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Lucy Arai

Lucy Arai learned sashiko while apprenticing under her uncle in Japan. Her innovative approach to sashiko combines her Japanese and Western art background by using handmade papers for collage and sculpture, while practicing stitching is a daily discipline of meditation. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree and Graduate Certificate of Museum Practices from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina.
To transform is to change form or appearance. This is the process through which my art has evolved from family taught Japanese arts and studio trained ceramic sculpture to the ink painting and hand-sewn sashiko I am now doing. Transformation occurs through the discipline and practice of working in the studio, and through evolving interests, needs and conditions of my daily life. Traditions undergo transformations as a result of experimentation and innovation. I fuse sashiko into mixed media compositions with handmade papers. Sashiko is an embroidery and quilting technique distinguished by white running stitches of complex patterns hand-sewn into deep indigo-dyed cotton fabric. It has a long history in the northern provinces of Japan, flourishing during the last feudal era (17th-19th centuries); today it is a revered folk craft. My work with sashiko began in 1971, when I learned the technique from my uncle in Tokyo. The work I do has transformed from traditional garment sewing to one-of-a-kind works with handmade papers. Sashiko is sewn in response to painting with sumi ink, indigo pigments and gilding in gold or silver. After more than 30 years of stitching, my eloquence is with the humble stitch of Northern Japan's farmers sewn in response to my naive and experimental handling of ink, a medium that has a long history and association with Asia's literati. The work continually evolves, explores and embodies the dynamic nature of being of both the East and the West. The transformation process of my art is revealed in the title of each piece, which is the object number. An object number is the same as the accession number of an object added to a museum collection: year.sequence number.series number: 1996.8.45; 1996 is the year; 8 is the eighth object added; while 45 is the forty-fifth object in this series. The numbers reflect the chronological sequence of when an object was made, revealing the relational order and context of the work over time, place and the life I am living.

Lucy Arai, 2011.10: Aizome (Indigo) Shadows Of Tradition, 72"x 38", Indigo, Japanese handmade paper (washi), 2011

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