Japanese art in Ohio, with a Native American embellishment

I took Charna to Oberlin for a college visit on Friday. She went to a couple of classes and spent the night there with a friend; Robin and Steve picked her up Saturday. I went to see a show of Japanese prints at the Allen Museum. The show didn't live up to the promotional email I got about it, but it was OK. More interesting was a show I found out about accidentally: wonderful kimonos by Itchiku Kubota. The show is in Canton Ohio, about an hour and a half from Oberlin, on my way home. I was really awed by the show. Each kimono was an astonishing work of art. I think there were 15 individual pieces and an installation of 30 placed in a semi-circle, each kimono relating in a unique manner to the piece next to it. The designs were created by a kind of stitched tie dye process and embellished in some areas by direct brush painting.

I took an audio book with me for my return trip from Oberlln: The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich, one of my favorite authors. To my amazement there is a story about a woman, MLB, who kept handkerchiefs with tears carefully marked with the occasion for the tears. The first time I heard about this was in the Wintersong blog, which talks about it here; more bits of information about this strange custom.

Comments

[stacie]

I liked the blue hair too on your NY photos...glad the second show was a hit...I love kimono's!

[Mage Bailey]

Hi Ruthe......

I understand that there are days nothing I say is germain to a reader, but I was beginning to think no one read my "Postcards" blog. I discovered that I have over 200 readers, but not noters, on the Day Tripper site. So I'm just pleased to find 47 folks stopping by. :) I was gauging readership by the notes. I was wrong.

Are you warm.

[Mage Bailey]

The photos of New York are really interesting. The Chinese building with the phone numbers is a magic little abstract with the tree limbs combining with the shadows underlying the graffiti. You did that sort of thing several times, and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for taking us along.

[Karen]

Did you get to walk around the campus yourself at all? I was there a couple falls ago, and thought it was pretty. My grandfather, apparently, was the former groundskeeper on campus, and I have a friend who works there now.

[japanese words]

Glad you enjoyed the Kimonos. I still remember my first time in Japan during a large festival. They are beautiful, but I was shocked at the prices.