Neuron Tapestry Work in Progress

This weekend I am adding decorative hand stitching to a tapestry commissioned by a neurological research center. The cardboard is just for temporary support. More elements and layering of fabrics will be added but this is what is developed so far for this Synapse Tapestry for the Albert Sherman Center.

A Japanese Boys' Day Carp is taken apart and parts are incorporated into tapestry.

Tipping Bowls and Steaming Rice

Digital sketch of a commissioned wall sculpture for a San Francisco client. The art will be installed in a dining room with a beautiful gold ceiling and an incredible view of the San Francisco Bay. I am very excited to begin this project which will include sashiko stitching and a variety of fabrics and Asian food wrappers.

Sashiko Stitching continued...sashiko artist reaches out

I love having a blog as sometimes people contact me through it who have really wonderful art to share. Sylvia Pippen of Sylvia Pipen Designs commented on an older posting on my exploration into sashiko stitching. I just looked at her website. Wow!! Her work is truly amazing and inspiring and I greatly appreciate her gift in taking an old tradition and giving it a modern twist through her own artistic perspective and techniques. I will be studying her site for a while and hope to take a workshop from her sometime.

Below: Quilt creations by Sylvia Pipen.

Reflections on local history in sashiko

Above: study for sashiko textile reflecting on San Jose history and culture

Sashiko stitching has fascinated me since I was a child. I saw it on old plantation work clothes hanging in relatives closest, on patched quilts and on purses and on Christmas ornaments. I knew that the origins of this now decorative stitch was in practicality;  its function stemmed from the need to repair and reinforce cotton and hemp work clothes.

I suspect that the Japanese agricultural workers in Santa Clara also used sashiko stitching in their work clothes. It will be interesting to research this. A few years back I learned that the current San Jose airport was once a cauliflower field. Japanese Americans were the primary laborers.

In 1940 a bond passed to fund the airport construction. In 1942 Executive Order 9066 let to the removal of Japanese Americans from Santa Clara County. After Internment, many San Jose Japanese Americans returned to Japantown. Today, San Jose's Japantown  is the only California Japantown which returned to its exact prewar location.

In the digital sketch at the top of this posting, the bounding line between the blue and while background represents the this time of transition in 1940 and 1942. The circular shapes on the loop tracking back to the cauliflower represents the Japanese returning to  San Jose to create a Japantown on its original location. I would like to create a sashiko piece reflecting this history. I took images of young cauliflower as reference for this a few years back and have been stewing on this project. Recreating in sashiko stitching the fractal like patterns of the plant would reflect on culture, the past agricultural economy and the technology industries which replaced it.

More of these thoughts are at my textile blog: http://techfusionfabrics.weebly.com/index.html