I'm thrilled to announce the first post in a new series that I've organized along with
JETwit.com, the JET Program's online alumni magazine/publicist/newsfeed.
"JET Alum Artist Beat" will profile program alums working as artists or in the arts world, aiming to shed some light on how their experiences in Japan have inspired their creative careers.
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| HARUKA kiri-e |
I couldn't have been more pleased to have interviewed LeJarie Noguchi, an Artist's Representative who works exclusively with Japanese artists through her California-based arts marketing company,
ARTas1. ARTas1 positions itself as a unique firm in that it represents exclusively Japanese artists, aiming to bridge the Japanese and North American art worlds through organizing gallery exhibitions and licensing opportunities. They work with a wide variety of companies, and help to connect their artists to organizations looking for everything from branding/imaging consultations to illustrating manuscripts or book cover art to greeting card design. Basically, she has my dream job!
LeJarie is a fascinating woman with an extensive background in culture reporting and Japanese media consulting. She also shares my love of Japanese contemporary art and my fascination of seeing how young Japanese artists continue to draw from traditional Japanese techniques to inform their modern visual sensibilities. She was kind enough to share the work of one of her favorite up-and-coming artists, HARUKA (formerly Tamagiku).
HARUKA specializes in
kiri-e, a delicate form of cut paper art. Her pieces are delicate juxtapositions of fine lines against bold fields of color, and they exude an eerie beauty. She especially likes depicting bones and flowers, enhancing the inherent fragility of her medium. I find it amazing that many of her pieces are constructed from a single piece of paper!
If you may know of any JET alums currently working in the art and design worlds, I'd love to know about them-- feel free to email me!
Images courtesy of ARTas1.com
