I make things out of paper.

Sun Motifs

2009-11-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Doodles in my sketchbook...

A Good Day

2009-10-21T21:04:00.000-07:00

I've been drawing lots of sun motifs lately. I need sunshine. Where I grew up, you can go weeks and weeks in grey blah-ness. I have SAD, I don't like grey. One day soon, I'll talk more about this.

Today was a good day. It was sunny and warm. Walking home from work I saw this scene. I don't know why, but I was captivated by the man fixing the Buddhist Church parking lot sign. It reminded me of my trip to Boracay, in the Philippines when I visited an artist's studio there ten years ago. It was basically a shack, without even 4 walls. But every morning the artist was out sweeping the yard out in front, and his works laid out carefully for passers by to see.

Adam and I were talking about memory last night - what things we remember, and what things we don't. I remember scenes that made me change who I am, decide things, come to realizations. (I'm terrible at remembering movies or tv shows, although that means I can watch the same ones over and over again!)

I remember thinking that I really admired how much care he took of his space, no matter how bare and simple.

This is my space. Quite simple too... Full of lots of little bits, mostly paper. I'm trying to appreciate where I live, even if the sun doesn't always get in.

Never stop creating...

2009-10-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

...even when you're too tired to think. Your brain will keep on working on it, and file the ideas away somewhere...

The 10,000 Project

2009-10-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is where i sit every day to drink coffee read pull pencil lines across paper make grocery shopping lists mend holes in tshirts write birthday messages look at the curtain while peeling a pink grapefruit and think about how much i really like you.

www.arthousecoop.com/users/yuchiba

Artists I Like Right Now

2009-09-03T07:30:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break from talking about my art and taiko. It's important to see what else is going on out there, I truly believe that.

I'm really interested in two artists right now, that other people have introduced me to. One is Henry Evans, a botanical printmaker. I love how expressive and how simple his work is.

I love what he has to say about choosing subjects:

"Within any given range of subject matter, the artist can usually find, as I have, an enormous assortment of individual subjects to draw. For reasons not too easy to explain, some subjects are more appealing to the public than others. Equally mysteriously, when an artist is drawn to a subject, and perhaps puts more of himself into it, the public tends to respond more deeply, more enthusiastically. Some sort of mutual-encouragement syndrome seems to develop. When you manage to convey your all-too-human feeling in a work of art, certain people who see it will vicariously experience some of the intensity of your involvment and will become absorbed by, and possessive of, what you have done. When this is combined with a very familiar or sentimentally loaded subject, the response is even stronger and the desire to possess the picture seems to increase."

I understand this, but only through experience. The less I worry about what I think others would like to see and just think about what I want to happen in my art, the more people seem to respond to it.

Also, talking about the process of cutting and fitting blocks:

"I sometimes look at the work of other artist in galleries, museums, and friends' homes. Much of it seems intentionally casual, and I confess I am sometimes a little envious of the happy carelessness of other artists. I am quite convinced that there is some virtue in "good clean work," but I'm not sure I could tell you exactly what it is. The artist must listen to the voice inside him. Mine seems to abhor carelessness. The voice is always there, so I guess that's the way it has to be."

(From Henry Evans Botanical Prints: With Exerpts From the Artist's Notebooks, 1977 - Thank you Megan!)

The other artist that I like instinctually, but have to find out more about is Rex Ray.

Do investigations into other people's work, to find out more about your own.

"Go deep into something..."

2009-08-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

"Go deep into something." is what Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble said at Stanford last year. (Do you remember this, Shoji?) It was a forum on composition at the Collegiate Taiko Invitational with Roy Hirabayashi, Kenny Endo and Shoji. I was taking scratchy notes on the back of a handout. I keep this nearby so I can look at it from time to time - I love it.

These were Shoji's Guidelines for Composing:

1. Start with where you are, and with what you have. ("You may have great music in you, but it's underneath a bunch of crud.")

2. Be a sponge.

3. Never stop improving.

4. Don't get precious about your work or art form.

5. Find your voice. Be inspired by, not a derivative of. ("Is this musical idea really working, or is it just me showing off?")

