Malcolm Clements Lecture.

For something of a change today I went to an afternoon lecture given by Malcolm Clements entitled 'The creative Genius Of Japan'. This took place at the Head of Steam Museum in Darlington as part of a programme of workshops and events arranged by Catherine Howard to coincide with her "Freepass" Exhibition.

Malcolm Clements is a specialist Design Historian and is the HE Co-ordinator of Contextual Studies at Cleveland College of Art & Design.



Malcolm Clements

The lecture was mainly concerned with the Meiji Period,  an era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912, when Japan evolved from being a 'locked' country to  the modern society that we know today.

 

One point of interest was that Japan's new leaders at this time, realised that the historic skills of the metalworker, lacquerer, enameller and ceramic artist could play a vital part in the struggle to compete in international markets. To this end artist and craftsmen alike were sponsored. It is also interesting to note that unlike the Western way of thinking, the Japanese made no distinction or   hierarchies between fine art and decorative art. 

 

 

Japanese print from Malcolm's collection.

 

Meiji period Satsuma vase.

 

 

 

 

 

Meiji period Satsuma vase detail.

 

 

Shibori is a method of dyeing cloth with a pattern by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, compressing it, or capping. We are more familiar with the term 'tie-dyeing' in the west, but this is far removed from the intricate craftsmanship and detail that goes into the Japanese work. Malcolm bought along a piece of Shibori which had not been dyed and to be quite frank I was amazed. I hope my photos give some idea of the detail in the stitch work but I feel they fall a little short.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the talk and have only touched on some of the aspects covered by Malcolm. I shall close with a few more pictures from the talk and am aware I haven't even discussed symbolism or that kimono means 'thing to wear'!