Let me just say right up front that this quilt show exceeded expectations in every way. Something I really love about Japan is that Art-With-A-Captial-A is defined so generously, and artists whose work requires many years of mastering the technical parts of making it are not dismissed as “craftsmen” but given full respect. And when that happens, you get this level of mind-boggling!
So, first of all, it’s no surprise that any showcase of Japanese quilts is going to feature insanely fractal levels of piecing and stitching perfection.
I do not want to know how many hours this took. (“Countless Flowers Blooming” by Kazuko Tanaka)
And this. Yeah. (“Jack In The Box” by Keiko Ike)
And did I mention this? (“Mother’s Favorite Winter Peonies” by Mineko Miyashita)
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are a few I thought you might enjoy, because they were especially Only In Japan delights.
This one is simple, but it not only has a super Japanese theme (those oddly compelling orange paper lantern thingies), it shows them in a very “autumn” way, with end-of-the-season, bug-eaten leaves. (“Silver Hammock” by Kumiko Morita)
This one takes the J-theme all the way, even using quilting patterns that are traditional washi paper and kimono motifs. (“Distant Memory” by Kumiko Tada)
This one turns some typical “autumn” motifs into a slice of graphic goodness. Bonus points for the hand-dyed indigo bits. (“Soon The Wind Will Bring Winter” by Kumi Ohkawa)
And of course, there were cherry blossoms. On steroids. (“Cherry Blossoms” by Masako Sakagami)
This lovely manages to use traditional piecing, but the design and colors were gorgeously Not Your Usual Western Choices. (“Infinite” by Etsuko Ishitobi)
Some of the subjects felt poignantly Japanese, and I was surprised when the artist wasn’t. (“Garden Nasturtium” by Jungsun Jung)
This Japanese forest landscape really stopped me in my tracks, because I RECOGNIZED it! I’ve been to that place! (“Sunbeams Between The Trees” by Hiroko Oouchi)
Speaking of landscape quilts, a few artists have pioneered completely new techniques of stitchery. This one is made of THOUSANDS of cloth snippets, in a sort of avant garde form of applique. The photo really can’t do it justice – IRL it was astoundingly painterly and quilt-y at the same time. (“The Street of Golden Leaves” by Keiko Kimura)
Others were amazing because all those pieces that look like printed fabric were actually…
…hand-embroidered, using traditional Japanese sashiko techniques. O_O (“Kaleidoscope” by Hideko Onozaki)
This is what might happen if Escher had made quilts using Japanese maple and ginkgo leaves and carp (“Ultimate Autumn” by Reiko Nakahara)
And yeah, I know they have cats outside of Japan but…cats. (“Tea With Mom” by Naoko Suzuki)
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Yeah, the worst part of this show was that every quilt was more gorgeous than the last, so I ended up with about a thousand pictures of equally worthy quilts and I couldn’t show them all!
Oh oh oh, I’m so happy that other quilt lovers will get to see these! Thank you for sharing it! (And I just sent a FB message to you and Suzy, so you can give me the email addresses where you’d like the Dropbox invite sent, in case you’d like to see ALL the quilts I took pictures of. Warning: there are over a hundred. It was TORTURE picking only a few for the blog.)
Can you send the link to me. I can hardly wait to see them all. Only 100 pictures? I just went to the Dallas show and took a lot more than that! But the Japan quilts are beyond beyond….
Monica, HUGE apologies for being so slow to reply! ARG ARG ARG. I’m sending you the link right now, and I hope the gorgeousness of the quilts will make you forget how unforgivably tardy I was in sending them. (>_<;;)
Can you share the Dropbox invite with me also! I want to see everything. In 2012 I went to this quilt show and I believe nothing else compares with it. The Japanese work is fantastic – and the people are wonderful.
I’d be delighted to share the dropbox with you! Will do that right away when I finish here. And I’m so envious you got to see this show in 2012 – this was my first time, but it definitely won’t be my last. Hard to believe this much fabulous quilting happens *every year*!
And you’re so right about the people – while I was there, I met one of the artists who do that “impressionist confetti” style of quilting (like the yellow tree-lined street landscape quilt) and instead of jealously guarding her secret methods, she tempted me SEVERELY by telling me that she gives workshops. (Just what I need to move me to the next level of manuscript procrastination: a half-finished quilt beckoning from the next room AIEEEE!)
Thank you so much for sharing these with our fellow quilt lovers! I scampered over to your blog too, and found we have much in common (including our taste in food – I’d be on your doorstep for dinner every night if I weren’t so far away in Japan!) Loved reading about your steampunk event! ^_^
Time to come to Tokyo! Seriously, every January the quilt show goes on for over a week, and there’s lots of great stuff to see here in addition to quilts! I’ll post next year’s dates on #tokyotrip (http://tokyotripguide.com) as soon as they release them, so start the wheels turning now…
I’m so happy you could see them too!（＾Ｏ＾☆♪ The best part about writing a blog is meeting other people who love the same things I do. Thanks for visiting and enjoying the quilts with me!
