Artist: CHISATO ISHIKAWA
“The theme of my work is clothes that cannot be put on,” she says.
Chisato Ishikawa is a newcomer with a very strong, surreal sensibility for depicting disembodiment, an evocative image of rearranging, reclassifying, rethinking fashion consumption. She studied fashion design at university but then took this unique path as an artist after the idea came to her while making a pattern one day.
“The theme of my work is clothes that cannot be put on,” she says. “I make only one work with the same paper pattern.” She sews all her work herself and emphasizes that she works alone.
Chisato was born in 1980 in Kyoto, Japan. In 2003, she graduated from The Kobe Design University. In 2004, she began her work as an artist.
THE INTERVIEW
wwm: Do you use clothes that you have worn or owned?
CI: I don’t use used clothes for my work. I also rarely wear used clothing.
wwm: What are some of your favorite fashion designers?
CI: Rei Kawakubo. I like her stance on creation but I don’t have even a single item of her clothing.
wwm: Who are some of your favorite artists or musicians?
CI: M.C.Escher and René Magritte.
wwm: Name three of your favorite things.
CI: People-watching, the color gray, and geometric graphics – squares, circles, etc.
MORE PRODUCTS FROM CHISATO
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Artist: LYNN JACKSON
Working in her studio at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, Toronto artist Lynn Jackson calls on old photographs, her mother’s recollections and her own childhood memories to provide much of the inspiration for her prize-winning sculptures. Using textile techniques taught to her by her mother many years ago, and with her experience of goldsmithing and costume design, Lynn knits metal wire which, for some works, she combines with felted and dyed wool to meticulously recreate the birthday dresses, nightgowns, bonnets and booties she wore as a little girl. From recreating her childhood clothing it was a natural progression to the toys she played with and further, the intricately detailed sculptures of Tabitha Twitchit, Peter Rabbit, the Mopsey Bunnies, Raggedy Anne and other friends from her childhood. The work is nostalgically evocative but its appearance of fragility is deceptive. Rendered in wire, it speaks to the bonafide strength of the artist herself. Meanwhile, her technique has won her awards at the Sculptors’ Society of Canada and at the Toronto Outdoor Art Show, while winning critics’ acclaim at exhibitions across Canada. Born in Canada of English parents, Lynn spent her formative years in both Liverpool and St. Catherines. She studied Costume Design at Niagara College Shaw Festival Theatre School and spent three years in the Jewellery Arts Program at George Brown College in Toronto, where she studied gemology and diamond grading.
Based in Toronto, Lynn Jackson’s work explores themes of emotional and physical displacement. She knits with metal, a process that is informed by her years as a student of goldsmithing and costume design. She has sold her work across North America and has won awards from both the Toronto Outdoor Art Show and The Sculpture Society of Canada.
MORE FROM LYNN
- Two Bunnies & a Bear
Two Bunnies & a Bear
designed by: Lynn Jackson
Material: oxidized copper wire
Description of item: Childhood toy sculptures hand knit with copper wire. These 'toys' are suspended from the ceiling or framed in a shadow box. These 'toys' may be displayed alone or in a group.For Inquiries, contact us.
- Dainty Dress
Dainty Dress
designed by: Lynn Jackson
Material: oxidized copper wire
Description of item: New born baby dress sculpture hand knit with copper wire and adorned with tiny flowers. This dress may be suspended from the ceiling or framed in a shadow box. This piece works well displayed alone or in a group.For Inquiries, contact us.
- Dainty Bonnet
Dainty Bonnet
designed by: Lynn Jackson
Material: oxidized copper wire
Description of item: New born baby bonnet sculpture hand knit with copper wire and adorned with tiny flowers. This bonnet may be suspended from the ceiling or framed in a shadow box. This piece works well displayed alone or in a group.For Inquiries, contact us.
- Dainty Knickers
Dainty Knickers
designed by: Lynn Jackson
Material: oxidized copper wire
Description of item: New born underpants sculpture hand knit with copper wire and adorned with tiny flowers. These knickers may be suspended from the ceiling or framed in a shadow box. This piece works well displayed alone or in a group.For Inquiries, contact us
THE INTERVIEW
wwm: How do you imagine your work displayed in the home?
LJ: Suspended from the ceiling or framed in a shadow box.
wwm: What are some of your favorite things displayed in your own home?
LJ: Ancestral photos of family; an 18th century metal medicine cabinet from France; a wicker and steel baby carriage, circa 1910; 1970′s Sesame Street books.
wwm: Walk us through the steps you take in creating a new collection.
