Glen Kaufman
2016: Seeing Red
December 31, 2016
Big Canoe, GA
Dear Friends,
My return to GA in mid-November was filled with wonder as I had the full fall color experience in all its Big Canoe glory. I always anticipate one small maple, out my kitchen window here, to save a few bright red leaves for my enjoyment. But this year, due to extreme drought, most leaves were still firmly on-branch. We had the whole range from greens to yellows, oranges, and varieties of reds with the favorite maple in full glow with each morning’s sunlight. A downside of the drought was forest fires in the far northern counties of the state with the smoke drifting as far south as Athens and Atlanta. This was followed by the devastating fires in and around the Smokey Mountains and Gatlinburg, TN including damage to buildings at Arrowmont School.
We soon had days of welcome rain and I enjoyed reunion with my family for Thanksgiving on Lake Lanier with grandson, Lee, home from his submarine officer training in Charleston, SC. We were joined by one of his Naval Academy buddies who is in flight training in Pensacola.
Then I was in full Christmas preparation mode with visits to the Athens house, joining my “management team” there and attended several gatherings of old Athens friends, some not seen for years! I assume it is not uncommon for those of us who have taught for many years to have long-cherished friendships with former students. It is certainly true in my life and I treasure these friendships immensely with Christmas being an ideal time to reconnect. I celebrated the Holiday beginning on December 20th winding up with the 4th event with family on the 29th, when Lee was off duty and joined us.
Back to the beginning of 2016. Most of my time early in the year was spent enjoying “life in the forest” at Big Canoe with occasional trips back to Athens for appointments of various sorts. We had a couple of significant snowfalls creating that strong contrast of the dark tree trunks and branches against the stark white of the snow. I’m always prepared in these “snow-ins” with enough wine, food, and firewood to last out any extended isolation. My uphill driveway is the last bit that needs to be cleared before I can get out to the road.
I departed for Japan on March 30 with arrival on the 31th with a perfect Delta connection from Tokyo (after 14 hours from Atlanta) to Osaka. April Fool’s was a day for unpacking and settling in. The house was in great shape thanks to my housemate, Juan, a mathematician from Spain with a fellowship at Kyoto University. This arrival was perfect for enjoyment of Ohanami, the annual viewing of cherry blossoms, many located near my house along the riverbanks and along a nearby canal. The city is a-burst with these delicate flowers and one is seldom far from viewing them. Some of the trees are lit at night and I always join my dear friends, the Tsuji family, for an annual Italian dinner and a stroll thru the Gion district with chances good of spotting a geisha or maiko dressed in Spring-inspired kimono.
Exhibitions in the galleries and museums always keep me on the go with long-time friend Kyoji Tsuji, now semi-retired from Seian University. A major spring show at the Museum of Modern Art Kyoto was a wide-ranging look at English fashion designer Paul Smith, while at the National Museum Kyoto there was an extensive collection of art in many media influenced by ZEN. The Museum of Kyoto had a major exhibition, “Kew”, focused on botanical prints and drawings from the famous gardens near London and later an exhibition of the wax resist dyed work of Shigeki Fukumoto, a long time friend, upon his retirement from the Osaka University of the Arts. Kyoji and I traveled to nearby Shiga Prefecture to the I M Pei designed Miho Museum tucked away in green forests to see an exhibition of futa (traditional cast iron kettles used in tea ceremony). The outstanding museum experience was the extensive retrospective exhibition of the work of fashion designer Issey Miyake in Tokyo. Dear American colleague and “Felt Master” friend Jorie Johnson and I made a one-day excursion by Shinkansen to explore all there was to see. We spend close to 4 hours enjoying every gallery, each devoted to a specific phase of his work. Subarashikata! (Outstanding ++) There were gallery exhibitions in Kyoto and Osaka too numerous to detail here but that were rewarding.
