The Language of Cloth: Winter Show and Sale

detail of a mid-century Japanese kimono

In December my friend Dan Gundlach has this amazing pop-up shop in San Francisco, to showcase the textiles he gathers from Indonesia and Asia during the year.    The work showcased is a fantastic mix of traditional weaving and batik, using classic and contemporary designs.

Some of the offerings at the Language of Cloth pop-up gallery and shop

This year the shop will   feature  a selection of scarves, shawls, clothing, and accessories from Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and Japan, as well as a special exhibition of Japanese mid-century modern textile design,  kimono, haori, and obi from the collection of David Morrison Pike, a ceramic artist and antique dealer who has lived in Japan for the past 20 years.
Here is a glimpse of this year's special show:

mid-century Japanese kimono in silk

Detail of an haori with water motif

good morning!

The Language of Cloth shop will be open December 13th - December 24th everyday from 10 to 6 at 650-A Guerrero St., San Francisco.               

detail of a Nagoya obi, woven design

Kimono, meisen

More information is available at the Language of Cloth website.

Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

Studio Visit: Masao Hanawa | Salon Tokyo!

Masao Hanawa stands in front of his mural "Seven Samurai" painted for Toho Studios, Tokyo*

I recently returned from a trip to Tokyo where I participated in a unique event known as "the Salon."  Each year in a different city,  decorative painters and muralists from all over the world gather to exhibit their work, demonstrate techniques for each other and the public, exchange ideas, and of course, party.  Salon Tokyo 2013 was brilliantly hosted by the fabulous Yaeko Kurimata, my friend and colleague on the other side of the Pacific, whose studio I visited in 2009.
 

my exhibit panels for Salon Tokyo featured a Yomuiri Giants (Tokyo) baseball player and Toshiro Mifune from the Kurasawa film "Seven Samurai" painted on copper-gilt canvas.

 

Though I have not attended Salon in some years, I do credit this annual event with having introduced me to some great comrades-in-paint, among them Pascal Amblard, Alison Woolley, Lucretia Moroni, Karl Groissenberger,  Niels Jongdahl and so many others!

East Meets West in Niels Jongdahl's' masterful trompe l'oeil painting.

In a business that can be terribly competitive, closed, and often lonely and demoralizing, Salon participants tend to be open, appreciative, happy to share, willing to argue, and above all supportive of each others art practice,  which I believe comes from the assured confidence of someone who really knows their craft and loves their work.

So here I have just hung my panels at the Salon exhibition space, feeling generally humbled, when I caught sight of this painting:

Masao Hanawa's monumental self-portrait. The beautiful ornamental panels to the left are by Jean-Luc Sablé

and fell instantly and desperately in art-love with it, and incidentally with whomever is responsible for painting it.  This is my kind of painting:  surreal-scaled, detailed, a bit unconventional, and beautifully painted. I was stunned and elated while fellow painters gathered around it, arguing about how it was painted and with what medium or tools.

Masao Hanawa demonstrating at Salon Tokyo

Then behind me I heard Masao Hanawa speaking, in fluent Italian, with Stefano Luca (another fantastic painter, beyond all belief) at which point I basically sputtered some complimenti and ran outside to calm down.  (Understand for an agoraphobic person such as myself that I am already on threat level orange in a frenetic city like Tokyo, so I must run and hide fairly frequently.)

The next day I found Masao-san painting a  Boucher-esque panel of cherubs and worked up the nerve to talk to him. He showed me his portfolio which features a gigantic ~80 foot high mural (see above) of the Seven Samurai painted on an exterior wall of Toho Studios,  (are you sensing a theme here?) and from there we had a very easy conversation which continued throughout the week and revealed many other shared interests.    

After Salon ended and the participants reluctantly parted ways, I had an extra day in town and was able to make a short visit to the Atelier Hanawa.

Large scale trompe l'œil by Masao Hanawa at Tokyo DisneySea Resort *

work in progress, tools, and light fill the large shop of Atelier-Hanawa, Tokyo

grisaille sample for the 7 Samurai mural repurposed as a screen

I like visiting the studios of other muralists when I travel- I find it gives me some insight into the process; what do we have in common (storage issues!) and what space-saving or cool tips can I pick up - or share?

Masao-san has painted enormous amounts of trompe l'œil and fresco-style murals for Tokyo DisneySea and many other commercial spaces as well as a masterful oil paintings in the Northern European tradition.  He also spent several years living in Genoa, Italy, painting and  restoring mural work there, and furthering his skills in classical European style painting.     

You should visit m-hanawa.com for many more stunning examples of his accomplished painting style.    

Trompe l'œil murals and grottesche ornament by Masao Hanawa *

some moments in the studio of Masao Hanawa, Tokyo

Masao Hanawa in his studio

further reading - more pictures:
  

Salon Forever

Atelier Hanawa website

Akira Kurasawa

Toshiro Mifune

SalonTokyo2013 @Flickr  more pictures from this amazing event

Lynne's previous posts about Japan
 
jib door is in the glossary!

images in this post by Lynne Rutter,  May 2013
except *  ©Masao Hanawa
click on images to view larger

Lynne Rutter Studio

Sans, Souci.

Sanssouci palace in the winter sun

One year ago I was visiting friends in Berlin and we went out to Potsdam, to see the famous Frederician Rococo palace of Sanssouci (written on its façade as Sans, Souci. I have no idea why.) It was an exceptionally clear and sunny day and the yellow lime-washed stucco was particularly vibrant.  "This is the color of joy" I told my friends. I always associate that bright yellow with a happiness beyond reason.

