo sculpture became part of a public collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2001.
Takeo’s great grandfather, Chikuunsai Tanabe I, began creating bamboo baskets in 1890 and was considered the first person to exhibit bamboo baskets as art in Japan in 1915.
Takeo’s grandfather, Chikuunsai II, developed the design of bamboo baskets from a traditional Chinese style to lighter structures with loose stitching and openwork plaiting techniques.
Takeo’s father, Chikuunsai III, is one of the few bamboo masters who can manipulate extremely tough Arrow Bamboo (Yadake) which was used to make arrows hundreds of years ago.
To view bamboo baskets and sculptures by the Tanabe family, visit www.chikuunsai.com.
The Lee Institute is located 6 miles south of Downtown Hanford at 15770 Tenth Avenue. It is open to the public, Tuesday-Saturday, from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.shermanleeinstitute.org or call (559) 582-4915.
© Cultural News, Inc. 2006
Indonesian Batik influenced by Japanese Yuzen tradition to be displayed Oct. 28-29, 2006
Fish (Part) Batik on Tai silk. One yard x one and half yards. (Photo by Miko)
Mandala Batik on Hemp. One yard x one and half yards. (Photo by Miko)
Peacock and Elephant Batik on Hemp. One yard x one and half yards. (Photo by Miko)
Veteran textile designer Setsuko Hayashi of Los Angeles will present a Hayashi Textile Design Class Exhibition on Saturday, Oct. 28 and Sunday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Zenshuji Temple, 123 South Hewitt Street in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA 90012. This event is open to the public and admission is free. Temple parking is available.
Hayashi teaches the class every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Maryknoll Japanese Catholic Center on South Hewitt Street in Little Tokyo. In the October exhibition, 15 of her designs and 13 works of her students will be displayed. These will also be available for sale.
Born in Ichikawa city in Chiba prefecture, Hayashi graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design in Tokyo in 1953 and had been taught textile design and dyeing at Otsuka Textile Design School in Shinjuku, Tokyo since 1958. She traveled around the world to learn the traditional skills of textile design and dyeing.
In 1973, Hayashi moved to the U.S., settling in Cypress, California. She taught and created designs for textile design companies until 1993 when she moved to Jakarta, Indonesia, to create batik designs for affluent clients.
After four-and-a-half years in Jakarta, Hayashi returned to Los Angeles to continue teaching and design works for the local community. She occasionally teaches at Woodbury University in Burbank and Star Academy High School in Culver City.
Through her extensive research and work experience around the world, Hayashi has learned a technique which consists of traditional Japanese design and dyeing yuzen and Indonesian batik.
Hayashi explains that Japan’s yuzen uses a paste-resist method for dyeing textiles, and batik uses wax instead of paste. The other processes of the two traditional dyeing techniques are very similar.
For more information about Hayashi’s class and the exhibition on Oct. 28 and 29, call (213) 880-7725.
Bamboo artist Takeo (art name Shōchiku) Tanabe of Osaka (Courtesy of the Tanabe Family)
The Lee Institute for Japanese Art in Hanford, California will present the bamboo basket master’s lecture and demonstration by Takeo (art name Shōchiku) Tanabe of Osaka at its venue on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. Admission is $10 per person. Call (559) 582-4915.
This lecture and demonstration will be held in conjunction with the current exhibition The Tanabe Family: Four Generations of Bamboo Artists in the Lee Institute.
Takeo, the fourth generation of bamboo masters in the Tanabe family, is a lively young artist at the age of 33 with a good command of English. He serves as the international representative of his family, and has presented at multiple major museums, including the Asian in San Francisco and the Seattle Museum of Art. He'll also give a demonstration at the bamboo exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts this year.
Visitors will be able to watch as Takeo prepares bamboo strips and then weaves them, according to his family’s traditional techniques. He will speak about the process of selecting material, the treatment of that material, various weaving techniques, and the meaning of bamboo art to him.
