Sara with teacher Rogier Uitenboogaart and his wife Chika
Shikoku, Kamikoya Japan
Paper and Book Intensive Oxbow 2009
Here is some of the spirit of the Paper and Book Intensive, the classes I took and the work created by other students in other classes. Also we were able to enjoy the beautiful setting on the Kalamazoo River, where we could canoe or hike.
Beating Kozo
Paul Denhoed and Maki Yamashita demonstrate beating Kozo at the Paper and Book Intensive at Oxbow, May 2009
Paper and Book Intensive
After making 400 sheets of Washi
I just spent two jam packed weeks at the Paper and Book Intensive, at Oxbow, in Saugatuck, Michigan. Seventy artists came together to make books, create origami, to write and to make paper. The PBI was run smoothly and we enjoyed terrific instruction, great facilities, and creative healthy cuisine. The participants shared what they accomplished and exchanged their ideas and techniques. I enjoyed the social aspects, of hiking, canoeing and sitting around the fire-pit. In the evening, it was great to be able to return to the studios for late night art making. In the morning there was time to take a run along the Kalamazoo river. The work I did while I was there will lead to further book and paper making. The Japanese paper we made is part of a total of 400 sheets my class made collectively under comprehensive instruction by Paul Denhoed who came in from Japna to teach at PBI. I am impressed and inspired by these past two weeks. It was such a great experience to be with so many talented and motivated artists. Looking forward to the next PBI. ( I will be posting pictures and video of the PBI to share with you)
Making Washi Part Three
I have come away with an increased understanding and appreciation of the connection between nature and washi. I had a truly amazing experience to study with a master papermaker who is dedicated to keeping the traditions of washi alive and pure. Kamikoya is a unique place to experience truly traditional technique of all aspects of making paper.
Making Washi Part Two
After much fiber preparation, the anticipated moment of dipping the su and sugeta into the vat to form the washi arrived. Rogier demonstrated and then I made many attempts to get the correct angle of the su and sugeta going into the vat. I made more than ten tries before I got a sheet that was fairly even and without too many imperfections. I tried to get the feel of the movements needed to create a smooth flow of the fiber on the su, a very difficult thing. With the patient help of my teacher Rogier, I did finally produce twenty acceptable sheets of washi.
Making Washi Part One
I have learned that to make Japanese paper is to be in harmony with nature. It is a long and labor intensive process. Perfection and patience are required, both of which can translate to all that one strives to do. I have been fortunate to have studied with a man who respects and understands the traditions of washi, the making of Japanese paper. I spent a week making washi, at his beautiful studio in the mountains on the island of Shikoku. I traveled to Yusuhara to Kamikoya in Kochi prefecture to the home and studio of Rogier Uitenboogaart and his wife Chika. Under Rogier’s instruction I participated in all aspects of the creation of this beautiful paper which is both delicate and extremely strong. We cut down the kozo, stripped the bark, scraped the fiber and cleaned it, hand beat the fiber, and formed sheets of paper which dried on ancient boards in the sun. This is part one of Making Washi.
Home at my Studio
Over two months have passed since I have returned from Florence. I am left with inspiration and vivid memories, a few thousand photographs and video footage to edit. All my artwork arrived safely, and has been photographed and organized. In Spring, 2010 I will have an exhibition documenting my year long sabbatical. I have framed some of the prints created in Florence, and one of them has just received an honorable mention in a jured exhibition at the Lynn Arts Center in the “The Art of the Unique Print”.
Since returning, I have caught up with friends and colleagues and I have enjoyed sharing stories of my adventures living in Florence. It has been delightful to hear enthusiastic questions about my journey and what is was like to actually live in another country. It seems that many people share the same desire to stay and experience living somewhere else, and particularly in Italy. I was surprised how comfortable I felt learning the streets, the markets and I was elated when I could leave my map at home.