Performances provided opportunities to enjoy traditional theatre, music and dance. Kyoto Theatre in the Kyoto Station complex: There was a unique performance combining aspects of Noh, Kabuki and opera with a outstanding performance by a counter tenor singing in English, a concert by the renowned drum group Kodo, with narration by kabuki actor Tomasaburo Bando, and finally, the annual fashion showcase “Kyoto Cantata” blending fresh kimono design with Western fashion. Butoh dancer Ima Tenko: Friend and collaborator had performances, both solo and group, at live house Urban Guild, Matsuo Taisha (Shrine) and previews in her own dedicated space in an historic storage house. In total, an Ima-san Spring Fest!! The first days of June there are torchlight Noh performances at outdoors the Heian Shrine, which I have attended for many years including those years I had groups of students. My seat was in a location where I could see all the actors and also the musicians at the rear of the stage. Just after the start of the 2nd half of the program I noted one musician that seemed to be in extreme distress. He was given aide by colleagues and eventually by EMS members. Most of this was hidden from the audience. That act went on and concluded as scheduled. However, the final acts were cancelled and I left the after seeing this disturbing event and later learned that the man had died of a heart attack.
The end of June saw me back in GA with most time spent in the mountains with fitness center and adjacent swim club high on my agenda. A few visitors over the summer added spice to my routine. In late July I headed north to visit with family members in WI and MI: Cousin Mick in Whitewater, nephew Kurk and wife Paula in Kohler (where I always enjoy the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan), my sister Karol and husband John in the UP and finally niece Kris and her daughter Maya in Boyne City, MI (In the UP that is “downstate” but when I’m there it seems very “up”.)
In August I was invited to jury the 2016 Hawaii Fiber competition in Honolulu. I jumped at the change to visit the Islands again and re-connect with friends there. The fiber theme included other media that incorporated some fiber aspect, literal or implied, and thus I included clay, wood, glass, metal and mixed media work in the show. The experience was very rewarding in so many respects. Hospitality was over the top in every way. In addition, I gave lectures on my installation work in Honolulu and on Kawai.
I returned to Kyoto in mid-September with a more relaxed schedule including preparation for my solo show at GalleryGallery in October. There were numerous museum and gallery exhibitions with several long time friends showing new work. October 1 was the annual Nuit Blanche with a major outdoor projection production on the Manga Museum as well as many gallery exhibitions on view with late hours. The late October “Tsuji Family/Kaufman Birthday Club” was in maximum celebration mode with the two 1-year old Grandsons included this year.
Kyoto Experiment, an international occurrence that offers a variety of performance, theatre, music and projection events was in full swing this fall. Some may be considered cutting edge while others not so ‘sharp’. I attended 4 of these offering and always found something of enjoyment and value as take-aways.
My solo installation, Juban: Seeing Red, at Gallery Gallery incorporated part of my extensive Flea-Market-purchased red silk under-kimono called Juban. Floating with movement, they filled the space like two-dimensional ghosts. These juban were here revealed and exposed to view having escaped their protective kimono coverings. The impact: Red the color of love, the color of the sun, as in the Japanese flag, Hinomaru, the color of celebration as in mizuhiki (celebratory paper threads) and maku (fabric walls of celebration), the color of protection. One could delight in juban for the mystery, the beauty and the luxury which they display. There was the gleaming of the silk surface; many are decorated with damask-weave patterns and some have additional glistening embellishment of gold or silver leaf. In addition to the space filled with floating garments, I “put up” jars of “Juban Jam” filled with fragments and scraps of red fabric and bits of metal leaf AND framed fabric assemblages, “Juban Suite”, incorporating fabric, stitching, beads and red ephemera. I had many exchanges with visitors concerning use, history, weave and metal leaf.
Page and Jeanne are well settled into their “home-and-business” Lanier Estate (my term) on Lake Lanier in Flowery Branch. Their e-businesses are thriving with Jeanne handing fashion and accessories and Page the gourmet foods and related products. Their big news is the establishment of their own brand, “Teas Unique”, offering a wide variety of Organic Korean teas along with tea-flavored chocolate. You can find them on Amazon/Teas Unique. Grandson Lee is in his final months of submarine officer school. He will finish up in February and then will be assigned to the sub base in WA and to the USS Ohio. He sailed on the Ohio from WA to Honolulu during one of his early summers at the Naval Academy, so he’ll be entering familiar territory.
I wish you all the best of health, happiness and prosperity in 2017 the YEAR OF THE RED ROOSTER.