Following the demonstration, Takeo will talk about his family’s work from his personal point of view, using the examples on display at the institute. He will bring to these works the eye of an expert artist, explaining techniques used and the significance of pieces in the history of the basket form, providing an insider’s insight to the bamboo art.
The Lee Institute is located 6 miles south of downtown Hanford at 15770 Tenth Avenue.
The gallery and reference library are wheelchair accessible and open to the public Tuesday-Saturday from 1:00–5:00 pm. Fees are $5 for adults, $3 for students; members and children under 12 are free.
Docent tours of the exhibition are held every Saturday at 1:00 pm and special pre-arranged group tours are available for an additional fee. See the website at www.shermanleeinstitute.org or call (559) 582-4915.
Oshibana, art of pressed flowers, through Nov. 25 at Balboa Park in San Diego, 2006
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Verdure (Hisui) 2000, wisteria flower and silk, “In early summer, by the stream behind my dwelling, gratitude for the purple blue splendor of mountain wisteria” (Yoko Nishijima)
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Dance (Mai), 2006, cherry blossom and silk, “Cherry blossoms that flower around Vernal Equinox, were buds in winter cold, now vividly abloom with secret joy” (Yoko Nishijima)
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Lane (Michi) 2005, violets, fern, wasabi flower and silk, “Mountain grass and trees that herald the arrival of spring. Ferns that have endured the cold and white wasabi flowers, then a single violet… they seem to signal the end of winter and this present lull.” (Yoko Nishijima)
By Motoko Shimizu
While ikebana, Japanese cut flower arrangement, is now practiced in all parts of the world, oshibana, its sister art of making pictures with pressed flowers, has remained relatively unknown.
Beginning this month at Balboa Park in San Diego, visitors will have a chance to view some 20 oshibana works by Kyoto artist Yoko Nishijima that are imbued with a particular Japanese sensibility.
Unlike ikebana (literally "living flowers"), which can be considered a form of live installation, oshibana (“pressed flowers”) might be likened to still-life painting. While dynamic arrangements of ikebana modifies its appearance instant by instant, oshibana remains quietly suspended in time.
Typically, oshibana flowers are fixed with glue on postcard-sized washi paper. Nishijima, however, begins with dying silk fabric that forms the base, weaving in and out the pressed flowers and plants, petal by petal, leaf by leaf, almost in the manner of brocade. Generally measuring 30 by 70 centimeters her pieces are much larger than the norm.
The silk and flowers are then sealed between glass on the front and aluminum in the back, to prevent discoloring. Even so, the fading of natural colors and ink dye over time is inevitable. The result is a seemingly rustic, understated composition of ink brush tones and earth-tinted hues that perfectly express a wabi, sabi aesthetic.
As with most forms of decorative art in Japan, Nishijima's oshibana is deeply attuned to the seasonal cycles of nature. Spring, summer, autumn, winter -- each season imparts a distinct mood and style. She notes:
In spring, the dazzle of life
In summer, the rigors of life
In autumn, renewal
In winter, amongst withered leaves, a re-birth
Since making her habitat in the quiet hills of Shizuhara, northern end of Kyoto city, almost two decades ago, the artist has turned a contemplative eye to wild flowers encountered on daily walks. Gathering these humble plants she thus transforms them into visual poems that pay homage to their vivid life-force and grace.
She works in solitude and has remained unaligned to any school or group show. Instead Nishijma exhibits her oshibana annually at Kyoto’s Honen-in, which perhaps connects her art to the ritual floral offerings in Budhist temples from which ikebana too originates.
The exhibition runs through Nov. 25 at Japanese Friends Garden in Balboa Park, located at 2125 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101.
The Garden was first conceived as a tea pavilion constructed for the 1915–16 Panama-California Exposition and now comprises two acres of land including a Zen garden, a koi pond, wisteria arbors and bonsai displays as well as a sukiya-style house where classes are offered in sushi-making, bonsai, calligraphy, and conversational Japanese.
