it's december 17th and i am feeling very, very fortunate for all that has come to life these past few months.
i begin japanese class next month at the northern california japan society.
i look forward to throwing myself at this and opening new doors that only this kind of exercise can yield.
i discovered some new images online today of the japan exhibition at freeshamamatsu.tumblr.com.
seeing these images made my day.
they are wonderfully framed and the light in this special space is so enchanting.
here is the link to the images:
http://freeshamamtsu.tumblr.com/post/103863355576/ruth-kneass-and-llane-alexis-exhibition-curated-by
the show is up through christmas, so if you have friends or family able to visit the show, please encourage them to visit curators cube, tokyo.
i will be sad to see it all come down as this has been the experience of a lifetime !
thank you, shin nakahara & your amazing family at curators cube & landscape products.
you people have brightened my life in so many ways.
in the bright future:
i intend to return to japan soon and practice my humble japanese !
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Saturday, November 15, 2014
hello
hello,
I
wrote this entry on the day after the reception, but did not have a moment to
post it til now, from home in Oakland.
written 11.8
it
is my first rainy day here and the show is underway.
the
reception was so 'wonder full' !
so
many, many interesting people with such kind unexpected impressions of the
work.
word
has it that there were nearly 400 people here that evening !
the
folks at Landscape Products, the gallery's parent company, seemed delighted
with the outcome.
the
reception was catered by Eatrip, one of the most beloved restaurants here in
Japan.
the
offering was ROBUST, a spring roll like pancake piled high – as you like it - with
a huge array of goodies, pork, chicken, fine haystacks of crunchy veggies,
tender strips of shitake mushrooms, cilantro, a sauteed leek-like scallion and
many other ingredients i could not identify by name, but made for a delicious
confection !
100's
were served a stand-up dinner that evening !
and
the booze - many cocktails being lovingly mixed, of which many were of
traditional mood enhancing libations from Amami Oshima that Matt & Shin
shipped from our stay in Amami - this helped bring our Amami experience to the
Tokyo family - many of whom explained to me how fortunate i am to have had
visited this remote, considered mythic island ! so many said that they had
never been there in their lifetimes.
I
feel so fortunate.
I
will return there one day soon.
I
would like to live and work there.
i
loved Amami and feel soooo fortunate to have floated in that deep blue water,
combed the white coral carpeted beaches & had the rich experience of
working in the Dorozome (mud dye) compound along side Yukihito.
the
whole thing was like a dream.
thank
you, Shin, Matt & Yuki !
(
:
oh,
and the gentleman that set up the opening reception bar - Genta - wow - what an
amazing guy.
tall
& quite distinguished - a huge shock of rust colored hair & beard -
dressed so handsomely, straight out of some righteous haberdashery !
the reception attendance: my
Banana associates came, many editors, a tall beautiful Japanese actress,
Mikako Ichikawa, architects, designers, woodworkers, chefs, office workers, illustrators - so may made
there way to see our show.
the
day after the party a tall gentlemen arrived at the gallery and chose 2 mobiles
to purchase.
I
was so happy, but a little sad as one of them was my favorite – called “space”.
I
had saved special pieces of wood for years & years & finally created
this mobile.
I
hope that he enjoys them both ( :
i was not able to take time to take a lot of photos, but here are some from friends & also friends i have not met yet that i found on Instagram.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Okay, it is day nine!
Where has all the time gone?
I cannot believe what has transpired in the last many days.
After doing the dying in Amami Oshima we flew to Kagoshima, the birthplace of my host in gallery owner, Shin Nakahara
It was amazing.
We met the boys that have become everyone's favorite dream team at Rariku Ramen. Three 27-year-old boys are farm to the table Ramen magicians.
Yosei is the farmer of the 3 and works to grow the food only 1 hour away from the downtown restaurant with his 85 year old grandfather.
That was my most delicious, most simple, most hard to describe meal.
That days travel was a little hectic and we arrived very late 4 PM forthis ramen meal and they were closed.
They heard our voices outside and opened the restaurant for Matt Llane Yoko and I - they love this posse - Yoko documented their visit to Oakland's Ramen Shop to share their wisdom with Sam & his crew in CA.
Matt created their handsome beyond rivited selvage denim aprons - chow - so sexy ( :
Yoko joined us in Amami.
She is a lovely spirit and a very gifted photographer who runs around with Shin Matt and Llane to capture moments that would otherwise be unbelievable.
We met up with them 6 hours later, after they served ramen to a hungry Kagoshima crowd, at a super funky cafe/bar called Paradise where a tall knock out of a rootsie gal cooks late night for her Ramen warrior friends.
