I find it interesting that most of your silk work looks rough and hard to the touch, and your metal work looks delicate and soft, which are obvious contradictions of the materials. At what point in your silk work did you decide that you wanted to work in a "more permanent medium?" What aspect of it made you want to create sculptures of a different style?
Kiyomi Iwata’s lecture was the second craft and material studies lecture I have attended, and I must say that they are very different from the photography lectures. A lot of what is discussed is concerned technical process and material rather than expressing overall conceptual ideas. But, compared to the first lecture I went to, I felt as if ideas and materials blended together much more seamlessly for Iwata. She spoke of her “life [being] interwoven with textiles,” changing her style when an aspect of her life changed. I really enjoyed this aspect of her work, because you can then attach emotion and memories to a technical piece. I would describe her work as technical, conceptual, and thoughtful. She frequently stated that the material was her language, and worked through silk and metal in different techniques in order to figure out where she fit into the mix of materials, similar to trying to fit into two cultures. In regards to my questions, the use of silk and metal referring to certain cultures varied with each piece. She began using flattened sheet metal, physically light but visibly heavy, to embellish her silk work and make it harder to see through, creating more of a visual mystery. I am intrigued by the flat, “open” art that she began to create. She stated again that a big event happened, and it caused her to want to be more “open,” and began making full, flat wall sculptures instead of enclosed bundles. Relating your life to your art and visually portraying that is an honorable aspect that I look for in artists.
