Japanese Shibori
Guest Artist: Japanese Shibori artist Carol Gustavson
In the Spring of 2011, the ACGC School District was extremely fortunate to get a rare and extensive visit from internationally known Japanese Shibori artist Carol Gustavson. This event spanned about 3 weeks and all students within the district got to create their own Japanese Shibori dyed piece. This event was important because it not only exposed the students to a culturally diverse eastern art form dating back hundreds of years, but also provided some extra enrichment in the areas of english, science and math.
The students were exposed to a whole new vocabulary when the Sensei came and gave a presentation to each class before any of the Shibori dying began. As she spoke about the culture and arts traditional to Japan, she showed many pictures and brought out many examples of the Shibori that she creates using ancient methods which gave the students more understanding of the new vocabulary they were learning. Students had a great time studying the different styles of Shibori, learning new vocabulary words Ne Maki, Kumo, Boshi, Itajime, Hinode, and Karamatsu, to name a few.
Shibori is an art form which comes from the earth. It involves using, at it's simplest form, very basic items; cotton, string, and indigo. There was a science lesson involved when the presentation reached the point where an explanation of how the indigo dying process occured. There is an almost magical quality to the way the indigo oxidizes with the air and creates such lush blue/purple shades. When the dyed Shibori piece is lifted out of the bucket of indigo, it appears to be a murky green color. As the students gently blew on it and waved it around in the air, there is a moment of awe as the piece begins to transform to the trademark indigo shade.
ACGC art students also needed to use their math skills to complete this project. Careful measuring was critical as they stitched their designs into the fabric. If students were knotting their fabric, they had to calculate spacing and how much of the fabric they were bunching up so the pattern would still be even. The richness of the indigo shade that the Shibori piece would have was determined by calculating the length of time that the piece needed to be soaked in the indigo, and if different areas on the piece were to be highlighted more so than others, students had to figure out how to calculate the extra time needed to darken the rest of the piece. They would then need to go back and reconfigure their knots and stitches.
The students were exposed to a whole new vocabulary when the Sensei came and gave a presentation to each class before any of the Shibori dying began. As she spoke about the culture and arts traditional to Japan, she showed many pictures and brought out many examples of the Shibori that she creates using ancient methods which gave the students more understanding of the new vocabulary they were learning. Students had a great time studying the different styles of Shibori, learning new vocabulary words Ne Maki, Kumo, Boshi, Itajime, Hinode, and Karamatsu, to name a few.
Shibori is an art form which comes from the earth. It involves using, at it's simplest form, very basic items; cotton, string, and indigo. There was a science lesson involved when the presentation reached the point where an explanation of how the indigo dying process occured. There is an almost magical quality to the way the indigo oxidizes with the air and creates such lush blue/purple shades. When the dyed Shibori piece is lifted out of the bucket of indigo, it appears to be a murky green color. As the students gently blew on it and waved it around in the air, there is a moment of awe as the piece begins to transform to the trademark indigo shade.
ACGC art students also needed to use their math skills to complete this project. Careful measuring was critical as they stitched their designs into the fabric. If students were knotting their fabric, they had to calculate spacing and how much of the fabric they were bunching up so the pattern would still be even. The richness of the indigo shade that the Shibori piece would have was determined by calculating the length of time that the piece needed to be soaked in the indigo, and if different areas on the piece were to be highlighted more so than others, students had to figure out how to calculate the extra time needed to darken the rest of the piece. They would then need to go back and reconfigure their knots and stitches.