LJ: My creative process is broken down into steps.
1) Concept
2) Research : I use the internet and photo archives
3) Image/visual development : I illustrate with pencils, black pens and sometimes use water colour to establish visual designs. I do some drawings in a workbook as well as larger drawings that are turned into patterns.
4) Pattern making: I develop the patterns from the drawings. To do this I use paper or fabric with traditional pattern making techniques -old school cutting and draping. I keep an archive that includes the pattern with measurements and instructions, then a photo of the finished piece.
5) Creating the piece: I knit, crochet, stitch and sew the pieces with very fine copper wire and copper plate. I sometimes use felt. (wool)
wwm:What do you imagine a person who buys your work to be like?
LJ:Someone who thinks of art beyond oil on canvas.
wwm:Do you have a favorite artist or writer? A designer who works in a different material? Who are they?
LJ:Tracey Emin, Vivienne Westwood and A.Y. Jackson.
1 Comment
Designer: SHUYU LU
Born and raised in China, Shuyu Lu is currently a textile artist-in-residence at the Harbourfront Centre Studio in Toronto. She originally came to Canada to pursue an art education at the Ontario College of Art & Design. When she arrived, she started to explore the ways Chinese character, East Asian character, has melded with western sensibilities in Canada as well as in China.
Through screen-printing and embroidery, she expresses these insights along with her nostalgia for the country she left behind. She balances craft with design while making work that is playful, even humorous. What results is something uniquely beautiful and always unexpected.
MORE FROM SHUYU
- JOURNALS
Digital printed cotton cover journal book
designed by: Shuyu Lu (China)
Material: Printable cotton
Description of item: Digital printed cotton cover journal book
For Inquiries, contact us.
- SALUTE CHINIESE GIRL STUFFED TOY
Salute Chinese Girl stuffed doll
designed by: Shuyu Lu (China)
Based on my self- portrait as a Young Pioneer at my elementary school in China.Material: Printed on cotton fabric, hand embroidery
Description of item: Sizes: 4”/8.5”/ 11”
All 4” dolls have magnet on the backside
14X4”
13X8.5”
8X11”For Inquiries, contact us.
- NEW TREASURE 1
New Treasure
designed by: Shuyu Lu (China)
Description of item: Screen printed ( traditional Chinese character pattern) on commercial cotton fabric; screen printed & hand embroidery on silk organza; wooden frame.
For Inquiries, contact us.
- NEW TREASURE 2
New Treasure
designed by: Shuyu Lu (China)
Description of item: Screen printed ( traditional Chinese character pattern) on commercial cotton fabric; screen printed & hand embroidery on silk organza; wooden frame.
For Inquiries, contact us.
- NEW TREASURE 3
New Treasure
designed by: Shuyu Lu (China)
Description of item: Screen printed ( traditional Chinese character pattern) on commercial cotton fabric; screen printed & hand embroidery on silk organza; wooden frame.
For Inquiries, contact us
THE INTERVIEW
wwm: How do you imagine your work displayed in a room?
SL: I think they might be displayed on a shelf or on a wall that already has other art – in the sort of “gallery section” of a home. That’s how I display work in my own home. My work is all about the combination of nostalgia, pop art, East meets West, even the mess of the cultural moment, the multi-cultural world we live in. Since my work is not an abstract painting or a bronze sculpture, it doesn’t need “breathing space” between it and other work.
wwm: What are some other items that seem to fit with your motif?
SL: Vintage toys! Also Chinese, Eastern and Western old posters, and propaganda. I get a lot of inspiration from these kinds of posters, so it would make more sense shown together.
wwm: What are some of your favorite things displayed at your house?
SL: I purchase a first edition print from 1967 of Chairman Mao propaganda from a souvenir store in Toronto’s Chinatown. Now it hangs on my living room’s wall and it is one of my favorite things in my collection. It’s not about the politics – I just fell in love with the graphic design, the color (red, cream, and black) and a sense of reminiscence. It’s kind of funny that I found it in Toronto; it would be hard to find in China now.
wwm: Walk us through the steps you take in creating a new collection.
SL: I finished school last year, so I’ve had two series of work so far. They are all made from a narrative perspective expressing my feelings about cultural impact. In my new work, I will continue to develop this concept. I like to bring the old and the traditional into contemporary pieces, meanwhile showing where the Western & Eastern elements melt together – their melting point.
wwm: What do you imagine a person who buys your work to be like?
SL: A person who has a little child inside of him or her. A happy person but a bit sentimental.
wwm: Do you have a favorite artist or writer? A designer who works in a different material? Who are they?
