Mino Movie & Elevator Jingles!

Konnichiwa!!!
So one of the guys from the team at the project I did in Japan came across a little movie of the exhibition that I did called 'Let Momo Eat Cake' at the 'Mino Washi Museum' and kindly shared it with me. It features the series of work that I created during my time there alongside the work of my lovely, fellow artists in residence, Yoko, Kris and Lena. I especially love the cheesy elevator music that accompanies the montage!!! My stuff is at the end so check it out and don't ask me what the subtitles say as I can't speak the lingo!
For those of you that don't know about the project, I basically spent 3 months living in a small town called Mino, in Gifu Prefecture working with the 'Mino Paper Art Village Project'. I produced a collection of work titled 'Colourful Creatures are Often Poisonous' which you can peep at HERE if you like! We did a whole bunch of fun stuff from paper making to lantern workshops and I also exhibited a piece at the annual 'Akari Art Festival'. Iwas living in a real life Buddhist temple at the top of a hill and got involved in all sorts of antics ranging from almost being killed by a wild boar, dancing around in a Peruvian poncho and eating jacket potatoes with chopsticks. It was a weird and wonderful adventure with the chance to meet so many awesome people and I took about a million photos during my time getting down in the countryside!!! I haven't unleashed these pics on here before, so here's some snapshots from my stint in Mino!!!

I miss this place and the days of drinking an everlasting supply of Matcha latte!!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma
xxx

Notion 50th Issue!!!

Yo Yo Yo from Taiwan....
So after a totally juicy day off spent temple hopping, lantern spying and avoiding weirdos after wandering into a dubious area I was excited when I got back to the studio tonight to see the new, extra special 50th issue of Notion Magazine ready for action on it's online portal! The spectacular Aaron Francis Walker wrote a glorious piece all about my recent 'Colourful Creatures are often Poisonous' collection. It features the images taken as part of my collaboration in Tokyo with photographer Yuji Watanabe during my artist residency at the Mino Paper Art Village Project! Wahhh I love this piece and I'm loving the 50th issue complete with Jessie J on the cover and allsorts of magical content! Thankssss dudes!!!!
In other news I had pre-packed HELLO KITTY jam sandwiches for lunch....best thing EVER!!!
Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing the magazine in all it's printed, glossy glory when I get back to the UK... (my non existent Chinese lingo doesn't branch far enough to find a special magazine shop in Taiwan...) But anyway...go and buy it....or if you can also check out page 20-21 on the online edition HERE!!!
Anyway, I'm off to wash my hair...
Love and Doritos,
Emma xxx

'Let Momo Eat Cake'

Happy New Year and all that!
Thought I would share some pictures from the exhibition that is currently displaying my new pieces that I created whilst in Japan. The exhibition is called 'Let Momo Eat Cake' and also showcases the work of my fellow artists in residence, Yoko Iwanaga, Kristen Plucar and Lena Bui. The presentation opened last month and will run until 10th January at the Mino Washi Museum in Gifu Prefecture.

The opening of 'Let Momo Eat Cake' marked both the end of my project as well as my departure from beautiful Japan. So alongside the gallery launch I also had the task of clearing out my studio, which had pretty much become my second home throughout the past 3 months as a result of the ludicrous amount of hours I spent in there!

It's been awesome working from the studio of dreamsss...we have seen plenty of action...from cake stealing dogs, poisonous centipedes, buns for lunch, late night disco times, juggling ball extravaganzas and plenty of intense gossip sessions! It was so much fun working alongside the girls and I learned to do random stuff like build a lantern and fill up a heater with kerosine....hardcore life skillzzz 'innit??? It was amazing to be able to base myself in Japan for a few months and take advantage of all the opportunities to carry out a load of new research, work with different people and of course experiment with some alternative materials.
It was also great to be able to branch out and take a few trips so I got to see and shop in more places in Japan!
I spent my birthday working in Tokyo on the shoot of my final pieces of work and it was so much fun to work with a whole new bunch of people in a totally different environment...team Tokyo totally rules and I would like to say MEGA THANKS to the crew that helped in creating the images; Yuji, Nao, Chika and Olga!!!

The Tokyo trip in itself is a whole other blog post...so hold your horses for that one!
It was 5 years since my last trip to Japan and I left this time loving it even more! I came back to the UK for Christmas with a ridiculous amount of luggage as a result of all the amazing bits and pieces I picked up over there...however I'm yet to see any of it as my baggage is MIA somewhere in Paris which totally sucks ass as I want to wear my Kimono and use my new cute baking tins!
So I was sad to leave Japan and I will miss things like the 100 yen stores, amazing shopping, grape Fanta, sachets of Matcha latte, awesome magazines, huge tofu sections in supermarkets, super hot boys, appliances that play music and heated toilet seats....however I will certainly not miss the wildlife and I will maintain my fear of nature...that includes snakes, spiders, bears and wild boars!!!
Anways if you happen to be in Gifu...pop along to the museum and check out the exhibition!!!!
Love and Sparkles
Emma

' Colourful Creatures are often Poisonous...'

