East Greenwich Art Festival

Just a sneak peak of new fabrics and kitchen stuff I'll have for sale at the East Greenwich Art Festival.

New pot holders in my "tree and leaves" fabric.

I finally got around to sewing full length aprons. I'm hoping these will be a big hit in cupcake print and fruit print as well!

If your looking for something to do tomorrow then drive on down to East Greenwich! It's at 1408 Division Rd and it looks like there will also be a farmers market there too! I'll be at my table 10-5 with art prints, kitchen goods, stationery and some pencil cases.

Naoshima

I've fallen behind in my posts again! I have a lot of new work to post, but I also have some awesome photos from some of my favorite places in Japan. Today I have photos from Naoshima; which is a small Island located between Honshu (the biggest island) and Shikoku (the smallest). My Aunt and I traveled to and around Shikoku for a week and spent a fantastic day on Naoshima. My art teacher recommended this island because it has 2 art museums as well as a series of old houses that have been transformed into installations. Shikoku has some of the best mikan I've ever tasted so we kept buying bags of them and eating them. Here are some growing on a tree.

We took one of the first morning ferries from Takamatsu (where we were staying) and headed to the island. With the help of some nice Japanese people we rented some bikes. The island was pretty easy to navigate with one main road that looped around the perimeter of the island. we made our way to the art houses. The installations had a very wide range in subject matter and materials. Here's one of my favorites.

Details from the houses we visited

These houses were a series of traditional houses and spaces that were no longer being used. The artists were asked to create installations within the spaces and alter the original structure.

The art house project as well as the museums on Naoshima are part of a campaign to bring art and tourism to these islands. As someone who is not Japanese there were times while living in Japan that I felt I was missing the point. (being a tourist in Japan can be frustrating with the lack of English signs and my poor knowledge of Japanese history)A few of the houses fell into that category but most of them did translate and were really fun to experience with my Aunt! We stopped near one of the houses at a small cafe and shared some dessert and coffee. It came with a tiny cup of cream and sugar and a biscuit.

Our dessert was red beans and different types of jelly with a syrup you could pour over the whole thing. It was light and fruity tasting!

We continued on our way and checked out the last installations. This piece was a Shinto shrine and perhaps the most beautiful of the series. These steps that look like ice were made of the same type of glass that camera lenses are made of.

I liked this sign too! The only kanji I recognize on it are for mountain and fire... hmmm

We made our way around the island and road by the museums. These giant gourds are one of the big landmarks of the island so we went and photographed it just as the sun was setting. My aunt near the gourd!

Now that's a big gourd!

Sun setting as we biked back to the dock

And in the next post...
Photos and awesome posters from the Naoshima Bath! Complete with life size baby elephant!

Mountain Girl

I actually have been doing lots of work here, despite the fact that I haven't posted it yet. For my printmaking class we are allowed to make prints of any subject matter we choose.

Like most of the foreigners here I am in awe of Kyoto's gorgeous mountains. The mountains surround the city on all sides and seem to go back forever. The first time it rained it looked as if the mountains were steaming, like smoke from an angry dragon or something.

I thought about this a little more and had a great image in my head of a creature living in the mountains. It would be a giant, cloud breathing, angry, naked girl.

Anyways I did some quick sketches and color studies to figure out how I wanted her pose. I didn't go with this pose below because I thought the other one was more interesting.


Then, I painstakingly transferred the sketch onto my copper plate with some transfer paper. Next, I used my etching tools to carve the image into the plate. I printed it a few times and worked back into the plate until I was more or less happy with it. I can always work on it a little more later.


Of course after making this image I reflected on why I had made it. Was it because I feel like a giant freak being "the foreigner" here? Or maybe I was inspired by all of the Japanese myths I've been reading. Or could it be that I was subconsciously inspired by Roald Dahl's BFG, one of my favorite children's books of all time? It's probably a mixture of all of these things.

I colored this one with gouache just to see what it would look like in full color.


Here's a close up where you can see the lines a little better. Anyways I'd love to get some feedback! That's one of the things that are hard to come by when you don't speak the language. Let me know what you think! Hopefully this week I can also put up some images of my trip to Kobe or the Fushimi Inari shrine we visited over the weekend.