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Cloth & Culture NOW
the artists - Hideaki Kizaki, Japan
The creative process and myself
Introduction
Looking back over my life as an
artist, it seems that I liked drawing pictures ever since I was
a child. When I was high school age, I started to do wood carving,
and my ambition was to become a traditional wood carver when
I grew up. My parents were singers and in those days they often
went to Germany, they told me many times about the German system
of Meisters. I was
told that, there, it was considered most important to first get
a thorough grounding in the techniques. And so I applied to Kanazawa
College of Art and Crafts to specialise in applied design. At college
I studied dyeing. At the time, I had to learn many techniques in
the world of crafts, and I came to realise that there was a huge
variety of traditional techniques and methods. Applying both creativity
and learning techniques is difficult and on many occasions I was
unable to express what I wanted due to lack of technical skill.
I progressed to do a masters course, through the acquisition of
better traditional techniques and introduction of new, modern methods
I pursued the expressive potential of dyeing. After gaining my
masters degree, I began to work using as a freelance designer of
Kanazawa’s local traditional dyeing called “kagayuzen” and
also taught a course in traditional dyeing at the prefectural technical
high school. At the same time, I continued to create and show my
own work; my efforts paid off and ten years later I returned to
my alma mater, Kanazawa College of Art, to teach.
Traditional techniques and creations
Initially, I made two dimensional
creations by a batik-type method based upon kagayuzen techniques
using glue and wax. The development of Japanese traditional dyeing
techniques have a history rarely seen in the world, and the multi-dimensionality
of techniques is unique, unseen elsewhere in the world. However,
from a certain time I began to question current traditional Japanese
dyeing. The reason being that I felt that current Japanese dyeing
has in some ways become divorced from the materials and transformed
into “surface design”. The question not only made me
wonder about the definition of “craft” as I worked,
but this also made me think about essential fundamental issues.
After that, through research at the university I came to one conclusion
of my own. To put it briefly, good crafts come from good
materials and are created by good techniques and these lead to
good expression. I believe this can be attained if all these things
are kept in balance.
Asian Traditional Dyeing
As I started to work at the university and continued
to create my work, I also began to study and research into traditional
dyeing and weaving in Japan as well as other nations across Asia,
visiting many countries including Korea, China, India, Pakistan,
Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. I noticed that due to recent industrialization
and the development of petrochemical industry, many of the traditional
dyeing and weaving techniques across Asia have been lost. This
could be seen in a way as “development” but if you
think about it objectively, this development seems very short sighted.
I was requested at that time for support by
an NGO for the promotion of traditional dyeing in Myanmar, and
a project was established for three years from 2002 to 2004 to
support it. The first place I was requested to teach techniques
was at the Saunder’s
Weaving School in Myanmar, a school established in the days of
the British rule by L.H. Saunder. Several years prior to my teaching
at the school, an instructor had been sent from JETRO (Japan External
Trade Organisation) to teach basic techniques in natural dyeing.
However, without any proper waste water processing facilities,
they had been using a heavy metal based mordant which is damaging
to the environment, there were also many problems of colour instability
due to the content of lime and iron in the water being used. In
order to resolve these issues, I revived and reintroduced indigo
dyeing techniques which at the time were still being used the in
Shan region of Myanmar, I also incorporated some revived natural
dyeing techniques from Myanmar's neighbours, Laos and Thailand.
It was then that I met Mr. Morimoto, who had worked hard to revive
Ikat; a locally produced silk, dyed with natural dyes which had
been lost during the Cambodian Pol Pot regime. Like myself, coming
from Kyoto he was familiar with Kyoto yuzen dyeing; with
his encouragement I spent as much time as I could in Myanmar. In
2005 his hard work was recognized and he received the Rolex Award
for Enterprise.
Following this, the project expanded from weaving
into basketry, lacquer and other fields, developing craft goods
that were not only natural and high quality, but could also give
a spiritual richness to everyday life, developing the concept of
offering all manner of daily items and despatching them over the
world. Saunder’s
Weaving school is located to the south of the ancient city of Mandalay
in upper Myanmar in a craft town called Amarapura. Within the campus
there is an old colonial style building, originally used by the
army for accommodation, it has been refurbished and made into a
museum displaying traditional south-east Asian dress, it was established
to offer displays of developed craft products, a shop and gallery
space where the poorest people of Myanmar can display their products
free of charge, and also students and teachers can demonstrate
hand weaving. This facility will be re-opened in 2006, scheduled
to open in time for the Myanmar tourist season.
Changing of works
Through my involvement in the
Asia, my own way of thinking changed and this was reflected in
my work, which underwent a huge change. I moved away from materials
which depend on ever-decreasing fossil resources, and started
to use traditional techniques and natural resources that are
plentiful in Asia, switching towards a fundamental concept of
natural sustainability. I have begun to collect plants from the
countryside near where I live which can be made into dyes, and
use natural woven materials such as cotton, hemp or silk which
I dye to make my works. I have abandoned my former approach which
was merely surface design; I have stopped drawing pictures and
now I concentrate on drawing out the characteristics and strengths
of the materials. As a result, I have been able to incorporate
the carving-like expression which interested me in my youth,
and further broaden my interests into the more progressive world
of art, moving from the field of folk dyeing into fibre art.
At present, I favour using a material called
jute. There is more than a few difficulties as you try to dye this
hard, rough cloth. As I soak the material in the dye and then squeeze
out the water time and again, my palms get covered in scratches,
and the dye then gets in the scratches; my palms are in a terrible
state. However when you consider that jute is grown and woven by
the poorest people in Asia and is not a valuable market commodity,
the discomfort of these scratches is nothing. I like this cloth,
it holds a hidden strength and I’d like more people to know
about it.
Japan at the centre of Asia
At my university I teach the students
traditional Japanese dyeing techniques. At the same time, I tell
them that these traditional craft techniques have their roots
all over Asia, and in the course of history they have been transmitted
to Japan, here at the far end of Asia, and they are the result
of a unique process of assimilation.
As for myself, as I work, there is no need
to always use unique Japanese techniques and materials but I prefer
to approach my work from a broader Asian perspective. I agree with
the statement of the founder of Tokyo College of Art, Tenshin Okakura
who said “There is one Asia…” In recent
years I have expanded my thinking further and am interested in
not only Asia, but in the fusion of western and eastern cultures.
I am fascinated by the gentle gradation in culture which can be
seen as you move from east Asia to South East Asian, Central Asia,
eastern Europe, Western Europe, if I had the time and opportunity
I’d like to visit as many countries as possible and observe
this for myself.
JAPAN
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