A Look Into Our Classes 1 "Creative Expression"

There are various people who teach in Kawashima Textile School’s Professional Course. In addition to the full time teachers, we invite artists, designers, and technical experts as guest teachers and lecturers from outside the school, to create an open, positive atmosphere. In this series we will introduce you to some of the classes held in the Professional Course.



On July 9 for Hyôgenron (Creative Expression) class, we invited fiber sculptor Kanae Tsutsumi as a guest lecturer to speak and show her work and material about her time studying abroad, with "About Finland, About Textiles I Saw," as the theme. We were able to feel her sincere attitude toward weaving.

During the 7 years after finishing her Masters Degree, she has worked on tapestry weaving. Her work changed dramatically during her 9-month stay in Finland through 2018-2019. Born and raised in Japan, she took an interest in her own roots, taking inspiration from Japanese textile crafts such as Zabuton, and started to show her own woven fabric as sculptures. The lecture progressed as she traced her time in Finland, such as applying for the scholarship program, how she planned her stay, her interaction with collectors of Ryijy (a traditional craft), about natural dyeing, and holding an exhibition.

To the students, she advised, “Be quick and active to experience now what would help you be who you would aspire to be in 5 years, or 10 years in the future. Even though you might be worried about an uncertain future, you may be inspired by something tomorrow or next week. Work hard on whatever is in front of you until that time comes.” 


-What does weaving mean to you?
"Something that has made my life more fun."

“I entered an Art University (Kyoto Seika University) since I loved to draw, but I didn't like my lines. Then I came upon tapestry weaving, found out how interesting it was that the lines couldn’t be perfectly replicated, and that made making much more fun. I love the weight that I feel beneath my nails when I push down the yarn, when weaving tapestries.”


About Kanae Tsutsumi
Facebook: @lanlanae
Instagram: @tsutsumikanae1006
Kanae Tsutsumi creates work with “the act of weaving” as a basis, taking interest in details that are born from the accumulation of fibers, a kind of inconvenience occurring from the composition of the warp and weft, and looms, which have both sides of simplicity and complexity. She has earned a Masters of Arts in the Graduate School of Art (Textiles) at Kyoto Seika University and has been teaching there in the Textiles Course as a lecturer since 2015.