Outlines
The sculptures I made at Haraizumi are called "outlines". While coordinating my residency at HAP, the director, Yuko, assigned me to exhibit the work I produced at a beautiful, dilapidated temple that neighbored the farm house I stayed in, and had shuttered from lack of patronage as the village lost its residents to cities. I wanted my work to be in conversation with the temple, believed to be over 400 years old, and therefore a witness to Haraizumi's deep past. While the roof structure and exterior decorative elements are full of wave-like shapes and sweeping arches, the inside consists almost entirely of right angles, bisecting lines, and natural wood. I wanted to bring color and shapes from outside, into the temple, to liven it up after being closed for so long. The work is also a play on traditional furniture making techniques, using various joinery methods and very little hardware, which also reflect the construction methods of the temple. When visitors look closely at the work, I hope they will stay to enjoy the fantastic architecture and simple beauty of the temple.
As a woodworker coming to Haraizumi, I had a much simpler set of tools than I am normally used to. I worked with donated, rough-sawn lumber and built the work with a technique called steam bending. I steamed the wood with a kettle, and pressed it into curved molds that I made, which you will see on the North side of the temple. The curves are inspired by the tea fields, rolling hills, clouds, and the Haranoya river that runs through Haraizumi. One of the visiting artists I stayed with said they reminded him of ryousen, which translates roughly to the outline of a mountain. An outline is a framing of what is to be, and to outline is to condense and express an idea or image. This reflected my process for the work.
The second part of the exhibit is woodblock prints inspired by the greater community of Haraizumi. They are portraits through hands, which I continued to carve, print, add onto and give away as gifts throughout the exhibition, as I built relationships and more people and reconnected with old friends and family in the country. Hands have so much personality and can say so much. Each portrait is a way to show my appreciation and gratitude to the generous and hardworking community of Haraizumi.