Japanese Textiles

I've been meaning to post about this book for ages. The textile artist Shihoko Fukumoto creates wonderful large wall and installation pieces that are visually stunning. In part of her artists statement she describes her work as trying to capture the path of the wind - the use of indigo dyeing and what appears to be a pleating technique repeated in units do create the overall visual effect of these paths of movement.

Complete panel of units suspended.... There is a definite sense of strength from the dark diagonal shifts, cutting through the flow and forcing the design to expand abruptly. But even this is a regular shift - you can imagine how this repeat pattern could expand across the wall.

Close-up detail of pleated fan shaped fabric panels... Each section looks quite big so the pleating must all be done by hand - no regularity of smockers here! They also seem to billow out a little at the bottom of the white section adding a three dimensional aspect of movement to the piece.

That is a lot of fans!

Not all Fukumoto's work is pleated though. She also produces expansive graduated, indigo dyed pieces that are painstakingly produced through the dyeing process and the manipulation of the fabric's surface.

To find out more about her work, please click the links to:

bellasartes

artcourt gallery

culturebase.net

and this New York gallery article.

If you are interested in the book, follow this link to the publisher Telnos. I'm not sure if they are the cheapest but you could check out Amazon too.

Enjoy....