Category: Blitherings

Sumi-e Palm Trees, ii

I had hoped to create a video over this past weekend about painting a palm tree, as requested a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately, the flu and other life circumstance (like work!) have gotten in the way.  Just recently I came across the quote by Basho about the pine tree and the bamboo, and it made a lot of sense.  After all, in sumi-e, the point is to catch the spirit of something rather than render it as realistic as possible.  Observing palm trees is possible here in California – we have them in our yard, over the fence, down the street.  They are part of much of our landscaping.  However, for many of us, palm trees are rare and exotic creatures.

Thinking about this, I recalled the American artist Winslow Homer.  His paintings – oil and watercolor – of the Caribbean islands and its inhabitants – came to mind.  Palm trees!  His paintings show them in high wind, in a gentle breeze.  Tall ones, short ones.  If you click on the image below, you will be able to see these in greater detail.

If you really want to learn about palm trees, you can experience them, although perhaps not first hand. Looking at another artist’s work is a good way to learn, and it is traditional in many cultures to copy from the master. It is also possible to find movies with palm trees in them – maybe hit YouTube – as well as to do web searches for photos. For my own painting, I will use the palm trees in my neighborhood, and will provide some pictures as this mini series evolves.

Pine Tree, i

Go to the pine if you want to learn about the pine, or to the bamboo if you want to learn about the bamboo. And in doing so, you must leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Otherwise you impose yourself on the object and do not learn. Your poetry issues of its own accord when you and the object have become one – when you have plunged deep enough into the object to see something like a hidden glimmering there. However well-phrased your poetry may be, if your feeling is not natural – if the object and yourself are separate – then your poetry is not true poetry but merely your subjective counterfeit.

Go to the object. Leave your subjective preoccupation with yourself. Do not impose yourself on the object. Become one with the object. Plunge deep enough into the object to see something like a hidden glimmering there. Your feeling is not natural when the object and yourself are separate. You must become one with the object in order for your poetry to be true.

No matter where your interest lies, you will not be able to accomplish anything unless you bring your deepest devotion to it.

–Matsuo Basho

Waiting

In California, we wait for the March axe to fall. Teachers and budgets are not always the best of friends. By law, all termination notices must be out by March 15th. RIFs.

I teach adults, and who knows if my program will continue into next year. Adult schools’ funding is at the mercy of the K-12 district administrators. Unfortunately. Community colleges, colleges and universities are somehow considered more important within the educational system than adult schools. Even the name “adult school” conjures up images of places for stupid people to go, people who have failed. In truth, this is very far from reality.

Programs at adult schools provide training at many levels. Not everyone wants to go to college and take general education courses while training for a career or trade. Not everyone wants the pleasure of learning about art history or botany, but would rather get down to business and do what they want to learn. Where I work, we offer medical programs, some which are connected with colleges as their accrediting agencies mandate an A.S. degree as requisite to the practice. We also have welding, machine shop, parent education, and on and on. And ESL, and GED. Many of our students use our programs to begin a career, to change self-perceptions of skills and ability to succeed in school. Adult schools are a vital part of the community they serve, but overlooked at local and state levels as far as importance. Why? Because we are not labeled “college”!

Colleges of all flavors are preferred over the adult school for funding, and adult schools are closing. We may too. Because the funding for adult schools has changed at the state level, money is very tight. Fees need to be raised to break even. Administrators of adult schools need to change their approaches to funding, and one way is to get federal financial aid as part of their program, whether in house, or through third-party administrators. Yes, it will cost money, but that needs to be explored. Long-term thinking, not short-term immediacy. Getting this is critical. Yet, the ostriches in administration keep their heads in the sand when it comes to the business of financing education.

The result will be that private schools, with fees triple or quadruple those of adult education, will get students because they know that without financial aid they cannot survive. And people desperate for training will take on debt disproportionate to the amount they will make when training is completed. Some private “career colleges” are not even recognized by licensing boards! But the fact is, these private schools have better business savvy than those who administer adult education.

