This was an amazing jam packed day. It is very hard to recollect everything we did, especially after all of the Champagne and Wine. We started out at 7:15 with Yoga on the beach overlooking the South China Sea. Then breakfast and out for the day.
We first went to a weaving coop where the Okinawa government has provided the looms and space for weavers to come and produce textiles. They sell them at a separate location. It is a great way for the local government to promote the island traditions.
We then went up in the hills to a location where there are many local artisans who work in various houses and studios up and down the road. The setting is beautiful, very lush. First we went to a master glass blower. We saw his apprentices create bowl and vases under his very strict eye.
We then went to the first of two different potters: Jissei Omine and Shinman Yamada. We purchased two great vessels one from each. I am sure they will look great in our house.
Betty and her husband invited the group to lunch at their beautiful home. It is located overlooking the South China Sea next to a nature preserve; it is totally isolated with an incredible view. The house itself is extraordinary. It took 9 years to get the permits and construction. The major materials of wood and marble were all shipped in via Seattle. The house is a showplace for the wonderful collection of Asian Artworks but more to the point it is a special refuge for them. It took everyone’s breath away. They provided a great lunch for us.
After lunch we went to an amazing weaver: Michiko Uehara. She is dedicated to weaving the lightest possible transparent textiles. She showed us many examples that are all leaving for an expo in Tokyo. She then showed us the piece that blew our minds. It is shown in the picture. It is a shawl that she wove from a SINGLE SILK WORM. It is over 9 feet long (that tells you how much silk a single worm can create). The entire shawl weighs 3 grams! It literally floats in the air. It is unbelievable!
From there we went to a gallery owned by her husband where we met the artist of a series of paintings that are very political dealing with the violence all around us.
From there we went to Reiko Fujimura textile workshop where they work by applying paste and in hand painting then dyeing the cloth, removing the paste, covering what has been painted with paste and painting another color, then re-dyeing. It is very laborious and complicated process that is famous in Okinawa it is called Bingata.
From there we went to a dealer in rare and precious antique Kimonos who also deals in precious pottery. The Kimonos they showed us were made for royal use.
Dinner was next at a French Restaurant. How it wound up on Okinawa I don’t know, but it was good! We had wine, no Sake!
From there we went to a private dance performance by Takako Satoh and explained by her husband Yamuchi. We saw 4 dances 3 of which were traditional and 1 very modern. It was especially nice to see the very formal courtship dance where one of the central motifs was the small cloth that is presented to a beloved, for we had had seen the same type use of the cloth in the most informal of settings drinking sake late at night under the stars on Iromonte Island. This setting in a beautiful modern dance theater was a very special way to end a great day that Betty created for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment