Tracy McCabe Stewart - Contemporary Fiber

I ventured out to the monthly flea market held at Toji temple.  I didn’t really take pictures of the flea market; too weird in that close quarters with people.  It was pretty darn big, though.  Rows and rows of people selling everything from used kimono and pottery to plants, to food.  I had a blast and bought two plainer kimono for $12.  Flea markets are one of the only places in Japan where haggling is acceptable.

I did go visit the temple and garden, which was really gorgeous.  I even managed to see the monks at prayer, which was pretty special, too.  The temple consists of numerous buildings and they go pray at each of them.  I couldn’t take pictures of the temple interiors; these are active places of worship.  They had some really spectacular Buddhas in them.  Here are pictures of the exteriors.  I ADORE the Japanese architecture:

Five Tiered Pagoda (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Garden Lantern (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Garden Pond (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Turtle Mania! (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Another of the Shrine Buildings (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Architecture close up (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Another Architecture Close up (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Monks going to Prayer (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

That’s the flea market behind the monks.

More Falls (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Hi all,

While Ashley and I were up around Mt. Fuji, we went to see Itchiku Kubota’s astounding kimono.  Fueled by Japanese fast food these things I call rice balls:

Behold, the Japanese Rice Ball Thingie. Yum!

I sure wish I could post pictures of the actual work, but no photos were allowed in the exhibit.  I did take lots of pictures of his lovely gardens and have posted them below.  There are more lovely photos of his gardens here.

Itchiku was inspired by a piece of 17th century textiles (tsujikahana)  and vowed he would figure out how it was created and reproduce the technique.  He did that and then some; creating an amazing body of work called the “Symphony of Light”.  Read more about it here.  Much of the series was inspired by the incredible sunsets he saw while he was a prisoner of war held in Siberia.  He talks about how the sunsets gave him something to live for.   He died before the series’ completion, but his apprentices still carry out his work today.  Here’s a link to a 3 minute video of his work.  It has lovely footage of the kimono and a few scenes of his museum, which is a work of art in itself. 

Each kimono represents a year’s work by numerous people.  I have many books of his work, including Kimono as Art which has exquisite photos of his work.  even with all these books, I was surprised at how textural his kimono are.  There is actually very little stitching on them.  All of the work is painstakingly created through the dye process.  when the kimono fabris is untied after many, many dyeings, many of the folds are left in place as texture on the piece.  All of the kimono stand alone as works of art, as well as being part of a larger landscape.

I know many artists who have a “big picture” feel to their work and many who excel at detail.  I have seen very few who have had to be so good at both.  He is the only living artist to ever be shown at the Smithsonian.  I had more than a few tears in my eye looking at this work and hearing about his life.   What an amazing artist.

Anyway, here are some shots of his lovely gardens:

Entry Gates to the Garden (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Detail of Entry Gate (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Garden Path (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Falls (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Garden Pond (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Funky Garden Seating (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Garden Falls in front of the museum (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Monkeys were on the loose! We only saw a tail.

Another Beautiful Gate (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

on another note, the train station had these creepy fairies guarding it.  No explanation anywhere:

Creepy train station fairies (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

and a close up:

Creepy Fairy Close Up (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

Off to Kyoto tomorrow!

Remember that movie “Romancing the Stone” that starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner?  It was probably out some time in the 80′s.  Anyway, Kathleen Turner’s character goes to Columbia to try to save her sister.  She is trying to get to Cartegena, and has been steered to the wrong bus, it crashes and people are leaving the bus to go on with their lives.  She is left standing in the middle of nowhere with a gigantic suitcase.   She asks Michael Douglas how to get to Cartgena.  He replies, “Angel, you are hell and gone from Cartgena”. 

I kept having flashes of that scene while Ashley and I tried to get from Kobe to the Five Lakes Region around Mt. Fuji.  Change the country and that’s us, complete with Ginormo, the giant suitcase.   Our directions from the travel agent were to take a bullet train to a specific station and transfer to another train line to get to Mt. Fuji.  We got through the first leg and found that the train line to Mt. Fuji didn’t come within 30 miles of the station we were currently standing in.  Thank God that kid of mine speaks Japanese.  After numerous exchanges with train personnel, she located a bus we could take to get to our hotel.

We didn’t have enough cash for the bus, so wandered around for a while trying to find an ATM that took foreigh credit cards.  We finally found a 7-11 with a machine that we figured out after about 10 tries.  At this time, we decided it must be cocktail hour and added booze to our supply list.

This is Ginormo.  I have been hauling this 50 pound suitcase up and down stairs all day.  Don’t ever let people talk you into “bringing a few things over for them”

Ginormo, the Giant Suitcase

Anyway, 2 hours on a bus later we get to our hotel.  we have dinner and are too tired to even drink the booze we bought.  We do try on the Yukata that are provided in all Japanese hotel rooms.  Aren’t we cute?

The tired Yukata twins (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

They have had a freak snowstorm and when I look out my window in the morning, I see this:

Snowy Day 2 (C) Tracy McCabe Stewart

and this:

More Snowy Day (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

and this:

More snow (C) Tracy McCabe Stewart

We are totally unprepared for snow.  Ashley has a pair of girly, city shoes and I have only packed a jean jacket.

Ashley's Girly Shoes

Thankfully, it all pretty much melted that morning and it turned out just fine.  I got to see these beautiful gardens in snow and see the cherry blossoms when it had thawed.  I missed most of the cherry blossoms at the lower altitude, but this area is up about 2000 feet and they were still here in all of there glory.

Cherry blossoms in the hotel garden (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

a close up:

Cheery Blossom close up (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

The hotel is on Lake Komoguchi, in the middle of a National Park and they had an observatory at the top of the hotel with wonderful views: 

Out the other side of the hotel is a spectacular view of My. Fuji.  At the end of the day, When the clouds cleared a bit,  I managed to get a picture of the top:

Top of Mt. Fuji (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

and a bit broader a view:

Mt. Fuji (c) Tracy McCabe Stewart

We went to see the exquisite kimono of Itciku Kubota later that day.  They didn’t allow photos in the museum, but I got lots of shots of the gardens.  I’ll try to post them as soon as I can.

This book has the most beautiful photos of THE most exquisite textiles that I have ever seen in my life.  Whether you are an artist or not, working in fiber or not, you will be moved by the beauty of his work.  He has a series of kimono based on the seasons that is unbelieveable.   The artist’s work is now showing in Canton OH, but the pieces featured on the website are really of some of his less special pieces, few of the season series kimono.    Get the book, $31 well spent.  You will thank me!