Kirie of the World 2011

Keeping a blog is much harder than it seems. Putting up interesting posts regularly requires the writer to be disciplined and focused. Unfortunately at the moment I am neither!! Must be the summer blues!

Now back to my silk paper cutting art. Currently I am exhibiting with 7 other paper cutting artists in ‘Kirie (paper cutting) of the world’ at the Fujikawa museum in Japan’.

I traveled there to attend the opening a few weeks ago. An awesome experience. Here’s a video to commemorate the show. See if you can spot me. I’m the middle aged British guy wearing a black shirt who at one point wears his paper cut on his head!

The main building of the Fujikawa Museum

Some of my newer work on display. See my previous post for a description of the work.

IIt’s great to see my work alongside such talented paper cutting artists Aoyama Hina, Tatsumi Maasaki, Beatrice Coron, Bovey Lee, Andrea Tezso, Patrick Gannon, Rehane Favereau, …..and myself.

From L-R Patrick Gannon. Tatsumi Maasaki, Aoyama Hina & myself

Artists' demonstrations - Maasaki

Artists' demonstrations - Hina. Her work is unbelievably small!

When I finished my demonstration piece I gave it to this gentleman who'd been patiently watching.

Typhoon Tales

Here's the newest piece from my recent show. Entitled 'Typhoon tales' it is cut into a 2m long silk paper scroll and displayed on a black paper background. Photographing such a strong red is frustratingly difficult so the photos don’t show the real colour.

As an expat living in Taiwan two things I'm aware of are the abundance of motorbikes and the annual typhoons. Local TV news crews rush out to the windiest, stormiest point and foolish reporters try to file their live reports. They stand in the howling wind and rain, clinging to some inanimate object while holding a microphone. Their reports always state the obvious, “It’s windy here and the rain is heavy.”

The other thing news crews do is to film other people out in the storm and they’ll always manage to find motorcyclists battling the winds and inevitably being blown off or getting stuck in floods. My question is why go out in such bloody awful weather on a motorbike?

In this silk paper cut my dancing boys fear no storm, but even they are beaten by the mighty typhoon as they get swept along in the wind, rain and flood.

Here's one of the preliminary sketches. I spent a long, long time on the design process making sure that everything would hang together and not collapse. Papercutting is as much about the ‘architecture’ of the piece as well as the image.

The Angel of Christmas

First of all, Merry Xmas and a prosperous new year to all of you who visit my blog. It's always good to know there's someone out there looking at my work while I'm hidden away in my little studio!

Recent work

A friend, who has decided to devote herself to rediscovering her spiritual self, commissioned this silk paper cut, entitled ‘Angel’. Influenced by Shamanism she asked for very specific images to be included in the work.

Here, she is wearing traditional Chinese clothes which are richly embroidered with symbolic imagery. On the front is a stylized rose which represents loving with courage.

As the Angel rises into the sky, she is surrounded by four ducks, which are her ‘Power animal’. These birds inhabit land, water and air and are her soul guides.

As she rises up the sun provides the warmth and energy thst will protect and empower her on her journey.

On another note I'd like to say thanks to the Online Graphic Design Degree for honouring me (along with a select group of other origami and paper cutting artists) the...

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Doodling!

After I finish cutting a silk paper cut I’m always left with thousands of beautifully shaped pieces of silk.

I collect and keep them - boxes and boxes of beautiful scraps, the result of years of paper cutting.

Every now and then I start gluing them onto coloured paper, sketch books, wooden bowls, in fact anything I can get my hands on.

I just let the scraps determine the shapes thus the title ‘Doodling’.

But now I look at them I see all manner of images. What can you see?

Klompen Blog aka Clog Blog

I have just completed an art charity project to aid children in Maolin township in the south of Taiwan. This was the area devastated by typhoons last year. 70 artists were each given a pair of traditional wooden clogs and asked to decorate them in any way they wanted.

Here are my clogs or klompen. I tried to create a feeling of movement, like water or air. I wanted this to flow around the clogs. If you look carefully you will find several butterflies and beetles. These little creatures are full of life and beauty, just like children. They are curious and a little naughty!

It was a perfect opportunity to use all the silk paper scraps I have left over from my cuts.

The clogs will all be exhibited before being auctioned off, but to tell the truth I have no idea where or when!

'Butterfly Flow' show

My new show, ‘Butterfly Flow’ is starting next week (Aug 31^st – Sept 19^th) at the Piao Piao Gallery at 63-1, Yong Kang St. Taipei. This gallery is in the heart of a vibrant district of eateries, bars, antique shops and galleries. I love this area! For more info on the gallery and the address in Chinese go here.

If you’re in town on Sept 4^th please come along to the opening party starting at 7pm. Hope to see you there!

