A different Sensitivity: Women in Bambo Art

A DIFFEREN T SENSIT IVIT Y WOMEN IN BA MBOO ART K A J I WA R A AYA TA N A B E M I T S U K O TANI OK A A IKO ISOHI SETSUKO OK I TOSHIE

A DIFFER EN T SENS I T I V I T Y: WOM E N IN BA MBOO ART T E N Y E A R S A G O I began noticing more women in the Beppu Occupational School’s first year basic bamboo basketry class, and began thinking women will soon assume an important role in the future of a traditionally male art form. However, these aspiring women in the class were not at the vanguard of this change. The emergence of this trend was already underway in the households of the male bamboo artists.

Two of the women in this show became involved through their husbands. Kajiwara Aya started by helping her husband prepare bamboo for his crafting of simple flower baskets made for wholesalers, and discovered how much she enjoyed the process and challenge of turning a culm of bamboo into a vessel. In 2000 Aya became the first woman to be a full member of the Japan Traditional Craft Arts Association, and began to win major awards. Tanabe Mitsuko married into the Tanabe Chikuunsai lineage and learned from her father-in-law, Tanabe Chikuunsai II. Her artwork draws upon the creative innovations of her husband’s younger brother, Tanabe Yota. During their younger years both Aya and Mitsuko raised a family and ran their respective family households, while continuing to grow artistically and becoming artists in their own right.

Tanioka Aiko studied under Tanabe Chikuunsai III, Mitsuko’s husband.

During her time as a student, she met and married Tanioka Shigeo, who was a student of Chikuunsai II. Her husband is one of the most talented bamboo artists of his generation. Aiko is extremely supportive of him, and willingly took on running the household, but in the past decade began to blossom as a great artist. Their creative drive in the face of traditional social demands speaks to this deep commitment.

Cover: Kajiwara Aya Autumn Memory ( detail) 2009, 12 diameter x 14 1/2 inches Left: Tanabe Mitsuko Future ( detail) 2010, 14 x 10 x 14 1/2 inches

3

The two younger artists came via different paths to bamboo art.

Isohi Setsuko studied flower arranging and tea ceremony, and became drawn to the special beauty of the pairing of flowers with bamboo baskets. In the late nineties, she began studying basket making with Yagisawa Tadashi, a prominent bamboo artist and teacher in the Tokyo region. Isohi quickly became a top student, and began submitting her bamboo art to exhibitions within five years. She became, in 2005, the third woman to become a full member of the Japan Traditional Art Association. Still in her teens, Oki Toshie was deeply moved by an exhibition of the baskets of Living National Treasure, Iizuka Shokansai.

Upon graduation from college, she decided in 1999 to study bamboo art and asked Shokansai to help find her a teacher. It was Oki’s good fortune that he needed an apprentice to assist him. She studied with him until his death in 2004. Her tremendous natural talent led to a rapid advancement and full membership in the Japan Traditional Crafts Arts Association by the age of 30. Both Isohi and Oki were very fortunate to be selected for a special two year program taught by Hayakawa Shokosai V, one of the two current Living National Treasures. Hayakawa’s perspective of the art of bamboo is very different from their teachers, and in both women, the impact of working with Hayakawa is revealed in their most recent artwork.

The role of women in postwar Japan has dramatically changed, but in some ways remains the same. The expectation that women are in charge of running the household still weighs upon all of the married women bamboo artists. In the past, women would, by tradition, pursue flower arranging and tea ceremony as part of a cultured life. Now it is optional for them, and is only studied if there is a strong desire.

Ironically, this has undercut an important source of income for many bamboo artists, who made their day to day living making simple flowerfriendly baskets. In Isohi’s case, she made a transition from using bamboo

4

vessels to making them.The younger women I have seen in the aforementioned basic bamboo basketry class saved money from more regular jobs to pursue a possible artistic career. Since Japanese women are marrying later in life, they may live with their parents during the time needed to gain the necessary skills and judge their abilities and talent to become a bamboo artist. For those who do marry, there is the opportunity to have the economic support of an income-producing husband. ( There are many instances among the bamboo artists of wives working to help make financial ends meet. Plus all married artists are dependent upon their wives to run the household.) Due to the economic challenges of the first few years after learning the basic techniques there is an attrition rate of over 95%. The edge contemporary Japanese women have in the more flexible way they can approach life brings me to the conclusion that eventually there will be an equal number of female and male bamboo artists.