I think all these things apply to creating art too.

I opened up my sketchbook this afternoon, stared at the blank pages wondering about the theme I'm supposed to follow... This is what came out. I'm not being precious. And I am trying to get at what's under all the crud.

My Canvas Project submission is now showing at the Atlanta Airport. It's the green one in the right frame - top row, second from the right. It's so small, but it's me showing. I don't do that, ever. Amongst cool art from all over the world. So different and interesting.

The Sketchbook Project

2009-08-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Taiko Conference in LA. My brain is still mulling over a lot of different things. As usual, creativity is one of those things.

I found this bookmark that I made, in one of my old notebooks. It reads "Only a food imitates. It is better to do bad work of one's own." - George Bizet

Do I really believe this now?

Psycho Daiko is the second taiko group I belonged to, when I was teaching in Japan. I wrote 2 songs for this group (called "Yaki Neko" and "Sakana Milkshake"!). I didn't think about how "good" they were as compositions at the time. We played them and enjoyed them and the audience enjoyed us. That was enough.

I haven't written anything for many years.

I want to, and have many ideas. But I need to start somewhere...

As usual, my art is following along the same themes. I have many many ideas. But where to start?

A sketchbook.

I'm starting on my new arthouse project tonight - the Sketchbook Project. I'm going to try to post something each week, even if it's bad. It'll be bad work of my own.

Distractions

2009-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

I finally updated my etsy store!

I haven't felt much like writing lately. Things go like that... It's always about finding balance and the right rhythm of life because I always do too much of one thing and not enough of the other.

My university major was in psychology, so I can't help but psychologize. Psychology is so interesting! If you get a chance, read Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia." (Here's a clip on PBS where he explores themes from the book.) Or anything else by Oliver Sacks for that matter. He's kind of my hero.

My own narrative, is always accompanied by a meta analysis of the narrative from physiological and sociological perspectives. My brain has too much space devoted to figuring out how people think. No wonder I'm happiest when I'm playing taiko or playing with paper - the simplicity of "don" and "blue looks nice with yellow" is grand.

When I was young and things got hard at home (my parents are socially challenged non-traditional first generation arranged-marriage Japanese who moved to Canada without money later in life), I could never understand why my mother would just start singing or fall back into drawing flowers when she couldn't answer my questions. I get it now. Not only do Japanese of her generation not talk about anything, but after years of grating tension without resolve - it really was the best option. That and religion...

It's an escape.

For some people it's tv or sports. Mine is cutting out dots.

The Canvas Project

2009-07-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Imitate

My most recent project is working on 5 mini canvases (3" x 3") from the Art House Coop. (Click on the link to see my portfolio.) Hopefully one of my canvases will be displayed amongst hundreds of other artists' works at the Atlanta Airport from the end of July through the beginning of September. If you happen to be there, look out of me!

The project's instructions were to make anything, based on 5 words that were chosen randomly for me.

Argentum

Wild

Savant

Shimmer

Honestly, I sat on these for about 3 months totally stuck on the concept. Then it hit me - I should do them the way I always do my art. My art is based on plants, people, bright colours, and layering paper. After that, the rest came quickly.

Am I happy with them? Yes. Because I made them without overthinking, they are a good representation of what I do. And this is significant for me! I've spent such a long time trying to figure out what is me.

My favourite one is Savant. I like to think of people as having a garden in their minds. Some have very simple straight connecting branches that rarely change. While others have a constantly growing tangled mess, which yield some thorns and some flowers.

Finding Balance

2009-06-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

I play taiko AND make things out of paper. Lately, I've been mostly on taiko and finding my balance tipping... Makes me tippy, whatever that means.

Back to art!

Don't forget your mothers!

2009-05-07T08:20:00.000-07:00

My mom is kooky, but I love her. For all of you who grew up having to navigate through two cultures at once, check out My Mom is a Fob. You will cry with laughter.

A lot of my art style comes from mom. She used to drive me crazy because she couldn't throw anything away in her insistence it could be repurposed. And more than large expensive things, she could always find pleasure in small things. Flowers, especially.

