I've always loved that line from Dylan's "Tom Thumb Blues." For crazy, over-the-top inspiration, you just can't beat the town of my birth.
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| Hine Mizushima |
To say I was overwhelmed by the
Needle Felting Extravaganza at the Gallery Hanahou is an understatement. I was utterly blown away by the needle felted creations of
Hine Mizushima and
Yoko Nomura. I wandered around the little white gallery space for an hour, almost in tears, just absorbing their boundless imagination and the beauty of their alternate, woolly realities.
First up,
Hine Mizushima's collection, "The Unnatural History Museum." Several of the pieces were little, crazy treasures pinned in red boxes, like the curiosities of an obsessed Victoria gentleman. Ectoplasm in tubes, red ants and fanciful neurons. Doll girls displaying their organs with blissful little faces.
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| Hine Mizushima |
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| Hine Mizushima |
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| Hine Mizushima |
Next,
Yoko Nomura's, "Fractured Fairy Tales." Absurdly cute little bears and rabbits engaged in all manner of dark, fairy tale mayhem. The contrast between their adorable faces and the weird activities they engaged it left me feeling wonderfully unbalanced.
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| Yoko Nomura |
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| Yoko Nomura |
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| Yoko Nomura |
These look great on the screen, but to see them in person, to see
behind the pieces, was like savoring the most decadent hot fudge sundae versus licking on a soft serve cone. Their talent and skill was like an actual energy field rippling through the gallery space.
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| Yoko Nomura |
I'm a little adrift in my own creative and personal life right now. A little unhinged, unable to land in a sunny spot and focus on anything. This weekend I hope to spend some time refocusing and reconnecting to that tiny piece of myself that allows me to access a miniature aperture into the playful fields of these artists.
I will start very small and focus on a piece of myself, my ears, and do some thread-sketching. Not in a narcissistic way, but in a (hopefully) grounding way. A tiny piece of a self-portrait.
As a treat, I
purchased one of Hine Mizushima's tiny red ants! I plan to keep this guy close to me as I find my way back.
