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Weaving nature and art

Japanese textile master to create interactive installation for MACC gallery’s latest exhibit

Japan’s Akihiko Izukura (left) sits inside a tunnel made of silk. Photo courtesy Maui Arts & Cultural Center

The Schaefer International Gallery will emerge as a cocoon of soft silk this month when a Japanese master of dyeing and weaving creates an interactive installation that embodies transformation and respect for nature.

For “Akihiko Izukura: The Way of Natural Textiles,” opening Jan. 15 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center space, Izukura will create a large exhibit made of woven silk in a large ovoid form supported by bamboo. The tunnel-like structure will resemble a giant silk work cocoon, according to the MACC, and visitors will be invited to walk through the structure, meant to “present a calm connection to being inside nature and experiencing the life of the creature transformed into a breathing silk textile.”

“This installation by Izukura is fulfilling his dream to create a large site-specific installation for the Schaefer,” said Gallery Director Neida Bangerter. “It’s an honor to work with this 74-year-old master artist as we engage in the challenges of installing hundreds of yards of woven silk and bamboo. The experience will be transformative, and I think it’s perfect timing for a healing exhibit such as this.”

Izukura works primarily in silk by transforming thread into “wind-like” fabrics. He hand-dyes silk with subtle colors made from natural materials, following a process that is more than 2,000 years old. He also creates a wide range of functional and colorful modern garments with traditional weaving and knitting techniques. Many of his works and couture outfits have been exhibited in New York, Vienna and Copenhagen, according to the MACC.

Born into a family of obi, or sash, weavers, in Japan, Izukura spent time working in the textile business before setting off on his own to research and learn complex ancient structures and techniques of weaving and braiding. Years of work led him to a philosophy of creation that honors sustainability and symbiosis with nature and the silkworm. Whereas the traditional process of silk production often leads to the death of the silk worms, Izukura’s work preserves the life of the worms, according to a Flux Hawaii magazine article about a past exhibit by the artist at Oahu’s Academy of Arts.

The artist uses natural materials to create dyes for his weaves. Photo courtesy Maui Arts & Cultural Center

His current work, Senshoku-do, embodies eight ceremonial methods of dyeing and weaving, techniques stretching back to ancient times and produced through nature.

“Within the handwoven tunnel created by circular movement, I have arranged two pieces: a sphere with a diameter of 2 meters, which was spun by 10,000 silkworms as they rotated their heads, and another sphere which I made out of cocoons,” Izukura said in a statement about the upcoming exhibit. “These are products of nature that I learned about from silkworms. In Hawaii, everything in nature is blessed by the gifts of sun and rainwater, that I was inspired to create the technique I call ‘taiyozome,’ literally ‘sun dyeing,’ a dye method that replaces manmade fire with the power of sunlight alone. What a beautiful fairness there is in nature.”

The MACC has commissioned San Francisco-based composer Christopher Willits to create an ambient sound collage meant to enhance the ambiance and overall feeling of transformation.

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EXHIBIT

Photo of one of his weaves. Photo courtesy Maui Arts & Cultural Center

“Akihiko Izukura: The Way of Natural Textiles” will be on display Jan. 15 through March 19 at the Schaefer International Gallery, open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, as well as before and during intermission for shows in Castle Theater.

Admission is free. For more information, visit www.mauiarts.org.

RELATED EVENTS

• ArT=Mixx: Metamorphosis: 7 to 11 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Yokouchi Pavilion & Courtyard and Schaefer gallery. Held in conjunction with the exhibit, the event will feature Fuzz Box

Productions, DJ Sole from Los Angeles and live performances. Free and open to those 21 and older. Food and beverage will be available for sale throughout the evening. Costumes are encouraged.

Textile artist Akihiko Izukura created this silk installation in Keihanna Memorial Park in Japan. The master of dyeing and weaving will present “The Way of Natural Textiles” at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center starting Jan. 15. Photo courtesy MACC

• Observe and Play Family Day: 10 a.m. to noon March 4. This event offers a walk-through of the installation in the gallery with a live performance by composer Christopher Willits, and a hands-on art-making activity dyeing silk. Free.

• The exhibition is supported in part by the Japan Foundation, the Robert E. Black Fund,

the Kent & Polli Smith Family Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Hawai’i Tourism Authority and County of Maui Office of Economic Development.

 

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