You are probably tired of hearing this… but here we go. I have been saying that I do not consider myself as an “Artist”. I humbly accept your admiration of our work as “Art”, but we do not consider our Sashiko as “(Fine) Art”. I have explained the reasons here and there, and the primary reason is that Sashiko exist(ed) in the ordinary – beauty in using it. ☆
To be honest, I am tired of those who call their stitching “Sashiko Art” and then excuse themselves from learning. [How dare you tell me what to do in Sashiko] is a true statement, but for me, freedom with ignorance is a form of cultural appropriation. If they call their stitching Sashiko, I want them to learn the Japaneseness behind it. So, I try to balance what I do in between Art and Non-Art. ☆
However, Sashiko masks in Covid-19 changed my perception a little bit. A Sashiko mask may be a form of Art. I am making a Sashiko mask because of how it looks, not because of how practical it is. I wanted to make people smile. I wanted to share the joy of stitching. For that, Sashiko is now categorized as “Art”, and I do not have to put my twisted prejudice. I will keep learning, but Sashiko mask is changing my perception. Well… Please understand how difficult it was(is) to defend my own culture when people kept saying I was overreacting. (Before 2019 Spring, I wasn’t particular about calling myself an Artist. The nasty SNS discussion a year ago changed my perception). So, Sashiko may(can) be an Art. I will dig my new learning more. ☆ – – – ☆ 「刺し子はアート（芸術）じゃないよね。用即美の、民芸の、もっと身近なものだよね」と凝り固まった視点から刺し子と付き合っています。今も基本、考えは変わりません。ただ、刺し子マスクを作る過程で、「あれ？刺し子はアートなのか？」と微妙に考えが揺らいでいます。飛沫防止目的のマスクであれば、刺し子をする必要はない。むしろ刺し子は駄目かもしれない。でも、刺し子をすることによって”何か”を伝えたい。この”何か”こそ、人間がアートを通して世間に訴えることなんじゃないかと。もしそうであれば、あぁ、僕もアーティストなのかもと、ふと思った次第です。まだまだ勉強は続くなぁ。それでも、用即美の、日常の美であるという大前提は変わらないですが、刺し子がアートかもしれないと少しだけ思ったので記念に。 ☆
2020-04-13 10:07:30
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Your thoughtful musings are always insightful, thank you for sharing them.
I understand what you are saying. It may be more appropriate to call your work a craft, a job you do with a very specialized skill set. After the industrial revolution when everything was being mass produced, some people began to realize the value of fine hand produced goods, pottery weaving etc. in their appreciation of beautifully produced crafts they began to refer to the work as arts and crafts and today people refer to this work as art. Which to those of us who can’t do the very fine work you produce think of as art.
Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I think you are a very conscious crafter. Best regards from Madrid 🤗
I’m sorry you had to defend and fiercely define your culture. It’s important for us to let people stand as experts in their own experiences, and simply learn instead of trying to fit them into what we find familiar to easily understand. 🖤
❤️👏❤️
Thank you for your contributions to life! Your work is joyful, thoughtful, and at the end of the day it’s your culture!
I fully understand and share what you say, and I appreciate it because it is an internal discussion and external that I have had and did not know how to put into words. Thank you, what you do is beautiful.
It takes a wise man to be able to reconsider a belief and understand that most things in this world are not concrete or subject to change.
Someone said “Art is whatever makes your heart sing”. That resonated so deeply with me and still does💖🙏
I’ve been trying to learn “sashiko”for two years.I wanted a friend of mine who lives in London to buy and send me “the ultimate sashiko source book” of Susan Briscoe.When I was reading it I understood that “sashiko”is not only stitching, “sashiko”has got a very deep meaning in it.Then I met you by chance in Instagram and I said “that’s it”.So,in my opinion YOU ARE A VERY GOOD TEACHER.I will keep on to fallowing you.Please do not be unfair to your self.I hope I could express my self well.🙋🙋🙋 from Istanbul/Turkey
No need to do that, we can help out 🙌
I’ve been following your posts on Instagram for a while now and recently joined a Facebook group that you moderate. I have been hesitant to use the term “sashiko” to describe my needle work for the most part because I’m a student of art history and I know that there is more to real sashiko than random stitching. Recently I’ve been working through a series of exercises that I’ve set for myself. These I think are close enough that I feel OK using the term “Sashiko”… I’m working through some traditional patterns. I’m being extremely mindful as I stitch, as though the process were part of a larger meditation on life, my place in it, and sustainability. I am trying to give material that might otherwise have been discarded new/prolonged life. I may, in the process, find that I am mending/strengthening something within myself.
Your work is extraordinary. Thank you for sharing and giving those of us who want to learn Sashiko the inspiration to do so 💙
Thank you for sharing ❤️