"Now we see young green
and buds of magnoria and other flowers.
pray for the pig desease problem.quickly.
see you soon.!!!!"

Happy Mother's Day! I miss you.

An Average Yurika

2009-04-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people ask me how I stay inspired and motivated to keep on creating. Part of it is that I can't help it. Part of it is that I'm selfish and somewhat lazy...

When I'm not in the mood to create, I don't. I used to get frustrated that ideas wouldn't come to me when I wanted them to, but now I go and do something else and consider that time "incubation time." My brain is working on the problem, indirectly and at some point something inevitably comes of it.

I also like to work while I can watch a movie or listen to music or talk on the phone. Somehow, distracting my conscious mind from the art project makes my hands do the work on their own. For the times when I get really stuck, I have a note stuck to my lamp that says, "WHEN STUCK, GO BACK TO MATERIALS." I have been collecting materials for many years (yes, many people would call it bins of junk) and when I go and look at them, I usually get an idea.

I've been making cards for many many years. And I think that over the years it's really been about finding out what my style is, finding out more about ME though creating. I know what I like to make, I know what my body is good at making. I know what I can't do, so I don't force those things, though I am always trying to learn at the same time.

It's really the same with taiko, especially when it comes to soloing. There are still rules to follow and I know what they are and am continually trying to improve. BUT, there comes a point when you need to know who you are musically, to develop beyond...

So I keep plugging away, chugging away, gluing and playing and trying to enjoy the ride.

"Sculpture is like farming. If you keep at it, you can get quite a lot done." - Ruth Asawa

Learning and Relearning from Myself

2009-04-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in "The Canvas Project: Volume 2" put on by the Art House Gallery. I'm trying to figure out what my style is.

Looking through old sketchbooks...

"Creativity... is starting with something that moves you aesthetically, a visual attraction and deciding to capture something about it and then allowing yourself to take chances with the medium and style pushing together what feels good and right and trying new things that feel different and scary and taking into consideration the dissonances unil you decide on something that you like and decide that is what defines your style and not caring that other people may not understand or like your style. Creativity = liberation!"

Sometimes I am amazed at how forgetful I am. I've already been through this before!

You can inspire yourself.

This is Not a Valentine's Day Post

2009-02-11T21:53:00.001-08:00

Yes it is. I'm a sappy sucker for romance.

Probably because I learned everything I knew about "love" from tv and movies. My parents had an arranged marriage and never showed each other affection. I doubted that they even liked each other for a long long time.

For a short while, I lived up in Guerneville, California - a quirky resort town deep in the redwoods. I worked at a pizzeria called Main St. Station, where they played live jazz music every night. One of their regular musicians, Niles, was a tree cutter by day and double-bassist by night. His girlfriend Tamara would come and listen, almost everytime he played. I was inspired, watching their passion fuel the music and the music fuel their passion...

I hope they are still there, together.

In Japan, PDA (public displays of affection) are not so common - at least when I was there. Friends - even family - don't hug after a long time of not seeing each other. And you never see an older couple touching. Maybe that's why I really don't mind PDA, I think it's rather great. Heck, I think we all need to see it. Young, old, gay, straight, mixed race couples... It happens.

"Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquestionable." - Bruce Lee

My Mother, Guest Artist

2009-01-21T09:20:00.000-08:00

"From Alice, California mini avocado," Reiko Chiba, January 19, 2009

Ten years ago, I wrote this in my notebook...

Mom's Dream: Mom wanted to be an artist up until she was in grade 3. As a child, she and her sisters would often sit on the verandah and draw pictures of little girls in dresses - much like themselves - to send to their father who was far away in China.

In grade 3, the education system in Japan changed. There was a profound insecurity about the Japanese way of doing things. Teachers and students believed that the educations sytem was flawed and made deliberate efforts to learn from other countries. Before, art class had consisted of drawing and colouring, then after the war elementary school students suddenly lost their outlet for creative expression.

To my mother, who loved to draw, this meant giving up her own scribbling in favour of learning from others. She'd spend hours copying works of art from art books and became quite good at it. But through this development of skill, she lost her interest in becoming an artist.

