Shizuko Kimura brought fine art into the craft sphere by way of sketching live models onto fabric using thread and stitching – never from photographs. She stitched fast, capturing the essence of a person rather than a precise anatomical form. This technique created a fragile, poetic and other-worldly body of work which is well reflected in this, the only piece from Shizuko in Crafts Council Collection.
Acquired in 2006, In My Japanese Garden is hand embroidered on light muslin using cotton silk, synthetic and metallic threads, with Kozo paper. At nearly 2.5 metres tall and intended to be hung on wooden poles for exhibition, the work is an opportunity to step into the scene as Shizuko sketched it – her family in their garden at home in Nagoya. With both cats and humans frolicking free, it’s a snapshot of simple pleasures, and her technique captures some of the gentle movements of bodies at ease.
Dafydd: “ The piece appears so fragile and intimate. The artist describes it being the first work undertaken in her home country of Japan. It was also the first time she used her family as artistic subjects. There’s a playfulness which comes from that aspect. To me, their depictions are fleeting, the figures looking as though they’ll fade into the white background. Captures that feeling of youth, home and the memories associated with it. .”
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