Kibe Seiho

**Sound of Sea Waves, 2015, 13.25 x 8.75 x 8.75 in.**
Photo credit: Gary Mankus

**Blaze, 2017, 14.75 x 7.75 x 7.75 in.**
Photo credit: Gary Mankus

ARTIST STATEMENT

It has been exactly 30 years since I quit my job to attend the Oita Prefectural Bamboo Craft Training Center in Beppu. Life was not easy after I graduated; how ever, I felt a sense of joy and hope every time I was able to complete a work of my own.

I had my first overseas solo show in Santa Fe in 2009. I am so happy to return ten years later to show my new body of work. I weave fine strips of bamboo to capture the passing moments of nature and to express my feelings and emotions. Simple forms, flowing lines, and harmonious colors — these are the three elements I always keep in mind when I create my work.

A bamboo I like to use is susutake, which comes out of the thatched roofs of old farm houses in the area where I grew up. This bamboo is naturally colored by smoke from the irori, a sunken hearth built into the floor. The life and activity of the people who inhabited these houses is what gives the susutake its color. The rich caramel hues are the result of the cumulative effect of 100 years or more of human life. Susutake is really a record of generations of a family sitting together around the irori during cold winter days, warming food over the hearth, drinking a cup of tea together. When I place these old bamboo strips side by side or weave them together, the memories of those lives are integrated into my work.

In recent years, aligning straight elements in a parallel fashion to create new sculptural shapes has become popular. I use age - old weaving techniques, which have been passed down from one generation to another over many decades. I particularly like chidori- ami (plover-plaiting)— each row of bamboo is accompanied by two extremely fine strips that undulate and cross one another as they zigzag above and below to create “x” shapes. The elegant pattern this creates is so beautiful to me.

Seeing this show, I hope viewers find the beauty of bamboo in my works.

**Autumn Wind, 2019, 13 x 9 x 7.75 in.**
Photo credit: Gary Mankus

**Bamboo Grove, 2016, 15.5 x 11.5 x 9 in.**
Photo Credit: Gary Mankus

Kibe Seiho was born in 1951 in Kusu-Gun, Oita Prefecture, on Kyushu, Japan’s westernmost major island. Although Oita is a major center for bamboo crafts and forestry, he took a circuitous route to a life in bamboo. Kibe was working as a gas station attendant when, in his thirties, he resolved to live a more meaningful life through artistic creation. In 1989, Kibe left his job and enrolled at the Oita Prefectural Bamboo Craft Training Center in Beppu.

Kibe was a top student but graduated into Japan’s Lost Decade of post-bubble economic stagnation. After years of struggling to make a living as a bamboo artist, he returned part-time to the gas station. The founder of TAI Gallery, Robert Coffland, helped revive Kibe’s career in 2001 by commissioning a major artwork which sold to an American client immediately. The next several pieces sold as fast as Kibe could ship them to the US, and this income allowed him to focus on his artwork alone from then on.

Kibe has a good eye for proportion and design, and the shapes of his vessels are understated but distinctive. He is a patient perfectionist who often works out a particular idea over several versions of a piece. His recent work exhibits a dazzling variety of complex plaiting patterns using contrasting light and dark bamboo.

Kibe became a full member of the Japan Craft Arts Association in 2000 and has won many prizes at national exhibitions. He was a finalist for the Cotsen Bamboo Prize in 2004. He won Best of Show at the 39th Seibu Traditional Craft Arts Exhibition in 2004 and at the 10th national Wood and Bamboo Exhibition in 2005. In 2006 and 2007, Kibe was one of seven artists selected to participate in a series of workshops offered by Living National Treasure Hayakawa Shokosai V. In 2014, he was awarded the Purple Ribbon by the Japanese Congress for lifetime achievement in the arts. Kibe’s baskets are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and the Oita Prefectural Art Museum.

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