Tag: Asian Art

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Write Around PAM: Yoshida Fujio

Nasturtium, Yoshida Fujio, 14 ¾ x 9 5/8, color woodblock print on paper. A vertical, rectangular print depicting an abstract, closeup view of a nasturtium flower’s petals. Undulating swirls of reds, rusts, yellows and green over a white background fill the print. Starting at top, a large petal folds over itself from the left towards the center. The petal is composed of stripes of yellows, peach, and rust that meet at a point toward the center leaving a large white teardrop shape and a crescent shape in white. At right, a large petal bows towards the center of the print in deep peach and red hues. Its shape is mirrored at left with another petal meeting the other at center in similar colors. Another large teardrop shape is positioned at bottom center. The overall effect is one of swirling, organic shapes and colors

As young children we are often asked what our favorite color is. Colors are some of the first words we learn and they help us describe the world around us. And while we may no longer commit to a “favorite” color, we recognize when we’re drawn to hues and how they make us feel. Colors…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Iwami Reika

“Iwami Reika passed away earlier this year, at the age of 93. I’ve been reflecting on her body of work for several months, and with rain pouring down in Portland today, the memory of wildfire smoke still fresh, her ‘Song of Water’ feels like an appropriate celebration of the drips and sloshes and susurrations. Iwami…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Comb Chest

Comb Chest, 11 1/8 in x 10 1/2 in x 11 5/8 inches, persimmon wood with white brass (baekdong) fittings. A photo of a wooden, cube-shaped chest with numerous brass fittings decorating its edges. The chest is a warm brown with dark graining. On the front of the chest, near the top, is a latch in the shape of a turtle on a large smooth plate. The top of the latch is in the shape of the turtle’s head and is attached to the lid by a horizontal hinge. Below the plate, there are two, small drawers adjacent to each other, each with a flat, round pull with a small tail at the bottom pointing toward the outside edge of the chest. Below these drawers is a long drawer with a pull in the shape of a stylized bat, its wings outstretched. The edges of the chest are embellished with triangular fittings that have scalloped edges and tiny, pierced holes. The fittings sit over the corners and edges of the chest at right angles. The chest sits on raised feet connected by a decorative apron.

When crisis strikes, as it has in Oregon over these last weeks with wildfires ravaging communities and smoke blanketing the state, we are reminded of what is most important to us: family, friends, community, pets, items that hold memories and carry meaning, and more. This Comb Chest evokes this same feeling for us: of treasuring…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Yoshida Chizuko

En no chōtachi (Garden of Butterflies), Yoshida Chizuko, 18 1/8 x 13 1/2 inches; sheet: 26 x 19 5/8 inches, color woodblock print with metallic pigment on paper. A vertical, rectangular print showing a mass of butterflies in black, blues, white, and gray over a silver metallic and yellow foliage patterned background. The butterflies are massed mostly in the center of the work leaving a border around them at the edges. They vary in type, color, size, and position. Most prominently, there is a white butterfly with black dotted wings at two o’clock, two in shades of turquoise and pale blue at center that overlap and above them is a black butterfly with pale-blue striped wings. They are surrounded by many others seen from the front with wings spread, from the side, and from above. They vary in pattern from dots to stripes to fine lines to intricately patterned wings. This mass of butterflies is superimposed over a dense, silver metallic foliage printed on paper that begins as pale beige and deepens to a bright yellow as it approaches the bottom of the print.

As summer days start their slow slide into fall, we’re lingering here in the light and shadows of Yoshida Chizuko’s En no chōtachi (Garden of Butterflies), noticing the intricate beauty in small things, and feeling and appreciating the abundance of nature. In both our art and writing, we can enter into the natural world more…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Utagawa Hiroshige

Fukagawa Susaki and Jūmantsubo, No. 107 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, Utagawa Hiroshige, 13 3/16 in x 8 3/4 inches, color woodblock print on paper. A vertical, rectangular print showing a large bird of prey in flight with its head down and wings spread wide as flies over the land below. The bird fills the upper third of the print and is rendered in black and gray feathers with long plumage on the head. The wing on the right dips down to the lower part of the print and its talons can be seen at upper left under the bird. Below are a mountain range with two peaks and a forested landscape that meets a calm blue sea. Simple tree shapes and small hills are depicted in black on creamy, white ground with pale blue used for shading. The sea is also pale blue that gradually deepens at the bottom of the print. Simple black lines show shallow waves. “Fukagawa Susaki and one hundred thousand tsubo” in Japanese is printed in black ink in a green square cartouche with cloud-pattern ground at upper right. One hundred thousand tsubos is about 33 hectares. To the right of this is a red rectangular cartouche that reads “one hundred views of famous places of Edo” in Japanese and is printed in black ink. The artist’s signature appears at far left center in a red rectangular cartouche and reads “picture (by) Hiroshige.