In 2008 Tanabe Shochiku III’s wife gave birth to a daughter, Sarara.

He will ultimately become Tanabe Chikuunsai IV. When I first saw their new baby, I said to Mitsuko’s husband Chikuunsai III,“Well, it looks like Chikuunsai V is going to be a woman.” He was startled by my comment, but everyone else laughed and thought, yes, this could happen.

This last spring I saw Sarara at the age of two playing with bamboo strips just like her father, grandfather and great grandfather did when they were children.

Robert T. Coffland, August 2010

Above: Tanabe Sarara

5

KA JI WA R A AYA: ART IST’S STAT E MEN T I married a bamboo artist. Though I did not know this, it was often expected that the wives of bamboo artists and craftsmen help their husbands with their work. At the time I did not know anything about bamboo basketry, yet I started to assist my husband with the simple tasks he taught me. While I helped him with the plaiting portion of production pieces he made for wholesalers to sell throughout Japan, a desire to make my own baskets started growing within me. My husband is a nationally recognized bamboo artist so I felt inside myself that I wanted to make original art work good enough for acceptance at the national level. I decided later that I needed to learn basket making, step-by-step from material preparation to applying the lacquer finish, so I attended the Beppu Occupational School. This gave me a perspective different from what I learned from my husband.

Even after thirty-eight years of making my own art works it continues to be a constant struggle. Conceptualizing my ideas is the first challenge.

This is followed by the actualities of determining how long and how fine each strip needs to be, and lastly, deciding what plaiting techniques are to be utilized.

As I live in an area near the sea and mountains, I try to capture the gently moving waves and the seasonal changes in my surroundings. I would like my work to have a natural feeling and peaceful energy.

This is why my vessels are so quiet at first glance. The textures created by different plaiting techniques and the use of colors are two central elements of my work. I let the bamboo take charge of creating shapes and forms.

Autumn Journey 2006, 10 diameter x 15 1/2 inches

6

Maple 2009, 10 1/2 diameter x 14 inches

8

Autumn Memory 2009, 12 diameter x 14 1/2 inches (detail on front cover )

TANABE MI T SUKO: ARTIST’S STATEMENT I was first introduced to bamboo forty years ago when I married Tanabe Chikuunsai III who, at that time, was still called Shochiku II. Since then, bamboo continues to be part of my life.

For forty years I had little time to pursue my own interest in bamboo as I needed to care for my father and mother - in - law. Everyday, from morning until evening, I was in the hospital taking care of my husband’s dying parents. My thoughts frequently turned to how best to live and how to die. When I returned from the hospital I had to care for my family and do the housework, and then from 10:30 pm until after midnight, I worked on my artwork. It was crucial for me to touch bamboo to feel that I was birthing something while dealing with death during the day. Shortly after my in- laws passed away, I was diagnosed with cancer. Since it might be my last art work, I focused on making a large-scale sculpture titled Life right after my surgery.

For three months, I only concentrated on Life, weaving the spirit of my whole life into it. When the sculpture was finished, I was well. From that moment on my theme became “the life of mother earth.” It is now over ten years since I made Life. My cancer has not come back. However, my heart is getting weak, so I am living day by day, getting power from the bamboo for the rest of my remaining life.

10

I decided to use the bamboo sheath for my latest work. This enwraps the bamboo shoot when it is born to protect the new culm just like a baby is protected by a mother’s womb. When the bamboo grows, the sheath peals away and eventually returns to mother earth.

The life of the bamboo sheath reminds me of my life: getting married to Tanabe Chikuunsai III, supporting my husband, his parents, and the Tanabe family; experiencing hard times and many happy times, sad moments, and a lot of joy. I also see the bamboo skin coming off as a parallel to my son’s becoming independent. If you look closely at the bamboo sheath, you can see that each is different — just like humans. Being a woman made me feel all the closer to this special part of the bamboo plant, especially as I have grown older. For these reasons, I wanted to incorporate the bamboo sheath in my work now.

I love all aspects of bamboo. It is healing to look at its straight stature and the beautiful green colors in the bamboo forest. The sound of cracking bamboo while splitting it in two and preparing the individual strips gives me a meditative and deeply peaceful feeling. It is not a job for me — it is my life to make bamboo art. Thus, I will continue creating bamboo art as long as I live.