We spent that day and the next in Kagoshima.
Day two and Kagoshima was amazing.
Shins modest 1970s apartment building apartment was so groovy :-) hard to give the details but suffice it to say a little Basil, a little Fletcher - i know fun combination ( :
We went to have coffee in the most beautiful old cabineted darkwood coffee/tea house. It was amazing - every ceramic - every basket on display an artifact and relic and something you wanted to try to leave with.
There we met a man named Jun. He is Shin's main man on his homeland island.
Jun is a major homeboy. A man in his 30s who dresses like a man from the 40s and has never left his island home - hence the nickname i gave him, homeboy.
He drives a 1965 Morris Minor - fully equipped with a track cassette player.
When I found out that he would be our chauffeur for the rest of the afternoon I squealed with delight ! : )
Jun is quiet and has a sly smile.
He rolled us through the amazing beautiful beautiful beautiful dense Evergreen and bamboo forests of Kagoshima listening to Jose Feliciano with the wind in our hair in this funky little car like a magic carpet ride or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - you pick.
We climbed up & up to an appointment Shin had to keep that day at a custom-made shoe shop.
A little wooden Hantzel and Gretel house up in the bamboo forest above the city below.
realy.
This dude was the real deal.
Another young man in his 30s working the leather and the vibram and the crêpe anyway you want.
Shoes custom made the old-fashioned way, but in any style - contemporary or not - whatever you want. I guess you know already, I left having ordered a pair of new boots. He liked my 15-year-old desert/lunar trooper boots, but he is creating something new and special for me. He took at least 15 measurements with a tiny slender tape measure and kind of funny little molded contraptions for the heel etc.
It was amazing they will be veg tan with a brass zipper - they will go halfway up my calf, because he's never ventured further than 8 inches from the ground ( :
I trust they will be my new best friends. That evening we flew back to Tokyo.
The very next morning we hit the ground running. There I have a ground crew of four guys that are all amazing - I mean incredible - they all work for Landscape Products, Shin's company, and have stepped away from their normal responsibilities to do anything and everything I need and of course there is TJARN.
I really have no words to to express what he has done and IS doing.
The set up Tuesday was going smoothly but I began to melt down like a Claudette candle.
I just became overwhelmed seeing all the work in one space and the thought of how it all came to be - with everyone's gracious support.
Moving that wood and those stones from Colorado from storage in London - in and out of so many spaces: Beth's basement - working nights and mornings and weekends - working in Tjarn's back yard - nights and mornings and weekends - working at Espenet studio nights and mornings and weekends & of course at Fletcher's every spare moment - working anywhere that anyone would allow me to chase down my heart's and mind's eye dream.
Oh, oh & on the first day of set-up - here comes Tjarn's father, Takuya !
He made a great effort to be here from Indiana to see my show and of course also his family in Nagoya, mother of 102 & sister, but, the timing, I believe had everything to do with the show & seeing Tjarn and I pull this off !
The two of them are amazing and have enchanted everyone here.
They are so awesome. I really can't say that enough.
They are now 2 stories below me in our little humble apt. bldg.
Waiting for me to come to breakfast.
The show opens today.
I ain't done with the set - up & need to grab the lovely breakfast that Tjarn makes for me each day.
I am so very fortunate.
The show looks so handsome & enchanting !
WOW.
xoxo
Where has all the time gone?
I cannot believe what has transpired in the last many days.
After doing the dying in Amami Oshima we flew to Kagoshima, the birthplace of my host in gallery owner, Shin Nakahara
It was amazing.
We met the boys that have become everyone's favorite dream team at Rariku Ramen. Three 27-year-old boys are farm to the table Ramen magicians.
Yosei is the farmer of the 3 and works to grow the food only 1 hour away from the downtown restaurant with his 85 year old grandfather.
That was my most delicious, most simple, most hard to describe meal.
That days travel was a little hectic and we arrived very late 4 PM forthis ramen meal and they were closed.
They heard our voices outside and opened the restaurant for Matt Llane Yoko and I - they love this posse - Yoko documented their visit to Oakland's Ramen Shop to share their wisdom with Sam & his crew in CA.
Matt created their handsome beyond rivited selvage denim aprons - chow - so sexy ( :
Yoko joined us in Amami.
She is a lovely spirit and a very gifted photographer who runs around with Shin Matt and Llane to capture moments that would otherwise be unbelievable.
We met up with them 6 hours later, after they served ramen to a hungry Kagoshima crowd, at a super funky cafe/bar called Paradise where a tall knock out of a rootsie gal cooks late night for her Ramen warrior friends.