Ghibertti’s Doors
Walking to my studio each day was a continuing delight, as I passed by the Duomo, Campanile, Baptistry, the Gates of Paradise, San Lorenzo Cathedral, the Mercato Centrale, charming lanes and squares……………it was not as if I was lost, I just preferred to travel a different path each day.
Right out my door San Lorenzo Cathedral and market place………
My apartment was centrally located, I had a terrific landlady who helped me in so many ways, it was easy to get pretty much anywhere. I was also a five minute walk from the train station and bus stations which was a great way to get to Rome, Sienna, Tuscany and Cinque Terre.
When I returned to the Cape, I picked up where I left off and continued to do my woodcuts. I am also doing solar etching and using the image-on technique I explored in Italy. I have a great deal of visual material to use in my artwork. In addition I am finishing a number of book projects I began in Firenze.
On returning from Florence I began planning my trip to Japan to study papermaking. I selected an itinerary which turned out to perfect. One week in Kyoto and one week on the island of Shikoku making paper. The trip to Japan was planned for two weeks, and now in retrospect I wish it had been longer. I did however have an introduction to Japan and a very in depth paper making experience. I will elaborate with commentary, photos and video shortly.
Since I have returned, those whom I have come in contact with, and some are people I just know casually have shared a genuine sense of pleasure in my journey and what I have done. I really have appreciated all of your enthusiastic, questions, comments and responses.
More to follow………………….sara
Washi Introduction
Hard work at the vat as I am learning to make washi……….Japanese paper.
Passages
Artist Statement:
Passages / Prints, Books and Drawings
I am an abstract artist in a city filled with realism.
I came to Firenze to experience, to learn, to see art and to make art. I am on sabbatical from teaching at Cape Cod Community College in Massachusetts. My goal in coming to Firenze is to study printmaking and book arts from a traditional western perspective and to integrate new ideas into my studio art classes. I have been fortunate to have been invited to be an artist in residence for the fall 2008 semester at Santa Reparata International School of Art. The studio I am working in is spacious, bright and airy. Print makers from all over the world have created art in this space.
I came to Firenze with no preconceived ideas; rather, I purposely chose to come here with little in the way of art supplies or reference materials. In that way I would remain open and respond to what I would see and experience.
Finding connections
I am primarily an abstract artist, influenced by space, color, texture and shapes. This is my language; this is how I express what I feel. Firenze has been a full visual experience for me of warm colors, rich textures, fading surfaces and weathered stone. The past is revealed in uneven layers and fragments of past civilizations. The art of the past speaks. There is beauty and grand architecture everywhere you turn. I am struck by the scale of the large doors, the inviting passages and the shadowy allies; there are magnificent sculptures and carvings adorning the facades of buildings and stones echoing the past. The arches encompass and surround. The doors enclose and protect.
The art of Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Botticelli, da Vinci, Ghiberti and Giotto provide sacred spaces and stories of the past. I am in awe as I walk up the stairway to the library designed by Michelangelo, or climb the winding stairway to the top of the Duomo. I am surrounded by balance and harmony, classical proportions, symmetry and perspective which together forms a solid architectural cohesiveness. As an abstract artist I have created prints which echo fragments of the past contrasted with aspects of the present. The prints are not of a particular place but rather a synthesis of observations. They create their own architectural spaces of time and place and form a visual montage of my experience.
Art represents the best virtues of mankind and inspires great hope within me.
I would like to thank Rebecca Olsen for arranging my residency, it has been an extraordinary experience to live in Florence for three months and to work in wonderful studio spaces. A special thanks to Patricia Silva for her guidance and inspiration in making books and collaborative projects. Thank you to Suzanna for her support and watching over me. Thank you also to Marta and Carolina for showing me around in the early days and making sure that the studio was set up for me. I could not have been as comfortable without their continued help. In addition thanks to Brahim for all of his help. I would also like to thank the other students and faculty who gave friendship and encouragement during my residency.
Entrance to my studio………