11

Future 2010, 14 x 10 x 14 1/2 inches (above) Cultivating Life 2010, 14 x 14 x 25 inches (right)

12

Dance 2009, 19 x 18 x 8 inches

TANIOK A AIKO: ARTIST’S STATEMENT In the countryside where I grew up, there was a bamboo forest nearby.

Our family ate bamboo shoots in the spring, and there were many household items made of bamboo. So I feel bamboo was always part of my life.

There was a man who made bamboo baskets near my childhood home. I was always fascinated watching him make baskets. One time, I asked him if he could teach me, but he declined saying he was too old to teach anymore. Many years later, I was visiting Osaka for two days. During the first evening I felt something exciting would happen the next day. The following day, I had some spare time and decided to go see Chikuunsai II’s exhibition at a department store art gallery.

He spoke to me while I was there which eventually led to my becoming one of his students. My family was against my studying bamboo art, but I felt very strongly about my instinct and this exciting new direction in my life.

Bamboo has strength, pliability, and the wonderful beauty of its natural colors and shapes. When I try to use it as an artwork medium, it is like a person who you like very much and is at the same hard to please. This can create a dilemma in how to approach it, and at the same time be one of the charms of this material. It is challenging to bring the best out of each culm of bamboo with the desire to express something beautiful, elegant, and exciting.

Oh, how I wish I had more time for my artwork. I need to spend a good deal of my day doing family household tasks. This makes me think, am I really a professional artist? My immediate goal is to spend more hours focusing on my artwork.

Mother Earth 2008, 15 x 15 x 6 inches (detail on back cover )

17

Wind Rustling A Bamboo Forest 2007, 20 1/2 x 5 x 9 inches (above) Play of Light 2004, 17 diameter x 6 inches (right)

18

ISOHI SE TSUKO: ART IST’S STAT E MEN T Trees, grasses, and flowers give me so much joy. I love bamboo and the forests where they grow. Young bamboo is fresh and shiny, full of energy and vigor. Old bamboo has a special beauty from aging.

Learning and practicing Ikebana flower arranging was my introduction to bamboo art. That was how I got to know bamboo basketry and became fascinated by the beauty of this unique art. In the beginning of my journey learning this art form, completing a flower basket brought me great happiness. Now it is my professional career and I must strive to create beauty from bamboo as I take its beautiful life from nature. This is at times a great challenge, and sometimes even very frustrating for me. Still, I feel that I am very fortunate to be doing something I love.

I used to hate my given name “Setsuko” because of the old fashioned sound of it. My name has a Chinese character in it that means “bamboo node.” Now I like my name, and even believe it was my destiny to become a bamboo artist.

Rain Shower 2010, 11 diameter x 16 inches

20

Panoramic 2009, 16 diameter x 4 1/2 inches (above) Fertile Land 2008, 8 diameter x 14 1/2 inches (right)

22

OK I T OS HIE: ARTIST’S STATEMENT It is a joy for me to create my artwork. At the same time, it is painful.

Every time I push my creative boundaries I hit walls of resistance. This makes me realize how incompetent I am and how much there is still to learn. On top of that, it shows a part of me that I want to hide. This process is, however, a necessary part of my life just as eating and sleeping are.

I chose to work in the Traditional Craft Organization which has many rules and regulations that limit working in more sculptural forms. Despite this I am very comfortable working within this restrained freedom to express myself.

The sound of bamboo splitting gives me a good feeling, and I am energized when I feel the tension of the bamboo strips. Bamboo is such a wonderful medium for me — I am so fortunate to have found it.

After I completed my initial training I began to express myself in my work. I try to show in an abstract manner the beauty of visions I see in my mind. Over the past two years, I have been thinking about what beauty is and what beauty I can create with this special medium. It is not an easy path to be a bamboo artist, but I will try to push myself further with each new piece.

Omen 2010, 12 1/2 x 10 x 15 1/2 inches

24

Milky Way 2007, 14 1/2 diameter x 10 inches (above) Camellia 2008, 16 diameter x 111/2 inches (right)

26

TA I G A L L E R Y 1601 B Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505.984.1387 • www.taigallery.com