Michelle Griffiths
Cross Pollination - Detail. Shibori
Sculptural Shibori by Michelle Griffiths
Image: Pinegate Photographics, Cardiff
This shibori installation has not only been inspired by images of flower heads, seed pods, and magnified pollen (pollen images generously loaned to Michelle by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the Danforth Plant Science Center, Missouri, USA), but also represents a single frozen moment in time as the Arimatsu artisans bind their cloth in execution of the Kumo Shibori pattern (Spiderweb pattern).
Michelle's work records the actions found within shibori; stitching, binding, gathering,
manipulating and folding - not through the expected dye process, but purely as texture and form.
It was whilst in Japan as part of her Embroiderers' Guild mature scholarship studies (May/June 2002) that Michelle first observed the artisans who had spent their entire lives manipulating cloth prior to its being dyed. As a trained musician, Michelle was fascinated to see that the repetitive shibori actions were not only represented on the cloth as pattern and texture, but were also imprinted upon the artisans hands and minds. She wished to learn more about these traditional techniques in order that these skills would not be lost with the passing generations, whilst at the same time developing her own personal shibori vocabulary suitable for the 21st Century.
Cross Pollination - Detail. Shibori
Sculptural Shibori by Michelle Griffiths
Image: Pinegate Photographics, Cardiff
This shibori installation has not only been inspired by images of flower heads, seed pods, and magnified pollen (pollen images generously loaned to Michelle by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and the Danforth Plant Science Center, Missouri, USA), but also represents a single frozen moment in time as the Arimatsu artisans bind their cloth in execution of the Kumo Shibori pattern (Spiderweb pattern).
Michelle's work records the actions found within shibori; stitching, binding, gathering,
manipulating and folding - not through the expected dye process, but purely as texture and form.
It was whilst in Japan as part of her Embroiderers' Guild mature scholarship studies (May/June 2002) that Michelle first observed the artisans who had spent their entire lives manipulating cloth prior to its being dyed. As a trained musician, Michelle was fascinated to see that the repetitive shibori actions were not only represented on the cloth as pattern and texture, but were also imprinted upon the artisans hands and minds. She wished to learn more about these traditional techniques in order that these skills would not be lost with the passing generations, whilst at the same time developing her own personal shibori vocabulary suitable for the 21st Century.