SL: I have a long list of my favorite artists and designers! The most inspired one is Zhang Xiaogang – the Chinese contemporary artist. He was born in 1958 and was influenced by a period of cultural revolution during his youth. His surrealist paintings are a perfect reflection of the period. It conjures the depressive atmosphere of the time. Dorie Millerson’s needlepoint is also a favorite. Most of her work is tiny and deals with memory, nostalgia, defining home and identity. The lace work brings her memories and moments of attachment to life with their delicate shapes. A person who has a little child inside of him or her. A happy person but a bit sentimental.
What Women Bring to the Table: Designers, Artists, Thinkers, & Inventors to Start the Week
Ideas and Design on my radar right now. An eclectic bunch.
Cutaway vase by Polish designer Edyta Cieloch
Dr. Afsaneh Rabiei of Iran, awarded a CAREER award in 2003 by the National Science Foundation, is the inventor of a new tough metal foam material that will have a huge impact on life saving devices such as car bumpers. “inserting two pieces of her composite metal foam behind the bumper of a car traveling 28 mph, the impact would feel the same to passengers as impact traveling at only 5 mph”-LiveScience.com
Swedish designers Sofia Lagerkvist, Anna Lindgren and Charlotte von der Lancken make up “Front Design” on StylePark.com (and everywhere else!)
Capsters: Dutch designer Cindy Van Den Bremen invented an elastic flexible sports hijab that guards against harsh noises. The product, approved by an Imam and now with worldwide sales, addresses complex aesthetic, social, and religious issues where they intersect in the real world.
Lynn Jackson’s art on Mocoloco
Yin Xiuzhen. Portable City: Melbourne, 2009 from her “Portable Cities” series on Space & Culture.org
Frog Design’s blog posting on how James Cameron and Steve Jobs vision of the future might not be the best or most cutting edge citing articles by Annalee Newitz (below)
Dr. Annalee Newitz of Technosploitation and now of Gawker Media’s io9.com. An academic-cum-journalist, she writes kick ass cultural criticism like “When Are White People Going to Stop Making Movies Like Avatar” quoted on the Frog Design blog.
Frozen Lamp from Frozen series by Wieki Somers of Rotterdam. Also love her “mattress stone.”
0 CommentsArtists of the Decade – Women Just in Front of Our Eyes
I was happy to see that the New York Times Emerging Artists of the Decade list started with two women, Rineke Dijkstra (Netherlands) and Jessica Jackson Hutchins (US), both of whom I am unfamiliar with, so I decided to look at more of their work. One of the articles that featured Hutchin’s work had the slug, “patience is the new ambition.” I love that. It most certainly has been for me.
And then as I kept clicking I saw they listed Dana Schutz (US) and video artists, Tamy Ben-Tor (Israel) and Nathalie Djurberg (Sweden). Also Klara Liden (Sweden), Ellen Altfest (NY), Huma Bhabha (Pakistan), Cao Fei (China) , Misaki Kawai (Japan), Mary Reid Kelly (US), and Josephine Halvorson (US). How many female artists is that?
Then I decided to google ‘artists of the decade’. I looked at the Village Voice’s which were said to be the results of an informal art crowd survey. In that list arose Tacita Dean (UK) who then popped up everywhere else, Isa Genzken (Germany), also oft-mentioned, and Rachel Harrison (NY), Julie Mehretu (Ethiopia), Mary Heilmann (San Francisco), and the most famous of the lot, Cindy Sherman.
Heavy.com’s list, coming from a more street art oriented site, names Faiza Butt (Pakistan), Jean Shin (South Korea), and Swoon. The Guardian adds Maria Lassnig (Austria) and Janet Cardiff (Canada) in their 6 image slide show of art of the decade.
In 2010, the Whitney Biennial will, for the first time, be comprised by a majority of women artists. When New York magazine writer, Jerry Saltz, asked curator Gary Carrion-Murayari why he said, “I didn’t look for women artists. They were just in front of our eyes.”
Happy New Year.
Chauncey
Get Out of My Dreams. Faiza Butt.
Amoy Botanical Garden, Xiamen, April 23, 2006. Rineke Dijkstra.
El Parque Del Retiro, Madrid, July 2, 2006. Rineke Dijkstra.
"a skinny Polish girl in a lime-green bathing suit confronts the camera with a heartbreaking blend of awkwardness and studied nonchalance. Standing at the ocean's edge, she tilts her head and slips unconsciously into a classical contrapposto pose. -Metropolitan Museum website" Kolobrzeg, Poland, 1992 by Rineke Dijkstra.