Today I am working on a color scheme for a building with curséd white vinyl windows,  and have been  looking for examples of white-windowed buildings as reference, and so I am studying at this image I shot in Potsdam: warm grey limestone, pure yellow ochre pigment, black soot, verdigris copper.

One year ago today I heard the news that Japan had been stuck by a terrible earthquake and an even more devastating tsunami.   So today also I am also thinking of my friends in Japan and wishing them no worries.


photo by Lynne Rutter:  Potsdam, Germany,  March 2011
click on image to view larger

Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

The Back of the Museum

Tokyo National Museum, back hallway.

Waiting,  with fire extinguisher.

Mosaic and textured plaster walls, Tokyo National Museum.

photos by Lynne Rutter, Tokyo, March 2009
click to view larger

Vermilion

Newly painted columns at the restored Sanjūsangen-dō temple, Kyoto.

photo by Lynne Rutter, Kyoto, Japan, March 2009Vermilion columns, deep charcoal gray roof tiles, white plaster walls, deep malachite green shutters, accents of canary yellow. I love this palette.

Lynne Rutter Murals + Decorative Painting

Brush Shopping in Kyoto

Cabinet full of watercolor and calligraphy brushes, porcelain palettes, at Saiundo Fujimoto.

While in Kyoto, I paid a visit to the shop of Saiundo Fujimoto, very well known for hand-made watercolors, and "special materials for Japanese-style painting." This is a lovely little shop, crammed with special brushes, paper, and supplies: glue (nikawa), chalk (gohun), and powdered mineral pigments (iwa-enogu), everything for Nihon-ga and other forms of Japanese painting.

Ms Fujimoto added my card to the guest artist book. The drawers behinds her are full of bamboo handle brushes, and trays of watercolors.

Here is my lovely new set of handmade watercolors, each in its own little ceramic tray. What a gorgeous palette, just as it is.

A display of sumi-e paint brushes at Kyukyodo.

Just up the street from Saiundo Fujimoto is a wonderous store called Kyukyodo. They specialize in calligraphy papers, brushes, incense, and lovely gifts. Trust me it took all of my will not to buy one of these giant sumi brushes.

Next time you are in Kyoto, Visit Saiundo Fujimoto: Anekoji Fuyacho Higashi, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto.Here is a little map to help you find it (click to enlarge.)
Kyukyodo is only a short block away here (map)

My thanks to Diane Durston and her wonderful guide book Old Kyoto: The Updated Guide to Traditional Shops, Restaurants, and Inns

Lynne Rutter Studio

The latest FAD in Tokyo

No, I am not talking about Gothic-Lolita fashion!

stencils taped to the window create a lovely surrounding for a presentation

While in Tokyo last week, I had the opportunity to pay a visit to fellow decorative painter Yaeko Kurimata, of F.A.D. Faux Arts Design.

I met Yaeko  at the SALI convention in San Francisco, and again in Chicago last summer where she demonstrated her talent and expertise at the International Decorative Painting Salon. In addition to being a fantastic artist, she is also a teacher and successful entrepreneur with a thriving business in commercial interiors.

When she heard I was coming to Tokyo, Yaeko-san invited me to participate as guest speaker at a "World of Decorative Paint Introduction" she was giving to major design firm. What an honor to be included as the "out of town expert!"   A dull employee lounge was transformed with FAD's many gorgeous samples and stencils on the walls and windows, creating a beautiful environment for this presentation.

Yaeko explains decorative painting to a group of professional designers

beautiful stencil sample by FAD

Yeako-san gave a thorough talk about the possibilities and advantages of faux painting. I especially liked that she had 5 unique samples all made with the same stencil, to demonstrate how different a pattern can look depending on the materials or colors used.

Yaeko-san translating for me.  At least I hope she is.

The design group was interested to know what is  trending in American decor, and I asked the designers about their color preferences (they are liking earth colors, and pastels) and we briefly discussed how color trends and choices vary with light and location. 

FAD's busy design studio- by Tokyo standards, this is a huge space.

I was then treated to an amazing sushi lunch, and we spent the rest of the day talking shop and taking care of business at the large and busy FAD studios. What a wonderful day with an inspiring, energetic, and accomplished woman!

Later in the week, Erling and I made the trek out to the aptly named Tokyo Big Sight and the huge GEISAI event, to see some of the work of Akira Ishiguro, a member of the FAD team of artisans. His latest paintings take the "ideal beauties" painted by Ingres to another level, by substituting anime Manga girls with big eyes and elongated figures, for the (equally impossible) goddess-like figures of the early 19th century European ideal. They were beautifully painted and, he sold all of them. Congratulations, Akira-san!

Yaeko Kurimata will be demonstrating as a participant at Salon this April in Bergamo, Italy, and teaching some of her special techniques at the 2009 IDAL Convention in Memphis TN in July.

Lynne Rutter Studio

Totoro Fan

One of my favorite anime films is the 1988 Hayao Miyazaki classic Tonari no Totoro. I spied this "20th Anniversary Commemorate Fan" in a shop in Tokyo and was overcome with glee. If you look closely, you can see in its design soot sprites, and even the cutout shapes of little totoros in the spokes of the fan.