Handsewn Hippari Top

Awhile ago I wrote a bit about John Marshall, a fabric artist and clothing designer who is very influenced by traditional Japanese clothing and dyeing.  He is the author of an excellent book on traditional Japanese clothing construction, Make Your Own Japanese Clothes. In his own work, John moves beyond the ordinary into the extraordinary, with an excellent eye for detail and color.   As an instructor, he is well-organized and clear, and very knowledgeable.  As an artist, there are few to compare.  His book is just like him – full of information that is detailed (but not annoyingly so) – and moves a traditional clothing into a modern vein.

Traditional Japanese clothing is made from fabric measuring about 13-14 inches wide.  As a result, buying fabric requires buying yards of it!  It comes in varying lengths on bolts, depending on what the final product is to be.  There are traditional lengths for haori, for kimono, and so on.  Modern Japanese stores carry modern fabrics, but probably have access to traditional fabrics.  In the U.S., patterns for making traditional Japanese and Asian clothing may be found at Folkwear, a company with patterns for traditional clothing from around the world.  These patterns allow you to use modern fabrics in modern widths, such as 45″ wide.  The beauty of John’s book is that if you have Japanese fabric in traditional widths, you can use the patterns he provides without too much work.  The selvages of the material are incorporated into the clothing construction, and sewing is minimal.  Seams do not need to be finished to prevent raveling.  The range of clothing is narrow, but the variety comes in the patterns of the fabrics themselves.

The hippari is a wraparound top, essentially unisex according to Marshall, but generally worn by women.  The male version of the hippari is the jimbei, another wraparound top but with side vents for coolness.  The illustration on the above left is from page 83 of John’s book.  He writes:

Of construction similar to the jimbei, except for tapered sleeves that stay out of the way and sewn (closed) side seams, the hippari is an infinitely practical as well as attractive top.

The hippari I made is an amalgamation of the two styles.  I created vented sleeves for coolness, as I use it as a sort of smock over my regular clothes.  The sleeves are gathered to keep them up and out of the way.  The fabric is a modern kasuri fabric woven in the traditional width.  The bolt measured about 10 yards in length, and using the layout in Make Your Own Japanese Clothes, I created a custom-fitted top.

I decided to sew my entire hippari by hand.  I used 100% cotton thread and tested out some of the techniques illustrated in John’s book, as well as techniques I improvised and use in my own home-made clothing.

The idea of sewing clothing by hand probably seems daunting.  I know for a fact my own handsewing is not what it could be with hours and hours of practice.  I can do tidy little stitches, but sewing a backstitch for yards is not easy to do.  The material needs to be stretched taut for the stitching to be easily accomplished.  I stretched mine out on a large embroidery hoop at times, and at other times I just held it, stitched, and hoped for the best.

Sewing birds and clamps have been used for centuries to make this job easier, and traditional Japanese sewing boxes come equipped with just such items.  If you wanted, you could use a C-clamp to hold your material in place.  The nice thing, though, about sewing the hippari was the crispness of the fabric – it really allowed me to sew much more easily than a soft, drapey fabric.  Washing has softened the material, and, yes, it did shrink, but not too much.

This photo shows the open armhole, which actually is very nice if you are planning to wear the hippari over other clothes. It gives a little more room for movement, as well as helps keep you cooler. As I tend to get warm easily, I decided to do the vented sleeves found in the jimbei. If you do this, be sure to reinforce the vent, otherwise you may need to re-stitch your seam.

A running stitch or back stitch may be used for the majority of the seams. The same can be used to hold the seams in place, such as under the arm. The straight edges of the selvages mean no finishing of cut edges, as you can see from the final photos below.  Below, the running stitch is shown for the back center seam of the hippari in the left hand photo, and to the right is illustration of the selvage edge.  The selvages are also seen in the photo above.

For greater detail of the hippari, click the next photo.

Altogether, this is an easy project if you want something different to do.