At the time, I was reading a book called, "Finding Your Perfect Work." It made me curious about other people's dreams, so I interviewed my mother. She paints beautiful watercolours and used to tell me when I was little that she once wanted to be an artist. I needed to find out more.

It made me curious about my own dreams, though they seem to change daily still...

("Wagamama," 2000)

"When I get goosebumps from an idea or possibility, I know I better proceed that way."
- Rusty Berkus, poet

Yellow Flowers

2009-01-19T11:23:00.000-08:00

We are dust and to dust return.

In the end we're

neither air, nor fire, nor water.

just

dirt,

neither more nor less, just dirt

and maybe

some yellow flowers.

(From "Ode to Some Yellow Flowers," by Pablo Neruda)

Winter

2008-12-09T08:59:00.001-08:00

It's December and sunny in California. But that doesn't matter, I still want to hibernate...

I walked down 7th street the other day and saw the pomegranates squished on the pavement. Splat. That's how I've been feeling lately. My body is unreliable.

My friend Laura reminded me years ago, that the fruit falls off for a reason. And that it's not a waste... It's to rot, then nourish the roots of the tree so that it can live through the winter and get on with its cycle.

And do the same thing again next year, hopefully a little taller and a little stronger.

Ode to Tomatoes

2008-11-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

Pablo Neruda is one of my favourite poets. He wrote lots of odes to vegetables! (Even one about artichokes.) Here's an excerpt from "Ode to Tomatoes."

the tomato,
star of earth, recurrent
and fertile
star,
displays
its convolutions,
its canals,
its remarkable amplitude
and abundance,
no pit,
no husk,
no leaves or thorns,
the tomato offers
its gift
of fiery color
and cool completeness.

And his Love poetry! Oy, if you have time, read his love sonnets sometime...

(From "Love Sonnet LXXIX")

Home

2008-11-04T08:43:00.000-08:00

Home is on my mind a lot lately.

Like, where is my home? I haven't lived in Toronto since 1995. I haven't lived in any one place for more than 3 years at a time, really.

When I lived in Japan, I thought it was so weird that people put so much into their cars - decorations, slipper trays, fancy cup holders. But then I realized that it was because in most households in Japan, there is no privacy. People make their cars their "home."

I think I do that with my art space...

Although there's been times when that home was a sarong, some pencil crayons and glue.

1. My first place in Toronto, when I was a U of T student.
2. Suisan Fisheries School, Tokushima, Japan
3. Tokushimakita High School, Tokushima, Japan (Look for the stuffed moose and beaver.)
4. Housesitting, Melbourne, Australia (Oh, Canadian flag here too!)
5. Campground, Darwin, Australia
6. Takoma Park, Maryland
7. Cabin in the mountains, Guerneville, California
8. Sebastopol, California (I shared this space with a writer. It was across the street from the cemetary.)

I like that my current home has sunshine and taiko. I might stay here awhile.

Artichoke Way

2008-09-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I wandered down 7th Street, which I call Artichoke Way. The artichokes are all dry and brown now, but still gorgeous and interesting...

Hmmm. Still made me feel a little sad.

But as I stood there looking, a man came out of the house beside the artichokes. He was carrying a guitar and was saying something to me - I couldn't hear him at first because I was listening to music (maybe Tears for Fears?). He said, "Hey! Do you want to see the baby artichokes?"

On his porch he had about 20 cups of little baby artichoke sprouts!

I thanked him for planting the artichokes and he went back inside. I don't know why, but that made my day.

The next week I went down 7th St. again to look at the artichokes and saw something I never noticed before - a pomegranate tree. How did I miss that? Pomegranates are also wacky! I love them, their little crowns on the bottom.

You just never know what is right in front of you, if you really keep your eyes open.

Always trying to keep my eyes open. Always trying to make time for friendship.

I have one Follower! I'm thrilled.

"I have been a..."

2008-08-18T20:53:00.000-07:00

In 2003 I took a writing workshop with Diane Di Prima. She wanted us to practice "holding paradox." We would free write for 5 minutes and then sit silently for 5 minutes.

