上田恭子 作家活動と素材（絹紗）について
'Ｌａｙｅｒｓ ｏｆ Ｌｉｆｅ'
作品におもに使用している素材は、本来伝統的な型染めの型紙に使われる紗張り用の絹紗である。ミシンワーク技法を中心に植物染料、化学染料、弁柄などで染色し、さまざまに素材を重ねる技法で表現をしている。
最近は、この絹紗に代わってテトロン紗が使われるようになってきた。素材の扱いが容易なことから、型紙の素材も伝統的な渋紙から合成紙を使い、渋紙用紗張りの絹紗の需要が減った。また紗の製織技法の後継者問題などから絹紗は生産中止となる。
布目の粗さも型紙の文様にあわせて多種あったようだ。私は３種の布目の絹紗を使い分けてきたが、それもわずかの在庫を残すのみで、今後の素材をどうするか目下思案中である。
この絹紗を制作の素材に使い始めて20年位になる。初めは身につけるものの素材として使い始め、2003年よりアートワークの制作にも使っている。
何故この布にこだわるのか・・
まず、布の透明感である。染色は容易での発色はすばらしく、布を重ねると、色や線が重なり、不思議な空気感が生まれる。光が重なり、空気をはらみ、絹のやさしさと暖かさが身を包む。
しかし、本来、紗張り用の道具としての布であり、織り糸の安定が悪く、危うい。糸が寄り、荒れる、弱いという危うさは、制作時や身に着ける物としての使用強度からすると問題であった。しかし、この欠点ともいえるところが、私には魅力で、創作への刺激となった。
布をさまざまに重ねる表現は、その危うさの克服でもあったが、ステッチや染色した紗を絵の具のように重ねて、水彩やドローイングのように一気に仕上げていく表現はスリリングだ。またひたすら薄い繊維を重層させる表現は、繊維を凝視させるような重厚感を醸し出す。それは積み重ねられた日々の痕跡ともいえる。
Kyoko Ueda:
About my artistic activities and materials kinusya (silk gauze)
'Ｌａｙｅｒｓ ｏｆ Ｌｉｆｅ'
The material mainly used for my works is silk, which is usually used for paper patterns for traditional stencil dyeing. I dye my work, centered on sewing machine methods, using plant dyes, chemical dyes, and red iron oxide, to convey expressions by using a method that layers various materials.
In recent times, tetoron gauze is becoming to replace silk gauze. Due to the material's ease of handling, materials for paper patterns have transitioned from shibugami, paper treated with persimmon tannin, to synthetic paper, and the demand for silk gauze for the shibugami has fallen. In addition, the production of silk gauze has stopped due to various issues including the lack of successors to carry on the silk weaving traditions.
It has been around 20 years since I started to use this silk gauze as material for my works. I first used it as material for items you wear, but I started to use the material for artwork starting in 2003.
Why am I so particular about this fabric?
First is the transparency of the fabric. It is easy to dye and produces clear colors. When it is layered, the colors and lines overlap creating a mysterious airy feel. The light overlaps. the air swells, and the softness and warmth of the silk envelopes the body.
However, this fabric is usually used as a tool for silk gauze. It is unstable and too fragile to use as a weaving yarn. Its fragility is that the thread bunches together, it is rough, and it is weak. While I was creating the work, and as something that is worn, this causes problems regarding its strength during use. However, what can be regarded as a drawback was something that appealed to me and inspired and motivated my creative works.
My expressions that are created by layering fabrics in various ways are methods to overcome this fragility. In addition, these expressions that were created in one go, just like watercolors and drawings, by layering stitches and dyed silk as if they were paint, is extremely thrilling. What's more, my expressions created through multiple layers of thin fabrics create a profoundness that causes one to fixate on the fabric. It can be said that these are the traces of the days that have been layered over each other.