Maria Lassnig. You or Me. 2008.
I find this funny, but somehow ridiculing of men, a bit humiliating, which makes it uncomfortable, which makes it funny. The Butt by Ellen Altfest. Oil on canvas.
I thought of Wyeth then discovered I'm not alone in the comparison. Tumbleweed by Ellen Altfest.
Cao Fei explores "perception and reality in places as diverse as a Chinese factory and the virtual world of Second Life. - PBS"
The artist Misaki Kawai pictured with her friend artist Kei Morita
Mary Heilmann, quoted on the Whitney website as saying “I just think that in the midst of all the digital stuff, people sort of crave seeing something that’s still and quiet and on the wall.” Mary Heilmann. Surfing on Acid. 2005.
the Momenta Art site says: “Huma Bhabha culls her sculptures from the archives of science fiction. Like a shadow of Rodin that has fallen into the gutter and reassembled itself with discarded material, Bhabha morphs mineral to vegetable to animal."
Josephine Halvorson. Three Red Books.
Mary Reid Kelly. Still from Sadie, the Saddest Sadist.
Armed. Jean Shin. 2005-9.
P.S. The London Times heralds a future belonging to female entrepreneurs in their article Meet the Lipstick Entrepreneurs, a terribly anachronistic name for women but nonetheless worth a read.
2 CommentsArtist Nagi Noda’s Death: Too Young To Die
I was a little late to the news but learning of artist and conceptual filmmaker (they call her a director but I think that is not the best description by any means) Nagi Noda’s sudden death makes me incredibly sad. Only 35 years old, so unique, so creative, so accomplished, so weird, delightful, and magical. Time is of the essence to make art and invent so get to it. I feel this urgency now more than ever. The sky is falling. The sky is falling, yes, but economy be damned (and I’m talking to myself too here). This is one woman I wanted to meet and befriend (of many of course!) She inspired me and awed me. Japan, with all its innovation and break-through everything, is not an easy place to be different. Selfishly, this is such a disappointment. I wanted another 50 years of Nagi Noda.
1 Comment
Art vs. Marketing
I used to think if I pursued art, it would be like spitting in the ocean. Who would care? Who would hear me? I told my 25 year old self, if you attach yourself to brands and big business, play not by the rules of making money, but in acknowledgment of them, you can get a word in edgewise. If you make art you’ll be like that hippy dancing in the crowd at a Phish concert with her eyes closed. (for me that’s a bad thing). You’ll be in your own art universe. And starving. It seemed to me: make your contribution quantifiable, make it count, make it consumable, make it tangible.
But that was then. Now everyone’s selling to one another.
‘Buy me’
‘No buy me’
‘Buy me!’
It’s another form of taking turns talking. It seems pointless. All this clever stealth marketing is zapping creativity from the creative population. Everybody has an agenda.
How can anybody even see?
I went onto a Paris hipster site tonight someone sent me to learn more about the FIAC art fair going on here this weekend. On the site, famous Paris personalities listed their favorite spots here. Of course an actress listed a regular movie theater that will be debuting her movie and another woman talked about a store that carried her clothes. Give me a break.
When I hosted a panel of marketers at a conference last year, I carefully planned out questions that would probe the evolution of online marketing but my guests got up and one by one plugged their brands, products, and websites. At one point, one of the panelists hijacked the whole thing by standing up in the middle of the thing to click through a powerpoint of his companies services! Something I explicitly told him not to do. It was the Jerry Springer of Marketing Panels. Each one, especially the young guns, got up to outshout the other.
Sometimes what used to excite me about the entrepreneurial spirit of the creative class is starting to look like the spit of a thousand jaded and corporate-ized cool kids sinking into the ocean. They are turning into the monsters they were running from.
No matter what you do for $$$, if you commit yourself to art, your art, as few people as there might be who see it, you can rest assured that you are actually saying something that is not related to a consumable, profitable, interchangeable, extinguishable, questionable, suspicious, depleting thing. It’s something actual. Something human. something flawed and living. Something that means something, even if it means something to 5 people or 2 or just you.
I’m not being idealistic. We have to make money. We have to produce food and machinery and fashion and ipods and shoes and beverages and hand soap. I just think we need to do have some separation again of church and state. The French seem to still be able to do both but that capacity is diminishing. The production of free time that we’ve nurtured seems to be actually just the production of more work time. If you want to discuss this, I’ve formed a What Women Make group on LinkedIn. Look it up and ask to join.
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