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Textiles

 

My first love and one that endures. The first technique that I studied in Kyoto, Japan in 1974 was that of 'Uzen zome'. Uzen being the name of the technique and zome meaning dyeing. Fortunately for me I spoke enough Japanese (at the time) to allow me to join classes in this technique.They were held in the bowels of a Kimono factory where we used cones of mulberry paper that had been dipped in persimmon juice and filled with rice paste to draw on silk stretched over canes of bamboo. Exact dye colours were mixed in tiny dishes before applying to the silk with beautiful hand sewn brushes. The whole experience was the stuff of a bygone age. Concurrently, I studied under ryoketsu zome (wax dyeing) artist Kyoko Takagi. Whilst I have maintained my practise as a silk painter throughout the last 40 years I have also experimented with and developed a range of other textile skills to match my interests of the moment. 

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