We spent that day and the next in Kagoshima.
Day two and Kagoshima was amazing.
Shins modest 1970s apartment building apartment was so groovy :-) hard to give the details but suffice it to say a little Basil, a little Fletcher - i know fun combination ( :
We went to have coffee in the most beautiful old cabineted darkwood coffee/tea house. It was amazing - every ceramic - every basket on display an artifact and relic and something you wanted to try to leave with.
There we met a man named Jun. He is Shin's main man on his homeland island.
Jun is a major homeboy. A man in his 30s who dresses like a man from the 40s and has never left his island home - hence the nickname i gave him, homeboy.
He drives a 1965 Morris Minor - fully equipped with a track cassette player.
When I found out that he would be our chauffeur for the rest of the afternoon I squealed with delight ! : )
Jun is quiet and has a sly smile.
He rolled us through the amazing beautiful beautiful beautiful dense Evergreen and bamboo forests of Kagoshima listening to Jose Feliciano with the wind in our hair in this funky little car like a magic carpet ride or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - you pick.
We climbed up & up to an appointment Shin had to keep that day at a custom-made shoe shop.
A little wooden Hantzel and Gretel house up in the bamboo forest above the city below.
realy.
This dude was the real deal.
Another young man in his 30s working the leather and the vibram and the crêpe anyway you want.
Shoes custom made the old-fashioned way, but in any style - contemporary or not - whatever you want. I guess you know already, I left having ordered a pair of new boots. He liked my 15-year-old desert/lunar trooper boots, but he is creating something new and special for me. He took at least 15 measurements with a tiny slender tape measure and kind of funny little molded contraptions for the heel etc.
It was amazing they will be veg tan with a brass zipper - they will go halfway up my calf, because he's never ventured further than 8 inches from the ground ( :
I trust they will be my new best friends. That evening we flew back to Tokyo.
The very next morning we hit the ground running. There I have a ground crew of four guys that are all amazing - I mean incredible - they all work for Landscape Products, Shin's company, and have stepped away from their normal responsibilities to do anything and everything I need and of course there is TJARN.
I really have no words to to express what he has done and IS doing.
The set up Tuesday was going smoothly but I began to melt down like a Claudette candle.
I just became overwhelmed seeing all the work in one space and the thought of how it all came to be - with everyone's gracious support.
Moving that wood and those stones from Colorado from storage in London - in and out of so many spaces: Beth's basement - working nights and mornings and weekends - working in Tjarn's back yard - nights and mornings and weekends - working at Espenet studio nights and mornings and weekends & of course at Fletcher's every spare moment - working anywhere that anyone would allow me to chase down my heart's and mind's eye dream.
Oh, oh & on the first day of set-up - here comes Tjarn's father, Takuya !
He made a great effort to be here from Indiana to see my show and of course also his family in Nagoya, mother of 102 & sister, but, the timing, I believe had everything to do with the show & seeing Tjarn and I pull this off !
The two of them are amazing and have enchanted everyone here.
They are so awesome. I really can't say that enough.
They are now 2 stories below me in our little humble apt. bldg.
Waiting for me to come to breakfast.
The show opens today.
I ain't done with the set - up & need to grab the lovely breakfast that Tjarn makes for me each day.
I am so very fortunate.
The show looks so handsome & enchanting !
WOW.
xoxo
Friday, October 31, 2014
day 3 japan
woke early to warm temperature, but a greyer sky.
halloween - but not here - no observance.
first stop - the ocean - back floating - under a grey morning sky - no waves to contend with just effortless floating and letting the rhythm of the ocean carry me.
while the tears streamed down my temples.
tears of true joy.
floating - floating - breathing.
no one in the water but me.
wow.
breakfast served in a large wood bungalow adjacent to our building - facing the ocean - low benches - very large low table - cushions and lots of fresh air and light.
EXCELLENT coffee with cream - potato soup - yes soup for breakfast - 2 small fresh dinner roll type buns - butter - marmalade - sliced pealed dragon fruit and mandarin orange.
lovely young god woman with more of a tibetan face inn keeper serving us with light beaming out of her otherworldly face - the bungalow double wide doors wide open to the morning rain and breeze.
then off to an amazing dye facility where we spent all day dyeing all the pieces for the 2nd floor marketplace for the show - including a dress that i had made out of mom's cotton kitchen clothes.
a very specialized process - dorozome or 'mud dye' - achieved through many very specific stages.
a hand made steel cage - the size of a cement mixer - full of local hard wood chips that are burnt down to ash and cooked into a mulch - this mixes with an iron & steel rich volcanic soil that creates a very fine mud in a pond outside the dye studio.