One of the 5 minute exercises was to finish the sentence, "I have been a..."

This is what I wrote:

I have been a...

Dancing dirty vacuum sucking in oily foul air
Dancing munchkin happy about nothing
Bottled up bursting acid
Snail watching the world can't move fast enough
Hysteric
Car wreck
Damp dirty towel
Blubbering crybaby
Sourpuss
Black plastic vase - aren't my flowers pretty though?
Orange sweet fruit only fruit
Black dot, a bullet ordering all and every list
Lonely raven perched up the top of the watchtower tree
Fluid disappearing stream
Major chord then a dissonant one (on purpose)
A multipurpose room
Hole-y socks
Poisonous mushroom
Dried squid sweet but tough on your teeth
Button, not a buttonhole
Fruit rollup stuck to the floor
Major catastrophe report
Empty empty vast empty dark room
Set of spikes ready to strike poke make you bleed
Warm cornbread cupcake sweet and grainy
Little apple, not the big beautiful juicy one on the branch
Set of ribbons pink and curling to the floor
Metal ball on a string swinging in perfect time, one of many
Cat my eyes go up my paws together I hate it when my fur isn't going all the same way
Sticky candy
Dirty comb
Toilet paper holder
Set of dendrites twitching feeling conveying firing
Soft velvety leather, so warm and smooth
A wind-whipped sprout so happy to be at the beach

The bottle one caught my eye today. Over the years I've drawn bottles. Lots of bottles and vessels. I didn't realize I was doing that until starting this blog and going back through sketchbooks. A metaphor for my life? Or just that bottles are always in front of me when I feel like drawing... No more bottles for me. I prefer to be the wind-whipped sprout at the beach.

Portraits

2008-07-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

PJ, 1993

Wendy, circa 2001

Waggie, 2002

Mikiko-obachan, 2002

Self Portrait, 2001

Self Portrait, circa 1996

Mom, circa 1996

Jeremy, 2002

Artichokes on 7th St.

2008-07-16T20:32:00.000-07:00

Where I come from, crazy giant plants do not grow on the street. I used to walk neighborhoods a lot though, back home, in Japan, in Oz. Looking looking looking. I started to walk again, around Japantown and found it is an amazing neighborhood. Everyday I see something *special* - one day it was a tiny elderly lady staring up into a tree, another day it was a possum waddling through rose bushes.

My favourite find were these artichoke plants, growing wild on the side of the road. They just grow here! I find that wacky. I'm from Toronto, a bustling city with a short growing season. Sure, it's green but trees and nice gardens kind of green. Tulips, sure. Artichoke plants - no way!

Somehow they speak to me...

I also found some giant globe artichokes on the way to Reno. Yumi was my model to show how big they were.

Yes, I do love to eat them too!

"Artichokes on 7th Street" 2008

Streetpainting

2008-06-14T08:42:00.001-07:00

The summer is in full swing! It's been busy already... In June, Arn, Spence and I participated in the San Rafael Streetpainting festival. This was my 6th festival. Two days of drawing in the hot sun. I love it. It is a great festival put on by Youth in Arts - it's all to raise money for kids to do art.

Click to see more pictures from this year and last year.

Art For Sale

2008-06-05T13:43:00.001-07:00

On Friday, June 20th, San Jose Taiko will be holding their 35th Anniversary Benefit Dinner. There are still tickets left! It will be an evening of delicious food (I was there when we decided on the menu), some taiko (both a performance and hands-on activities), and a silent auction. All to raise money for a great cause - to help San Jose Taiko maintain and expand its public workshops, school outreach, public performances, and artistic residencies.

I'm going to donate a few things...

A stationary set (everything handmade), which includes a handbound journal, cards, bookmarks and washi magnets.

And a watercolour version of the "I Love Taiko Girl" that's on the SJT kidsweb page. This drawing was inspired by one of the JT kids. I saw a photo of her grinning her head off at the JT recital, I could tell how much she really did love taiko!

Come to the dinner!