One of the newer silk paper cuts on display is the latest in my series of circular works entitled ‘Jagged Waves’.

Waves crash against defiantly jagged rocks creating a rugged razor sharp surface. Higher up in the rocks plants and flowers cling to the surface immune to the salty spray around them.

The waves twisting and turning

The swirls and eddies of water

Some flowers

Waves

I grew up next to the ocean with all its moods, textures and colors. I’m sure its restless energy is in all my work somewhere, so I decided to cut a piece about it.

This silk paper cut, called Wave, is the fourth in a series of large circular works. It started from a tiny sketch in my sketchbook and I instantly liked its movement and the flow of the lines.

Here are some pictures of the work in process.

Referencing Japanese wave imagery I created two large drawings (this is the second, more refined one).

Once happy I traced the finished design onto the back of two layers of silk and cut it. Here's the work half cut.

Then I played around with the lighting. Here the work is lit from the front creating shadows.

Here's a detail showing the two layers of silk

I haven’t decided on how or if to colour the piece.

Lit from the back the different layers of silk and the luminescence create interesting effects.

When I’ve decided how to colour, mount and light the work it’ll be exhibited in my upcoming show in September.

Nice Surprises!

A good friend came over one day, saw this, my second butterfly lamp design, and promptly bought it for his recording studio. Let’s hope the fluttering butterflies inspire some great music!

I used an existing Ikea floor lamp and fixed my silk paper cut design inside it. This is the second butterfly design for this type of lamp. Nice 'n' moody.

Then along came a commission from a wonderful lady who gave me just two words to work with – Purple & Dolphins. I’ve never used dolphins in my repertoire of imagery and I’ve never used purple before. Therefore the design and cut took much longer than I thought. Despite being late the lady loved it and promised that it’ll go with her to the grave!! (Don't worry she has a looong time to go yet!)

I layered several colors together to create a sense of movement and depth. Doing commissions such as this really do stretch me in a very good way.

News: I have a solo show coming up at the end of August til mid September. Details nearer the time. The gallery is situated in a cool district of Taipei full of interesting shops, galleries cafes and restaurants. I am really looking forward to it.

'Rice, Metal Bowl' Restaurant

I’ve just put up a new silk paper cutting in the window of a restaurant in Luodung, a town on the north east coast of Taiwan about an hour’s drive from the capital, Taipei.

Owner Ben (now ex owner!) gave me the opportunity to create a piece for the large front window of this renovated merchant’s house turned restaurant.

I like this restaurant. I like the spirit and passion that created it. I like its naturalness, the history, the wood, the atmosphere, the people and I especially like the front window!

The piece itself contains many stories and layers of meaning. It is about the year of the tiger and the coming of spring. There are symbols of spring everywhere - butterflies, flowers and birds. It’s a sign of hope and renewal. Trees on either side rise up and support a roof. Look carefully under the eaves and you’ll see two birds nesting. Is this Ben and his wife, Ivy preparing for the birth of their Tiger child?

At the bottom there is food that steams and wafts, its aromas evolving into plants and flowers.

There are the playful boys – they are everywhere! One boy holds bowls of his favourite food whilst another is trapped inside the tiger. Was he eaten?

The piece was cut in a way that the colours are different when viewed from inside or outside. I used a mix of silk paper and coloured paper in the work. Go here to see more information in Chinese about the restaurant.

Thanks to Lee Mooney for helping with taking the pictures.

Daniel and Tyger

Here’s another silk paper cut that was given away as a gift at Chinese New Year. It comes from a new story I’m working on which involves my child character, Daniel, meeting a rather self important ‘Tyger’ in the forest. This silk cut shows Daniel and Tyger at the end of the story. As and when the story is finished I shall show more.

I plan to make the shadows an integral part of the story.

Love Hearts

I’ve been making a series of hearts for a few months now. The starting point was coming across Percy Bysshe Shelley’s quote ‘Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips’. Once I found one beautiful saying I found others and the hearts followed. It gave me the perfect opportunity to incorporate writing into my work. See if you can find the quotes entwined in the hearts!

Now with Valentine’s day fast approaching I am showing them all. Each has been cut in silk paper in a small edition of between 4 – 8. They are a perfect gift and reasonably priced!

Email me if you're interested in any of them.

‘A Kiss makes the Heart Young’ by Rupert Brooke (25x28cm)

‘Soul meets Soul on Lovers’ Lips’ by Percy Bysshe Shelley (25x28cm)

‘Two Hearts Beat as One’ from a song title by U2 (35x28cm)

‘Love is Blind’ from ‘The Merchant of Venice’ by William Shakespeare (25x28cm)

‘Love is Friendship set to music’ from E. Joseph Crossman (30x30cm)