Last week I had the great pleasure and good fortune to spend two days immersed in indigo dye (literally) with one of this world's pre-eminent shibori artists, Akemi Nakano Cohn from Chicago. Maiwa Handprints offer courses with select fabric artists from around the world at their Venables studio and they are almost impossible to get into. I was lucky that someone dropped out of the class and made space for me, I was moved from waiting list to official student. Yay!
Indigo is a natural living dye and is formed from the compost of the indigo leaf. the dye bath is living and is created from a carefully determined recipe and process. Indigo forms it's colour as it oxidizes, the dye itself is brown and turns a lovely blue upon meeting the oxygen in the air. The process involves sequential wettings, dippings and dryings. There is no limit to how many times one can dip but the more dippings the richer the colour. It is a fascinating unfolding of colour and delight....
Shibori is a Japanese technique of folding and creating texture with dye. The fabric or paper is tied, or wrapped or folded or compressed to create certain tension resist patterns. the cloth is dipped and dyed and then rinsed and when unfolded you are left a with a potentially remarkable pattern... it is all a mystery.
I was very excited to take the course because I love indigo dye and also I am always looking for new and interesting fabric manipulation techniques that will offer me some inspiration within my own realm of creativity. I can imagine Shibori dyed bedding, drapery, noren, and all manner of goodies! But first we must learn the art... :)
My first go was simple folding technique, using chopsticks to compress and create a resist pattern.
Adding my bundle to the pot you can see the greenish colour of the dye, once this oxidizes it will be blue... I hope!
Here is the bundle removed from the bath and hung for drying, before being redipped. You can see the mixture of green and blue, the green is waiting to meet oxygen in the air before it turns blue.
There are many different types of Shibori, here Akemi is showing us a wrap and squish technique! You can see the finished effect below in the foreground.
One of the most interesting and inspiring parts of the class was when Akemi showed us her own work and slides of her various installations around North America. i was truly amazed at the range and scope and dedication she exhibited, I was so inspired!
Here is the class with samples of their SHIBORI! I was amazed at the range and creativity exhibited by the class. People are so inspiring, and this class was a testament to just how different we all are and how we show that through our art.
Thank you!
LINKS....
No comments:
Post a Comment