Kanagawa Gallery Stroll
File.11 UMI Yuigahama Beach
Shino Yamamoto (Galerie Watts)
This time, I would like to take you to a gallery that I have always wanted to visit, but have been waiting for many years.
This is a gallery in Kamakura called "Gallery Shozan". Gallery Shozan has YAMA and UMI, but this time we went to UMI Shozan Yuigahama. As the name suggests, once you get off at Kamakura Station, head towards the sea. It's a long walk, but on a sunny day, the cityscape feels great!
However, it was raining on the day I visited, so I ended up taking a taxi.The local taxi driver was surprised that there was a gallery in a place like this, as it was a little off the beaten path, but this place was designed by the Western-style painter Asai Kan'emon (1901-1983). A corner of the atelier. Apparently it was a room for the manager.
The courtyard was lush with greenery, and the drizzling rain looked good on it. The building you can see across the courtyard is Asai Kan'emon's atelier. The inside of the house, including the things he collected as art supplies, remains as it was back then, and is sometimes open to the public.
Asai Kan'emon's works are also in the collection of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art. Many people have probably seen roses painted with thick oil paint, or scenery reminiscent of a circus.
*I can't stop talking about handicrafts with Hitomi Usutani (right), an embroidery artist whose work is on display.
``At Gallery Shozan, we introduce old tools related to food, clothing, and shelter as well as the works of modern artists,'' says the owner, Yasuyo Watanabe (pictured left), a lovely person with a unique atmosphere. He came from an art university's design field and is interested in the background behind how things are created.
She loves fabrics, and seems to be particularly fascinated with fabrics from Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and her collection is impressive.
``I find it interesting that the fabrics have a deep and profound feel, expressing the textures unique to each region and the patterns and embroidery techniques unique to each tribe.''
Is that why? There seem to be many exhibitions of textile artists here. At the time of my visit, Hitomi Usutani's ``Poetry Exhibition'' was being held.
The main motif of Hitomi Usutani's embroidery is letters.
“When I looked at the Hebrew Bible, I just saw beautiful patterns and wanted to sew them!”
Hitomi has always loved reading and even writes her own lyrics. It seems that she gets even more excited when she embroiders the lyrics of Patti Smith, known as the queen of punk and who wrote the words as a poet, or Jack Kerouac, a novelist representing the Beat Generation.
``When I'm feeling down, when I read a poem, it's like the words are there to help me, and it helps me.That's why, by writing each word one stitch at a time, I may be expressing something that is somewhere in my heart. I don’t know.”
Rather than formal letters, the letters looked like symbols through Hitomi's eyes, or were a bit random, giving me a sense of rhythm and a pleasant impression.
Embroidery made only in white is also attractive. Particularly beautiful was the work in which the roots of large trees were embroidered with silk thread on linen cloth, making it look as if it had been made of beads.
Above the chair is a work that is still in progress. Nearby is a rat needle made from felt. "This rat has been my partner forever."
"What is suitable for me? What does it mean to live my life in my own way?"
Hitomi tried various handicrafts such as glass crafts, weaving, and dyeing, but none of them lasted long, but the embroidery she had been doing since elementary school was the one that lasted the longest, so she thought, ``Oh, this is it!'' "It's just that for me," he said, realizing that.
The small pieces of art that were pierced on the haggis each had their own presence.
In fact, Hitomi has been coming to Gallery Shozan since she was a junior high school student with her mother, who is a dyer.
Mr. Watanabe apparently told Hitomi, ``Just make whatever you want to make.''
"It may sell better if you make it tangible, but don't think too much about it and just keep doing what you want. By doing that, your personality will come out."
We have added Hitomi's embroidery, which looks like the Snow Queen, to this year's Christmas display.
EVAM EVA
The embroidered Sanskrit words are said to be connected to "what is".
Coincidentally, that's probably my theme for next year.
(Interviewed in December 2019)
《Gallery information》
UMI Yuigahama Beach
4-3-14 Yuigahama, Kamakura City
TEL: 0467-55-5999
Opening hours: 11:00-17:00 Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays (Irregular holidays)
https://www.shouzan.org/
"access"
▶︎About 15 minutes walk from JR Kamakura Station