Photographer: Yuji Watanabe

Hello Hello!!!
So amongst the festivities and all I thought I would also show you the outcome of the off-season collection of showpieces that I have been working on for the past 3 months in the studio in Japan! As you know I've been creating a new series of works based around the idea of combining the traditional qualities of paper with more current materials.
The final chapter of my dream time spent in Japan working as Artist in Residence, as part of the Mino Paper Art Village Project, culminated in a collaborative photoshoot with an awesome team in Tokyo.


Here's the official spiele about my new work...
'The concept behind 'Colourful Creatures are often Poisonous...' was to utilise Mino Washi in terms of a collaboration between traditional and contemporary materials. My ethos was to combine locally produced paper with unconventional fabrics, techniques and silhouettes to generate an overall collection of garments that represent a fusion of established craft and experimental fashion and textile design.
Mino washi is featured in each piece of the collection and combined materials include polypropylene , vintage kimono fabric, latex, PVC, lurex and metal trimmings. Inclusive techniques involve print, embroidery, crochet, knit, hand embellishment and weaving.
Mino City acted as a muse for my works and prior research. Influences included landscape tones and form in which I translated mountains into colourful geometric layered shapes and used saturated hues derived from my environments and surroundings in Mino. Experiences with the local wildlife encouraged an exploration of various protection techniques used by animals and humans. The notion that often in nature, plants and animals use bright colours to exude the impression of being toxic to predators, provided the basis for my colour palette and this was combined with the human technique of using bells to alert nearby creatures of their presence. '

Photographer:Yuji Watanabe
Hair:Chika Kimura
Make:Nao Yoshida
Model: Olga@Yoshi Inc
And that's the basic juice about the new pieces....they are currently being exhibited as part of 'Let Momo Eat Cake' at the Mino Washi Museum, Gifu Prefecture, Japan until January 10th...more to come on that next time!!!
Love and Wild Boars!!!
Emma xxxx

Still in Japan....!!!

Hello from Japan!
I have been 100% rubbish in updating my blog over this past couple of months....I've been locked away in the studio around the clock working on my new pieces which will be unleashing tomorrow at the opening of the exhibition!
I can't believe I have been here for 3 months now and in a few days I will wave sayonara to Japan and whizz off to the UK just in time for Christmas!
For most of the time it's been work akimbo here in the studio in Mino however, a couple of weeks ago I took a few days break to Osaka and Kyoto! That was mucho fun and even the novelty of lying in bed, watching Columbo and eating ice lollies was GLORIOUSSS as I was mega mega exhausted!
Last week I was working up in Tokyo! All of my new pieces for my off-season collection were hauled up there and I got to work with an awesome team in creating a series of images of my latest work which, will also be exhibited in the museum alongside the garments. There was also some time for plenty of shopping, sightseeing and general fun timezzzz!
Oooooh and be sure to check out the feature all about my time as Artist in Residence in Japan that I wrote in the new issue of Notion Magazine... it's out now so pop to the shops and get your juicy copy...or if you are snowed in or whatever you can also read the piece online by clicking HERE!!!!!
I would really like to write more but, after installing in the gallery and frantically wrapping everything up over this past few days I would really love to wash my hair tonight and go to sleep...
I'll be whipping out the images of the exhibition, which is titled, 'Let Momo Eat Cake' alongside the photoshoot in the next few days once launches/farewell parties/ flights of doom/packing and sleeping are all out the way...I'll slip out further tales of Japan times and photos too...FO SHO.
I shall leave you with a couple of snaps from my Osaka extravaganza!!!

Toodle Pip for now!!!
Love and Sushi,
Emma
xxxx

Akari Art Lantern Festival, Wild Boars and Other Stuff!

Hello from Japan!
So it's been a super busy couple of weeks settling into my new residency here in Japan! Been up to all sorts from parties to paper making workshops and the main bit of action has been working towards the deadline for the upcoming annual Akari Art Lantern Festival in Mino City. I've been working on my piece since I arrived and my lantern is a unicorn that also doubles up as some type of headgear! There's the photos above! The exhibition opens tomorrow and I'm sooo excited!
My piece is titled 'Cornelius the Unicorn of Dreams'....not quite sure how that translates in Japanese and it's made mainly from Mino Washi alongside other stuff including rhinestones, wool, bamboo and metal!It's kind of ridiculous and I'm trying to think of how I can transport this beast back to England when I return!
Papermaking was really awesome as we got to hang out at the Mino Washi Museum for a few days learning the skillzzz...really fun...this is how it rolled:

Now that my piece for the lantern exhibition is wrapped up I'm starting working on my new project which involves making a series of garments from textiles created out of paper...so it's been latex, knitting, weaving and sampling galore this week!!
Ok...so here are a few choice photos of what's been going down!

I've taken about a million photos so far...it's a really amazing town! I'm getting to grips with the nature thing...although tonight I had a close encounter with a wild boar which was the worst experience of my whole life as it was like 2 metres away and growled at me....thought I was going to die!
Also I have started a photo diary which basically documents my entire project here as artist in residence...you can CLICK HERE to ch ch check it out!
Roll on the lantern exhibition!!!!
Love and tropical animals,
Emma
xxx