hard to explain - but a series of metal vats and huge ladles and gentle dipping massaging & squeezing - soak after soak - yields a wide range of browns to greys and blue also if the aisome or indigo dye is added.
it was pouring rain at the dye studio and we were working away with windows and doors wide open.
more of the same tomorrow and then we are off to Kagoshima to see Shin's hometown, the volcanoe and an arts festival - spend one night there - all before flying back to Tokyo to get the show up in 2.5 days !
tonight i swam alone in the rain.
aaaaahmazing.
shallow for a very long way out - white sandy bottom - and plenty of salt in the water to make back-floating totally effortless.
i have not spent this much time in the ocean since i was 28 living in the British Virgin Islands !
then drove for miles in the dark and pouring rain for a VERY local - very traditional Amami supper of EVERY fish imaginable.
home now writing this snapshot of our day.
oh & before i hit the sack we toured a little at lunch time and saw thousands of the prehistoric trees called cycad trees.
a brutal - stout - graphic palm like tree.
all you can think of is dinosaurs when you see them.
they are gorgeous !
love what i am being exposed to - such a HUGE privilege,
love to all my family back home, chi
woke early to warm temperature, but a greyer sky.
halloween - but not here - no observance.
first stop - the ocean - back floating - under a grey morning sky - no waves to contend with just effortless floating and letting the rhythm of the ocean carry me.
while the tears streamed down my temples.
tears of true joy.
floating - floating - breathing.
no one in the water but me.
wow.
breakfast served in a large wood bungalow adjacent to our building - facing the ocean - low benches - very large low table - cushions and lots of fresh air and light.
EXCELLENT coffee with cream - potato soup - yes soup for breakfast - 2 small fresh dinner roll type buns - butter - marmalade - sliced pealed dragon fruit and mandarin orange.
lovely young god woman with more of a tibetan face inn keeper serving us with light beaming out of her otherworldly face - the bungalow double wide doors wide open to the morning rain and breeze.
then off to an amazing dye facility where we spent all day dyeing all the pieces for the 2nd floor marketplace for the show - including a dress that i had made out of mom's cotton kitchen clothes.
a very specialized process - dorozome or 'mud dye' - achieved through many very specific stages.
a hand made steel cage - the size of a cement mixer - full of local hard wood chips that are burnt down to ash and cooked into a mulch - this mixes with an iron & steel rich volcanic soil that creates a very fine mud in a pond outside the dye studio.
hard to explain - but a series of metal vats and huge ladles and gentle dipping massaging & squeezing - soak after soak - yields a wide range of browns to greys and blue also if the aisome or indigo dye is added.
it was pouring rain at the dye studio and we were working away with windows and doors wide open.
more of the same tomorrow and then we are off to Kagoshima to see Shin's hometown, the volcanoe and an arts festival - spend one night there - all before flying back to Tokyo to get the show up in 2.5 days !
tonight i swam alone in the rain.
aaaaahmazing.
shallow for a very long way out - white sandy bottom - and plenty of salt in the water to make back-floating totally effortless.
i have not spent this much time in the ocean since i was 28 living in the British Virgin Islands !
then drove for miles in the dark and pouring rain for a VERY local - very traditional Amami supper of EVERY fish imaginable.
home now writing this snapshot of our day.
oh & before i hit the sack we toured a little at lunch time and saw thousands of the prehistoric trees called cycad trees.
a brutal - stout - graphic palm like tree.
all you can think of is dinosaurs when you see them.
they are gorgeous !
love what i am being exposed to - such a HUGE privilege,
love to all my family back home, chi
Thursday, October 30, 2014
I am on my gorgeous tiny island now after a "beyond chalk full" first day in Tokyo !
Words cannot express just how beautiful it is in Amami Oshima ! !
WHOA !
White coral everywhere !
My room is on the beach with a balcony and a vast, endless ocean view.
This little inn is so precious - with a capacity of only 6 ( :
Rustic.
Everything so spare and gorgeous.
Shin Nakahara, my gracious gallerist and new friend, arranged for all of this.
We share a large suite with a central room and then our private rooms forking off from there.
We are the 3 main contributors to the show:
Ruth
Matt
Llane
& Shin
Here.
The first thing we did was frolic in the water !
Indigo blue, really a deep gorgeous blue.
With white coral everywhere on the beach !
Very pooped, but can hear the steady back and forth of the waves a stones throw away, with a very distant horizon towards my California coast.
It's been a long wonder full day !
Jet lagged and must sleep.