These are wonderful. I would love to see the rest of the quilts too. If you could share with me, it would be greatly appreciated.
I’m an artist who has created a series of work in metal that i call my ‘quilts’. Some of them are on the webpage below.
Shoot, I wish I could share the photos with you, but this post is a couple of years old, and I took them out of my dropbox ages ago (>_<;;) Would love to see your work, though! Somehow the link didn't post here, though, so…pointers?
Shoot…I’d love to see them! Received a connection to your post on FB.
the link is: http://artist123.com/metalwallart.html
that’s the page with some of my quilts and some other metal wall art. You can browse around the site: http://www.artist123.com, but some of it is old.
I know, right? And guess what? I’m going to this quilt show again in January! The only downside is that I might have to buy extra storage for my blog, because I won’t be able to leave out any of the hundreds of photos 😛
Only In Japan 
Thanks, these are fabulous. I’ve seen some books of Japanese quilts and yeah, the insane piecing and stitching perfection is astonishing.
Yeah, the worst part of this show was that every quilt was more gorgeous than the last, so I ended up with about a thousand pictures of equally worthy quilts and I couldn’t show them all!
Can you throw out a couple of book names. This was mind boggling.
Wow, just, WOW!
I know, right? This show was just one long moan of amazement. There were HUNDREDS of these, each fabulous in its own way!
Thank you SO much for sharing these, Jonelle. I’m sending a pointer to my other quilty buds.
Oh oh oh, I’m so happy that other quilt lovers will get to see these! Thank you for sharing it! (And I just sent a FB message to you and Suzy, so you can give me the email addresses where you’d like the Dropbox invite sent, in case you’d like to see ALL the quilts I took pictures of. Warning: there are over a hundred. It was TORTURE picking only a few for the blog.)
Can you send the link to me. I can hardly wait to see them all. Only 100 pictures? I just went to the Dallas show and took a lot more than that! But the Japan quilts are beyond beyond….
Monica, HUGE apologies for being so slow to reply! ARG ARG ARG. I’m sending you the link right now, and I hope the gorgeousness of the quilts will make you forget how unforgivably tardy I was in sending them. (>_<;;)
Can you share the Dropbox invite with me also! I want to see everything. In 2012 I went to this quilt show and I believe nothing else compares with it. The Japanese work is fantastic – and the people are wonderful.
I’d be delighted to share the dropbox with you! Will do that right away when I finish here. And I’m so envious you got to see this show in 2012 – this was my first time, but it definitely won’t be my last. Hard to believe this much fabulous quilting happens *every year*!
And you’re so right about the people – while I was there, I met one of the artists who do that “impressionist confetti” style of quilting (like the yellow tree-lined street landscape quilt) and instead of jealously guarding her secret methods, she tempted me SEVERELY by telling me that she gives workshops. (Just what I need to move me to the next level of manuscript procrastination: a half-finished quilt beckoning from the next room AIEEEE!)
Incredible!
I’m so delighted that I could share these with you. It was hard being at the show with no other quilt lovers to exclaim over them with!
Reblogged this on Elisha Gabriel and commented:
Stunning quilting from Japan!
Thank you so much for sharing these with our fellow quilt lovers! I scampered over to your blog too, and found we have much in common (including our taste in food – I’d be on your doorstep for dinner every night if I weren’t so far away in Japan!) Loved reading about your steampunk event! ^_^
These are fantastic! Wish I could see them up close and personal.
Time to come to Tokyo! Seriously, every January the quilt show goes on for over a week, and there’s lots of great stuff to see here in addition to quilts! I’ll post next year’s dates on #tokyotrip (http://tokyotripguide.com) as soon as they release them, so start the wheels turning now…
These are simply amazing!
I’m so happy you could see them too!（＾Ｏ＾☆♪ The best part about writing a blog is meeting other people who love the same things I do. Thanks for visiting and enjoying the quilts with me!
These are wonderful. I would love to see the rest of the quilts too. If you could share with me, it would be greatly appreciated.
I’m an artist who has created a series of work in metal that i call my ‘quilts’. Some of them are on the webpage below.
Shoot, I wish I could share the photos with you, but this post is a couple of years old, and I took them out of my dropbox ages ago (>_<;;) Would love to see your work, though! Somehow the link didn't post here, though, so…pointers?
Shoot…I’d love to see them! Received a connection to your post on FB.
the link is:
http://artist123.com/metalwallart.html
that’s the page with some of my quilts and some other metal wall art. You can browse around the site: http://www.artist123.com, but some of it is old.
So beautiful Jonelle just mind-blowing. This has made me a fan of quilting I’ve never seen anything like it!
I know, right? And guess what? I’m going to this quilt show again in January! The only downside is that I might have to buy extra storage for my blog, because I won’t be able to leave out any of the hundreds of photos 😛
Wow yes I would love to see that. Alternately you could link to a dropbox folder with all the images there.