First Friday: Japanese Textiles
Friday, October 5, 2018
Join the International Quilt Study Center & Museum for free admission to the galleries from 4-7 p.m. as part of Lincoln's First Friday Artwalk. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., we will offer lectures on Japanese textiles by Teresa Duryea Wong and Kenichi Kondo.
Teresa Duryea Wong is the author of four books on quilt history, Japanese quilts and American cotton. "American Cotton: Farm to Quilt" will be published in 2019. She travles to Japan often for research and has published two books on Japanese textiles. She travels the U.S. to lecture and has been a guest speaker nationwide. She will present on Japanese maker Yoshiko Jinzenji, a subject of her book "Japanese Contemporary Quilts and Quilters." Her book tells the history of 40 years of quilt making in Japan and how the idea of the quilt was originally imported from America. The book also introduces dozens of talented quilt artists—former painters, graphic artists, seamstresses and homemakers who have made professional careers in quilting—along with antique American quilts and early Japanese quilts.
More than 50 years ago, Kenichi Kondo joined Kurashiki Textile Mill (Kura-bo) where he grew to be a textile engineer with a vision. An encounter with Dacca muslin cotton textile in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London inspired him to dream of someday re-creating the gossamer cotton with automated industrial machines instead of highly skilled Indian artisans who no longer exist. For 22 years he built mills and trained locals in countries where cotton grows, including Brazil, Thailand, and Indonesia. In 1994, he was asked to head the Tokyo Office and Marketing at Taisho Textile Mill (Taisho-bo), thus becoming a creator of organic cotton textiles in Japan where “manufacturing” was losing ground. His dream of developing organic cotton fiber in Japan became a reality since he first learned in 1989 about Sally Fox , the entomologist who developed a more responsible alternative to the chemical-laden cotton-growing industry by inventing Foxfibre Colored Cotton. He believes that fibers grown organically, not only cotton but also other fibers such as cashmere and sheep’s wool, managed in tune with the local ecology, would benefit, not only consumers but also the land, the environment, and the people working in production. Such small scale well engineered industries can create what the hands of skilled artisans once produced — breathable, gentle, practical, and beautiful fiber and textile.
