KOBO Seattle | since 1995
$ 450.00
Glass Pyrograph on embossed paper, 2007. Made by Seattle-based artist Etsuko Ichikawa.
11.5” x 7.5”
The embossed texts are written in Japanese in Roman alphabet, and are selected essays from Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness). It was written sometime between 1330 and 1332 by Kaneyoshi Urabe (a.k.a. Kenko Yoshida), a Zen Buddhist monk, and is comprised of a preface and 243 passages. Tsurezuregusa is widely considered a gem of medieval Japanese literature.
Preface:
"What a strange, demented feeling it gives me when I realize I have spent whole days before this inkstone, with nothing better to do, jotting down at random whatever nonsensical thoughts have entered my head."
A multi-media artist, filmmaker, and activist, Etsuko Ichikawa, was born in Tokyo and graduated from Tokyo Zokei University in Japan in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts. In 1993 she moved to Washington State to study at the Pilchuck Glass School. She worked for eight years as a studio assistant for Dale Chihuly before starting an independent studio in Seattle in 2003. Ichikawa’s work has been exhibited internationally and is represented by Winston Wächter Fine Art in Seattle and New York. In 2020, she was awarded the prestigious Artist Trust Innovator Award for her work with uranium glass. Ichikawa now divides her time between Seattle and Tokyo.