Collaboration with The City Girl Farm
Collaboration with a furniture/sculpture
Materials
Eiko
The City Girl Farm’s wool, vintage silk Tomesode kimono fabric, vintage obi fabric from ca. 1930, thread, wire, interfacing fabric, and fiberfill
Minako
The City Girl Farms’ wool, vintage silk girl’s kimono fabric, vintage obi fabric from ca. 1930, thread, wire, interfacing fabric, and fiberfill
Artist Statement
By Chiyoko Myose
The chickens of The City Girl Farm remind me of the significance of agriculture in Kansas and its people’s ability of sustaining life. I have lived in this strong land for many years without thinking much about its rich nature and people’s efforts, but I should not take them for granted.
I have lived here in Kansas with my background of Japanese culture and sensitivities, which is still important to me. For many years, I had been keeping count of the things I’d come to miss since leaving Japan, and before I knew it, I found myself feeling down in this foreign land.
However, these days, I have begun to change my perspective and appreciate this unique life connected to both cultures as a "blessing. " This sense of appreciation is creating a notion of home in my mind beyond time and space.
The feathers of my chickens in these works incorporate fabrics and elements of kimono, the traditional Japanese clothes, together with the material of wool from City Girl Farm. It represents the dual cultures that are merged in my life and my appreciation for them.
The two chickens particularly represent the age differences between young and old, the different points in time of a woman’s life.
Minako is incorporating girls’ kimono fabrics and elements. It shows youth and liveliness.
Eiko is incorporating the fabrics from Tomesode kimono. The black Tomesode with the family crests is the most formal kimono for married women. It shows solemnity and maturity.
The material of thread often represents “relationship” and “connectivity” in my artistic language.
The City Girl Farm is a fiber arts studio creating one-of-a-kind chicken footstools. Their first chicken was born in Manhattan, Kansas, and now they have their studio and business office in Kansas City.
I was one of the artists who were in The City Girl Farm's "When Feathers Come Together - A Global Chicken Collection" in Kansas City, April 2022.
Other artists are
@amalanafelt / ARGENTINA
@prophet_of_bloom / CANADA
@bl00mfelt / AUSTRARIA
@sibylle_eschenlohr / GERMANY
@nadiareindesign / UK