A Tribute to Kikuko Dewa

(Feb 5, 1933 - Feb 15, 2010)

ARTISTS FOR JAPAN celebrates the Seattle Art Museum's  exhibition of Japanese Fashion by honoring a member of our community who embodied creating "Future Beauty" in the Northwest.

 

  

Kikuko Dewa's career as artist, entrepreneur, theatrical collaborator, teacher, and mother was as profound as it was prolific. Her shibori embodies the freedom and beauty of everyday things, free from traditional rules. She believed in encouraging 'accidents', while coaxing bold colors, textures, and spontaneous patterns from her textiles. Spiky sweetgum fruitpods,  marbles, golf balls, balloons, sticks and other found objects filled her unique inventory to add bold textures, while cherry blossoms, berries, bark, or grasses were carefully gathered for dying. Kikuko's experimentations often led her to whimsy, swirling mounds of gravel in large automotive oil pans filled with dyes, or creating a family of  rakish kimono clad rabbits. 
 
A fifth generation descendant of weavers, Kikuko was raised in the Nishijin district of Kyoto, Japan, famous for traditional kimono weaving and textile design. She studied with  international dyer and weaver Hiroyuki Shindo of Kyoto. Fueled by her passion for the avante garde Japanese designers Rei Kawakubo of  Comme des Garcon, Junya Watanabe and Issey Miyake, she expanded her studies into sewing, and clothing design. Many of her one-of-a-kind recycled kimono pieces could be found at 'Ikko', her store in Greenwood.
 
She was much younger in spirit and in her outlook on life than her age revealed and surrounded herself with the next generation of young people working in the arts.  As a collaborator, Kikuko created visionary and dreamlike costumes for Aono Jikken and Degenerate Art Ensemble productions. The exhibit features  a theater set piece for Ji Mo - The Stillness of Solitude' for composer/musician Byron Au Yong, as well as some  unfinished works to illustrate Kikuko's shibori process and techniques.