The Garden is open Tuesdays thru Sundays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. closed Mondays (except Labor Day.) Entrance fee is $3; free for children under age 6. For more information call (619) 232-2721 or visit their website at www.niwa.org
Motoko Shimizu is formerly arts editor for Asahi Shimbun Newspapers in Tokyo. She currently lives in Pasadena and works as a free-lance writer.
Japanese papermaking demonstration will travel from Los Angeles to Western states, Sept. 10 – 17, 2006
<Photo> Hironao Hamada is carrying on Tengucho-style of washi papermaking in Kochi prefecture. (Photo courtesy of the Japan Foundation)
In the deep woods of Kochi prefecture on the Island of Shikoku, surrounded by green forest and clear rivers, the sounds of papermaker Hironao Hamada at work can be heard. The twenty-eight year old artist took an apprentice with his grandfather Sajio Hamada, a Living National Treasure of Japan, to carry on the Tengucho-style of washi papermaking. Once over a hundred artisans worked in the Tengucho-style, but now the young Hamada is alone in this style of craft.
Organized by the Hiromi Paper International in Santa Monica and Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles, the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles brings to the U.S. a lecture, demonstration and workshop of Tengu-style washi papermaking lead by Hamada.
Dubbed as “WA: Art of Japanese Papermaking The Last Papermaker,” this lecture/workshop will travel from Los Angeles to Boise Idaho, Helena Montana and Denver, Colorado.
Lectures will be taught by Hiromi Katayama, President of Hiromi Paper International and Hirikazu Kosaka, Director of Visual Arts and Curator of Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. Demonstrations will be conducted by Hironao Hamada and Osamu Hamada from Kochi prefecture. The schedule is the following:
Los Angeles Sunday, Sept. 10, 1 p.m. Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, The Garden Room and Isamu Noguchi Plaza, 244 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Contact: Hirokazu Kosaka at (213) 628-2725
Boise, Idaho Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m. Boise State University, The Student Union, Jordan C Hall, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725. Contact: Prof. Jill Fitterer at (208) 426-1060
Helena, Montana Thursday, Sept. 14, 5 p.m. Kumamoto Plaza, 34 N. Last Chance Gulch, Suite 100, Helena, MT 59601. Contact: Kiyomichi Nagata at (406) 449-7904
Denver Sunday, Sept. 17, 11 a.m., 1 p.m. Denver Botanic Gardens Morrison Center, 1005 York Street, Denver, CO 80206. Contact: Yayoi Shaw Fax: (303)534-1550. E-mail: yshaw@qwest.net.
It’s Not Your Mother’s Origami! The Modern Science of Origami
September 6, 2006
Japanese American Cultural & Community Center – Garden Room
244 South San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Time: 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
$20 Japan America Society & JACCC Members - $15 Students with I.D. Program includes presentation and lunch.
Japan America Society Tel: (213) 627-6217, ext. 202
www.jas-socal.org
The last decade of this past century has seen a revolution in the application of mathematical techniques to origami, the centuries-old Japanese art of paper-folding. Dr. Lang will describe how geometric concepts have been applied to the problem of efficiently folding shapes of mind-blowing complexity and realism.
The algorithms and methods of origami design have shed light on long-standing mathematical questions and have solved practical engineering problems, such as how to construct safer airbags, giant space telescopes, and more. Robert J. Lang is recognized as one of the foremost origami artists in the world, as well as a pioneer in computational origami and the development of formal design algorithms for folding.
With a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech, during the course of work at NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Spectra Diode Laboratories, and JDS Uniphase, he has authored or co-authored over 80 papers and 45 patents in lasers and optoelectronics, as well as 8 books and a CD-ROM on origami.
He has been one of the few Western columnists for Origami Tanteidan Magazine, the journal of the Japan Origami Academic Society. He is a full-time artist a