岡山県立大学デザイン学部紀要 vol.8 No.I
Work Review
O
f
f
t
h
e
W
a
l
l
幽 passage
t
h
r
o
u
g
h
t
h
e
language o
f
t
a
p
e
s
t
r
i
e
s
-Kumiko Namba Tapestry: 1.A heavy clothwoven withrich,often In the“ untitled”がeceshown on page 1, I havefocusedon
varicolored designs orscenes usuallyhung on wallsfor expressingthe en巴rgiesof coloralone.In thisweaving,I’ve
decoration and sometimesused to cover furniture. encouraged theaudienc巴, theviewer,toactually experience
2.Something resembling a tapestry, as incomplexity. thefullsenseofcolor,ratherthantom巴rely observe it
Tapestrytechnique:・ Thecolorsandshapesofthe pattern are through th巴formsand patterns.To fulfill my intention, the indicatedin a plan
‘
or prelimin訂ydesign, ofthe tap巴stry work was laid out on the floor, ormorespecifically,th巴calledth巴cartoon. (AmericanHeritag巴 Dictionary) weaving was laid on anacrylicsheet,whichwas placedon I have beenalways aware ofthe walls indesigningmy
weavings. Wallswere theessentialandpreliminary element as the background tomy work. I called my weavings"wall
hangings” when I was working intheUnitedStateswhere
the word ”tapestry” strongly maintainstheEuropean
heritage,as defined above.When I moved to Japan I started
to describemy weavingsas”ikat tapestries"ev巴nthough, strictlyspeaking‘I do not usethetapestrytechniqueinmy weaving. Itseems thatpeople inJapan whose connectionto tapestry is notquit巴 as tangibleaspeoples’ in Western
culture,have chosen to callmy works
”
tapestries”
and Ialso have come toacceptthis ambiguous stance between
thewall and my work.
Besid巴s giving my weaving a new classification,tlus Joos巴ning of definitions has resulted ina shift ofmy attention. By referringtomy work m“tapestry”rather than
“wall hanging"my impressionofthe wallbecame less distinじL As this slight distancebetween my weavingand the wallstart巴dtogrow, reflections ofthe audi巴nc巴 began
toemerge more clearlywithinthe settingwhere thewalls 巴mbracethework.
Inth巴白巴ld oftapestry, I understandvisualapp巴al and
recognitionisrathermore critical thanit isfor・“ wall
hangings" by comparison. Placing a tapestry against the wallaccornmodat巴sthe audience bypresenting withintheir field of vision a broader awareness of thetapestryas its colors, imag巴sand texturesentertheey巴.Inthis setting,the wallbecomesthebackdropand provides an opportunity for visualcommunicationbetweenth巴 work,as object, and the audienceas viewer withinthis sharedcontext. Here I find an essentiallanguage oftapestry.
*
NAMBA Kumiko 工芸工業デザイン学科wooden supports 10cm high tocr巴atea visualeffectof floatingonth巴 floor.At the riskofconfusing my audienceI
hav巴 invitedthem tolook atmy work inanothersetting and
tore-examine the meaning oftap巴stryin a different way.
Nonetheless, the displayofmy weaving on the floorwas
acceptedasaneffectivebackdrop much more naturally by
otherswithouta lot ofcontroversy.And soI cam巴 to realiz巴 thatitwas more my own mind thatwas bound by th巴
narrow and rigid definitionof what a textil巴 is.
Throughmy work the audienceatth巴 otherendof our
communication hasbecome mor巴 clearlypositionedin my designprocess than everbefore.I secthisnew perspective as the welcome resultof working among the leading fiber artistsat theOkayama PrefecturalUniversity. Itis here that I haveallowedmyselfto assimilate theirfresh expressionsandsharedsensibilities;todiscovermore flexible forms, while keepingmy allegianceto textile traditions and the techniques ofikatweaving in which I have beenengagedthroughtheyears. The worldoft巴xtiles has beenchanging fluidly and continuously, ashas thefundamental nature of textiles. Sincethe1970’s, the emergence of fiber-art hascreated strong winds across thetextil巴 scene. Ithas notonly
巴stablisheda new fieldofits own bybridgingfin巴 artand
textiles, but has alsotriggered them司examination of
establishedt巴xtiles includingtap巴stry and ikatweaving.I
seehereexciting possibilities emerging fromwithinthe
realm oftraditional I巴xtiles.