I am finally getting a chance to upload images of the final installation of the
Tipping Bowls commission. This piece now graces the dining room of a lovely San Francisco home.
Tipping Bowls is inspired by my childhood memories of meals
at my grandma Okada’s house on Maui in Hawaii. I wanted to reflect on the
organized chaos of the kitchen. My grandma’s cooking was an art and it was very
much like watching an orchestra at work when family and friends were there to
prepare for big events like Japanese New Year’s feasts. The rice bowls, soup
bowls and soup spoons were used for all meals and I enjoyed studying the
patterns on them. When at my grandma’s house, we enjoy the cuisine of many
cultures that worked in the plantations. Our meals blended Japanese, Chinese,
Korean, and Hawaii foods. Many of the cultural foods I enjoyed as a child are
reflected in the wrappers used in this collage sculpture.
Tipping Bowls honors the creative thriftiness of both Meji
Era Japan and Hawaii plantation culture, as mainly re-purposed materials were
utilized to create this piece. The piece is backed with a lining of old rice
bags saved by family members in Honolulu and Maui. In my grandma’s day, cotton
rice bags were made into children’s clothes, undergarments and sheets for beds.
The silks in this piece are remnants from San Francisco couture designer
Colleen Quen. The netting is produce bag netting from fruit and onions as well
as netting recycled from flower deliveries to my aunt’s Ikebana classes. Many
Chinese and Japanese preserved fruit wrappers, tea bags and chopstick sleeves
are also included in the piece.
Below are images of the installation day.
