2002: Maku

January 2003
Athens, GA

Dear Friends:

Winter Greetings! Early winter in Athens this year has brought forth enough rain to end our 4- or 5-year drought. We also had a freak blast of wind in December that took a neighbor’s tree out and left the neighborhood in the dark for 10 hours. Early winter in Northern Michigan at the ‘tip of the mitt’ (where I spent a delightful few days with my niece and nephew, Kris and John) had enough remaining of their big Thanksgiving snow to bring cheer to this old heart — especially when a flock of 20 wild turkeys tracked over it one morning. My sister, Karol, and her husband John drove down from the Upper Peninsula to join us for an early Christmas celebration. We had not been together for an early holiday since Mother left Wisconsin for Athens some years ago. There was not much snow, but it was COLD. New Years was celebrated at Big Canoe in the North Georgia Mountains (where it was mild and wet, but thoroughly enjoyable) with my Korean graduate student, Sang-Wook, his wife and two kids. The fireplace was ablaze for the two days with kudos to Sang-Wook for his fire-making skills.

The Christmas holidays here were busy ones with the tree and decorations up soon after Thanksgiving. I had a now traditional party for my 20+ students just before exams in December, had final critiques, turned in grades and was then off to Michigan. Page, Jeanne and Lee were here on the 22nd, a former student who always comes with his family to Athens for Christmas was here on the 23rd. I was in Atlanta for Lee’s Christmas Eve pageant (he was a shepherd) and dinner, Christmas morning with Sang-Wook and family and then our traditional Christmas dinner at Jeanne’s mother’s in Atlanta. Wow, I am exhausted just writing about all the activity.

2002 began with the installation of my major retrospective show at the Sun Trust Plaza Gallery in the John Portman designed building in downtown Atlanta. The gallery is huge, and the plaza level is filled with Portman’s own painting and sculpture. My artist’s rep, Dorothy Moye, negotiated the show and helped a great deal with all the details including the space planning. I had over 50 works ranging from my small works of the mid-80s to “November Tale” (over 50′) to two new installation works that were free hanging enclosures, “Maku to the Sun” and “Maku to the Moon” (each 10′ x 10′ x 6′). All phases of my work from the beginning of the ‘Kyoto Period’ were represented. I must admit it was a Grand show that gave me a thrill and elicited many favorable comments. It was on view from mid-January until mid-April. As soon as the show was up, I flew off to visit my cousin Gloria in Tucson for a short week in the wonderful West that I love so much. We always do a day in Mexico and see the Native American exhibits and the historic missions. It was the prefect recovery from the hectic pace of getting the show together and up.

In February I made my first 2002 trip to Kyoto for the formal wedding of former live-in Japanese student, Koichi Kimura. This was their second wedding — the first on a quick trip to Hokkaido in September 2001 — with a subsequent visit to Athens in December of last year. Koichi has become a good friend and is our on-site coordinator for the Study Abroad Program in Kyoto. I was able to get a very cheap flight on Delta so took off for four days, stayed in my rental house with housemate Jay (who has now moved away to another university in Japan), enjoyed the elaborate wedding reception and the company of friends in Kyoto winter. My second trip was taken over our spring break in March for 11 days to finalize plans for Study Abroad, visit exhibitions, see friends, and enjoy early cherry blossoms (for the very first time) in the Imperial Palace grounds. They were very spectacular, and I went crazy recording the scene with camera and video.

Grandson Lee, now nine, played basketball in winter and baseball in the spring and I tried to go over to Atlanta for as many of the Saturday games as possible. He enjoys both and wants to add soccer next fall. Page keeps very busy with his responsibilities as VP of ES Consultants, a software company, as well as serious commitment to Scouts and St. Bede’s Episcopal Church. Jeanne has taken on private piano students at home and enjoys that involvement very much. She had her first recital and potluck dinner for the students and their families in December.

May was the end of Spring Semester and departure on the 11th with students for the 4th Study Abroad Program in Kyoto. We added ceramics this year with a colleague from UGA coordinating that effort. We had six students in each program and my fabric students were a delight. Isabell had some problems with a few of hers in the nearby ceramic village of Shigaraki. We feel we have the problems worked out and are looking forward to an improved session this year. We do an intensive touring schedule in Kyoto for the first week, and then we split the group with the fabric students moving to Kawashima Textile School in Kyoto and the ceramic students to Shigaraki for the studio portion of the program. We had a busy program again this year with great hospitality from my friends in Kyoto and super help from Koichi who handles many of the logistics. We returned to Georgia on June 12th.

I spent the next two weeks settling all the accounts for the Program, attending to details at the house with the resident student there and spending time in Atlanta with Page and his family. I returned to Kyoto on June 28th for six weeks of time for me. I did not have a show scheduled this year, so I was free to work on the garden and the house while trying to find a new housemate. I was also able to travel to Tokyo to visit with friends there, see new and renovated buildings and view exhibitions. It was hot beyond description so much of the time was spent indoors. I also made a trip to Himeji to see a dear friend who is a reporter there and then on to Okayama to visit Tetsuo and Hiroe Kusama who had been with me in Athens the previous fall. Seeing friends was one of the highlights of the summer.

I am still inspired by the Japanese maku (fabric walls of celebration that are a common sight in Kyoto) and am planning a three-dimensional wall for an exhibition at GalleryGallery in July this year. I shopped the flea markets for white and colored rolls of kimono fabric and was very successful, in the end. I had a number of colors dyed to my specifications and the essential panels are now being constructed for the gallery specific installation. Metal leaf printing is on holiday for the time being as I explore another dimension of fabric.

I returned to Athens on August 8th and classes started on the 19th. I was barely ready but managed to pull it all together on time. I taught intermediate weaving and the History of Peruvian Fabrics to full classes. I also had a number of directed study students to fill out my schedule.

Over our Fall Break I made my final and fourth 2002 trip to Kyoto, in part to celebrate my 70th birthday. The 60th had been a big event there and I was not disappointed by the festivities planned by friends for this one. I had given up meat, except for fish, early in 2002 and I was treated to a new tofu specialty restaurant with at least 8 different courses utilizing some aspect of tofu — from appetizer to dessert. Fall color was not yet at its peak but fall was there, indeed, in the crisp and clear air that gave full views of the surrounding mountains that I hold dear. The birds along and in the river on my morning walks were more numerous and varied than ever. It was like visiting the aviary at the zoo. More work on the house and garden (still no new housemate), planning for the exhibition in July, an onsen spa visit, delightful times with friends and delicious Kyoto cuisine caused the week to zip by and — presto, I was back in class on Monday, lagging just a bit. I cherish deeply the opportunity to have had the four trips to Kyoto this year. How blessed I am to have two homes that each welcome me with equal charm and care.

I wish you cheer, joy, good health, prosperity and, most of all, PEACE for the New Year of the Ram.