Date: Wednesday, February 12
Time: 20:00 to 21:30 JST
Format: Zoom
Fee: Free
Guest Speaker: Patricia Massy, Artist and Writer
Title: The Colors of Japan
Summary
The common response to the question “What color exemplifies Japan” probably would be red. Indeed the red of the Japanese flag and that of shrines and torii is ubiquitous. Those of us who are familiar with mingei would add blue to that response. The blue of indigo used to be seen everywhere as it was the go-to dye for everyday clothing, noren, furoshiki, and bed covers as well as diapers. However, there is a whole range of subtle colors belonging to the world of kimono and Japanese pigments that is scarcely recognized even among today’s Japanese. The Colors of Japan will take a look at the fundamental colors existing since primeval times through to the stunning court costumes of Heian Period and afterwards the muted tones preferred during the Tokugawa shogunate.
Portfolio
After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in fine arts focusing on Asian art and culture, Patricia Massy came to Japan with visions of becoming “a great sumie artist.” Not finding a suitable teacher, she became captivated by the beauty of all things traditional in Japan and delved into calligraphy, yuzen dyeing, and indigo stencil dyeing as well as nihon buyo (Kabuki-related dance), kyomai (the dance style of Kyoto geisha), Noh and Tea. Her experiences with traditional artisans evolved into writing about the crafts of Japan in a weekly and later a monthly column in the Japan Times that continued for 16 years. During that time she also organized craft and culture tours of Japan that included Tokyo American Club, the Japan Society of New York, and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. The past 20 years she has finally settled into her original intention for coming to Japan: painting. Her work in nihonga, the art form which follows a traditional style of painting using unique pigments, has increased her appreciation of the Japanese use of color that she had already encountered in the world of dyeing and dance.
RSVP: https://cw3saoj.wildapricot.org/event-5992756 by February 10
***Members wishing to register guests: please contact the General Meeting Managers (generalmeetingmanagers@cwaj.org) for the registration code. With this code, guests can sign up through “non-members/online.”
Contact: generalmeetingmanagers@cwaj.org
General Meeting Team:
Director: Mio Ikenaga
Program Coordinators: Emi Doi and Ko Iwata
Meeting Managers: Shigeko Nagaoka and Chamodi Withana
