The studio where I study shibori just had an exhibition.  I took lots of pictures and thought lots of things.  For  now, here are mainly pictures of the exhibition:

In Japan, when people hear the word “shibori”, they think about little handkerchiefs dyed blue, a little bit like tie-die, maybe they have tried to do it once.  But actually there are so many shibori techniques.  For example, one of my teacher’s favorite shibori artist’s name is Motohiko Katano.  His work is like paintings, definitely not something that people think about when they hear the word “shibori” but it is shibori.  My teacher has spent hours of her life trying to reproduce some of his techniques, going to learn from various teachers, experimenting with her own techniques and then teaching all this to her students.  At the studio, we are all free to find ways to express ourselves through shibori.  This is why when people came to the exhibition, they were impressed at the many expressions of shibori.

Our exhibition was called “How to Challenge 絞・藍 is our life”  the two kanjis in the middle mean shibori and then ai (indigo) .  This means that we keep on trying to make something beautiful, something that expresses what is in out hearts.

Here are some pictures:

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I think it is amazing that my teacher was able to orchestrate such an exhibition.  There is all the hours spent teaching us, and advising us about this or that, the size, texture of the fabric we dye, the coloring, the techniques of course.  And then all the logistics, the energy, the time, all this while doing her own shibori work, and practicing kendo!

Thank you to everyone who came!!!