Writing allows us the chance to gain new perspective to write about our own experiences, or to step into someone else’s. This week, we invite you to spend some time with this piece by Utagawa Hiroshige and see what new perspectives it might offer you. Before or after you write, take some time to learn…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Lee Chunghie

Lee Chunghie, Bojagi, 30x28 5/8 inches, silk and screen print. A square textile composed of varied rectangular shapes in blues, pinks, mauve, burgundy, greens, and gold. Stitching creates dark, thin lines between the transparent fabric scraps giving the work the look of a patchwork quilt. Some blocks of fabric are set side by side, some parallel to each other. A few of the blocks, like the blue and burgundy, have partial patterns visible, such as stripes and circular designs. Almost all of the fabric has a rippled effect to the weave. Some transparent fabric blocks continue beyond the square along with thin ribbons that trail off the edges of the work. Threads and ribbon ends are visible throughout.

“Fiber artist Lee Chunghie transforms the traditional Korean textile form known as bojagi into wearable art and wall installations. Bojagi became popular in the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) as a frugal way to repurpose fabric scraps, quilting them together to create new and often beautiful cloths that could be used for wrapping objects. Lee’s practice recognizes…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Tōdaiji Scriptorium

A photograph of a rectangular scroll composed of horizontal bands. Brown bands, top and bottom, appear to be of woven cloth, the top band composing about a third of the overall work. The bottom band is half the top’s width. At center is the indigo band with 56 rows of silver inked calligraphy sandwiched between the mottled metallic foil bands. At the very top are two loops for hanging and at bottom a dowel can be seen at the scroll’s edge.

“The Avatamsaka (or Flower Garland) sutra is one of the best-known texts of Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia, describing a radiant, mystical universe of infinite realms. This fragment was created in the 740s as part of a set of sixty scrolls of the Avatamsaka sutra for Tōdaiji, the Great Eastern Temple of Nara. Elegantly calligraphed…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Kim Yikyung

A photograph of soft-white, spherical-shaped jar that is subtly elongated vertically. It has a raised, upright lip that flares ever so slightly on a wide mouth. The base or foot is narrower than the mouth but mirrors its simple shape. Subtle striations run horizontally around the body of the jar giving the appearance of very faint texture. The jar is pictured against a gray background.

“Artist Kim Yikyung draws inspiration from Korea’s ceramic past in her work, particularly the pristine white porcelains of the Joseon period (1392–1910). This moon jar, a signature shape of late-Joseon pottery, was created by throwing two large bowls that are then luted together and completed with a strong foot. Typical of Kim Yikyung’s practice, it…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Bactrian Camel

Sculpture of a camel viewed in profile facing left, its head thrown back, with mouth open, teeth and tongue visible. It has a small ear and round beige colored eye opened wide. All four legs are visible from the side view; the legs behind one step ahead of those closest to the viewer. Its body, neck, and head are smooth and are glazed in medium to light brown tones. In some areas the glazing appears streaky and drippy; a band of dark brown rings the camel’s neck at its base. Deep incising creates longish, shaggy fur in a creamy beige color on the camel’s head, mane, and underside of the neck running down to its torso. A deep green blanket in the shape of a half circle covers the camel’s back. Two furry textured humps protrude through two openings of the blanket. A multitude of creamy beige dots decorate the blanket and appear runny on the green background. It is edged with a fringe alternating between dark brown, creamy beige, and deep green. The camel’s foreleg has tufts of creamy beige, shaggy fur at the top. The camel stands on sturdy looking, knobbly legs ending in large wide hooves that appear rough and unglazed and are attached to an uneven, rough, unglazed, rectangular base resting on a modern wooden platform.

“This expressive camel, with its head thrown back, makes a bellowing cry that seems relevant to these times. Bactrian camels were often part of a larger set of funerary sculptures in Tang dynasty China. As symbols of prosperity manifested through the Silk Road trade routes, camels would have been placed with other ceramic figurines in…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Subok Screen

The entire composition of this screen consists of variations on the Chinese characters for longevity (壽, su) and good fortune (福, bok), arranged in alternating horizontal and vertical rows. The characters are written with astonishing variety, drawing on a repertoire of archaic scripts used in China as far back as the fifteenth century BCE. Making witty reference to the pictographic origin of Chinese writing, some of the symbols incorporate stylized drawings of fish, birds, plants, or constellations.

“Two auspicious characters, meaning longevity and good fortune, repeat in seemingly endless variation as the main design of this Korean textile screen. Across ten panels, with three columns of eleven characters each, the characters su 壽 and bok 福 are embroidered in brightly colored silk floss on a plain silk ground. The color in this…  Read more