Love this amazing country very much,
Nitey nite,
chi
Words cannot express just how beautiful it is in Amami Oshima ! !
WHOA !
White coral everywhere !
My room is on the beach with a balcony and a vast, endless ocean view.
This little inn is so precious - with a capacity of only 6 ( :
Rustic.
Everything so spare and gorgeous.
Shin Nakahara, my gracious gallerist and new friend, arranged for all of this.
We share a large suite with a central room and then our private rooms forking off from there.
We are the 3 main contributors to the show:
Ruth
Matt
Llane
& Shin
Here.
The first thing we did was frolic in the water !
Indigo blue, really a deep gorgeous blue.
With white coral everywhere on the beach !
Very pooped, but can hear the steady back and forth of the waves a stones throw away, with a very distant horizon towards my California coast.
It's been a long wonder full day !
Jet lagged and must sleep.
Love this amazing country very much,
Nitey nite,
chi
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
i am in japan !
day 1:
the gallery is epic.
made me think of lower east side - 1980's some friend's art opening - wabi wonderful.
- painted over pipes, funky architecture, great neighborhood vibe - NOT FANCY - soulful and my idea of perfect.
i am so excited for the mix of stuff he has pulled from many artists - "i'd shop there" !
above the marketplace is the gallery's enchanted 3rd story studio apartment, with more of the same soulful flavor and light, then up again to an office and a make shift bar......
day 1:
the gallery is epic.
made me think of lower east side - 1980's some friend's art opening - wabi wonderful.
- painted over pipes, funky architecture, great neighborhood vibe - NOT FANCY - soulful and my idea of perfect.
it's llane's midcentury silk & linen braided stools and my sea of sculpture in there.
the curator's cube gallery is cozy, but the tall sliding glass windows that march across the entire face of the building open up the sense of space out onto the sidewalk.
there's
a tiny tight stair case at the back of the gallery that leads up to the
well lit marketplace space where matt will create his store of kurta's,
incense, ceramics & my talismen pieces.the curator's cube gallery is cozy, but the tall sliding glass windows that march across the entire face of the building open up the sense of space out onto the sidewalk.
i am so excited for the mix of stuff he has pulled from many artists - "i'd shop there" !
above the marketplace is the gallery's enchanted 3rd story studio apartment, with more of the same soulful flavor and light, then up again to an office and a make shift bar......
it meanders and charms.
the opening reception will have folks winding up & down from "story to story".
it's gonna be a lot of work to set up & a lot of fun - that all begins next tuesday.
the support crew that was there to greet me mid day today - all work for landscape products & they are ALL BROS !
Kata,Yo, Kenji & Tatsuya.
they were painting all matt's fixturing, wrapping up the SF General Store show & awaiting our arrival and planning session.
we went straight to Tokyu Hands for all the gear we need to get this show "off of the ground".
Tokyu Hands is 13 stories of what they call a 'Creative Life Store'.
it
was a wonderland of every conceivable tool, art supplies, dime store
notions, packaging materials, leather craft stuff, fabrics, masks - a
dream depot for folks that DO shit.
i have landed in a very magical place and in the
inspired and capable hands of Shin Nakahara.
off
to the airport tomorrow 8am to 2 climb aboard 2 planes to ultimately
arrive at Amami Oshima where we will beach comb & dye goods for the
party at an historic dye compound specializing in indigo & mud dye.
there's
2 nights there & then 2 nights in Kagoshima, Shin's birthplace,
with a very active puffing volcano and an ebonized kind of driftwood
that is supposed to perhaps yield another piece for the show - if time
allows me to assemble something new........we will see.
so jet lagged, so turned on by all this,
loving the journey and the adventure of it all,
loving the journey and the adventure of it all,
love to you !
chi
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
hello out there,
it has been a long time since i was on my blog.
life has been so full up that i forgot i even had a blog.
no kidding.
i am headed to Japan now for an exhibition of my sculpture.
the show is at Curator's Cube in Tokyo.
it runs 11/6 through 12/25.
i have always wanted a show in Japan.
i am thrilled and have worked very hard to share a special story in a very beautiful country, though i have never been there, i know that i will find it beautiful.
more soon.
it has been a long time since i was on my blog.
life has been so full up that i forgot i even had a blog.
no kidding.
i am headed to Japan now for an exhibition of my sculpture.
the show is at Curator's Cube in Tokyo.
it runs 11/6 through 12/25.
i have always wanted a show in Japan.
i am thrilled and have worked very hard to share a special story in a very beautiful country, though i have never been there, i know that i will find it beautiful.
more soon.
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