Sarah Brayer: " Moon Shadow"

"The moon has captivated me for the past few years as a subject in my art. Often when I leave my home, the moon sits high in the sky framed by the bamboo and paper window in our Kyoto home. Moon Shadow was inspired by one of these momentary glimpses through the window at the crescent moon. The softness of the paper grid, against the subtle sky greys and the crisp white crescent are the tones and textures that inspire me. The choice of papers and muted colors point to (Japanese) "shibui", an understated, yet vital, elegance."

Sarah Brayer

Please click on the arrow to see the Sarah Brayer's "Moon Shadow" video.



www.vernegallery.com

Recent Acquisitions at the Verne Gallery

"Chibi: Little Star or Little one" 2001 By Daniel Kelly
woodblock, lithography and handcoloring

The Verne collection invites you to view our “Recent Acquisitions” at www.vernegallery.com. Please check the “Verne Blog” periodically for new acquisitions and interesting articles.

The Verne Gallery will be celebrating its 55th Anniversary this year. In honor of the anniversary, we will be featuring the very first imports of Mitzie Verne (The Founder) in 1955. These works were the Hand Stencil Dyed Prints of Keisuke Serizawa, the Living National Art Treasure and the leader of the Mingei (folk art) movement in the 1950's in Japan. As many of you may be aware, there is major exhibition in honor of Serizawa at Japan Society in New York. Many of the Serizawa Hand Stencil Dyed prints and the Serizawa fans we will be showing have been in the Verne private collection for over fifty years and some were recently discovered at a small mingei shop in Japan.
"Taming the Dragon" 2001 by Daniel Kelly
etching, aquatint and handcoloring

“Children’s Parade” by Daniel Kelly, collected by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other rare, early prints will be featured at this year’s Print Fairs and in our “Recent Acquisitions “ section on the website. “Foggy Morning”, a large lithograph created in 1984 was completed exclusively for the Verne Collection.. Kelly’s most recent woodblock print, Camellia will also be shown for the first time.


"Foggy Morning" 1984 by Daniel Kelly
lithograph and painting

Sarah Brayer is the first Western woman to ever have her print selected for the cover of the CWAJ Contemporary Japanese Print Show in Tokyo. She is the only westerner who has been invited to make her handmade paper art work in the papermaking village of Echizen. Her work has been collected by The British Museum and The Smithsonian. She was born in Rochester, New York, but has lived in Japan for over twenty five years. We will be featuring her latest paperwork “Moon Shadow” as well as her one of a kind handmade paperworks in “Recent Acquisitions”.

"Moon Shadow" (2009) by Sarah Brayer
aquatint and handmade paper
limited edition of 10

Katsunori Hamanishi is the most important mezzotint artist in Japan. His work has been collected by The British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum, The Cleveland Museum of Art, MOMA, The Smithsonian and many other major art museums. In honor of the 55th Anniversary, he has created a special print from his Japanese Tea Room Window series called "Window # 22". Don’t miss his other wonderful “ Tea Room Window” prints and his new series called “Origami”.
"Red Umbrella" 2009 by Shigeki Kuroda
painting

We have recently collected some great early drawings and prints by Mayumi Oda, a wonderful new engraving of a wood covered bridge by Takuji Kubo, whimsical woodblocks of beauties by Tuula Moilanen, Shigeki Kuroda’s new “Red and Black “ Bicycle and Umbrella paintings, Farmhouse lithographs by Brian Williams, and Yuko Kimura's new series "Fusion", Last but not least, we will be featuring major works by Shinsui (The Snowstorm-1932), Hasui, (Evening Snow at Terjima-1920 and Zojoji-1925), and Kiyoshi Saito (Meditation Paris.)

Morningtide, Gualala. 2009 by Micah Schwaberow
woodblock print

Please come and see us at the following “Art Fairs” in 2009 and 2010:

October 9-11
Cleveland Museum of Art Fine Print Fair (Cleveland, Ohio)

November 4-8
IFPDA Print Fair (New York Armory 67th and Park Avenue)

December 2-6
Ink Miami, Suites of Dorchester, 1850 Collins Ave.

January 27-31
Los Angeles Art Show,L.A. Convention Center

February 4-7
Arts of Pacific Asia,(Fort Mason: The Festival Pavilion)

February 18-21
Works On Paper,(New York Armory 67th and Park Avenue)

First weekend in April,Washington D.C. Fine Print Fair, Rosslyn, Virginia

I hope you enjoy the new website at www.vernegalley.com

Thank you, Michael Verne
Gallery: 216-231-8866 Cell: 216-337-0340

Keisuke Serizawa By Mitzie Verne

Fan with bamboo handle by Keisuke Serizawa (1895-1984)
Living National Art Treasure
Master of Stencil Dyeing (Katazome)

Exactly 100 years after Commodore Perry opened Japan to the Western world , my husband, Daniel Verne received orders to report to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokusaka during the Korean conflict. In 1953, I was so naive, I thought Yokosuka was some place off the coast of California. It was. It was Yokosuka, Japan.

We never lived on the U.S. Navy base. At first we lived in Kamakura and then we moved to Hayama, where Emperor Hirohito had a summer villa on the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the Emperor truly was our neighbor in Japan.

I became most interested in Japanese Mingei (folk art). The Japanese government was concerned,that with the industialization of Japan, all the traditional folk arts and crafts would disappear. In 1953, I collected my first Serizawa hand stencil dyed prints on paper. Shortly after, I would have the honor of meeting with Soetsu Yanagi, the founder of the Mingei movement. In 1956, the Japanese government designated their top 33 craftsman "Living National Treasures". At the age of 61, Serizawa was among the original 33. Each artisan was given a small stipend to train two or three apprentices each year so that after the master was gone, the art form would continue.

When we returned to the United States in 1954, even before Serizawa was designated a "Living National Treasure", I became the sole United States representative of some of Serizawa's and his apprentices hand stencil dyed prints on handmade mulberry(kozo) paper. I wanted to introduce the best of Japanese folk art to the Western world.

Fish (1955-1975) by Serizawa Keisuke
Katazome: hand stencil dye print

On our many trips back to Japan in the 1960's, in 1974, and in 1982 we met with Serizawa at his studio. We found Serizawa to be a wonderful modest man with a great sense of humor. When my son Michael (President and Owner of The Verne Collection), Dan and I had tea with him, he invited us to join him in one of his impromptu costume parties. He donned a Meiji period fireman's coat and gave me an elegant Okinawan wedding gown to wear . I likened it to "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party.
"Keisuke Serizawa" Caricature by Daniel Verne

The Verne Collection has loaned and givenSerizawa hand stencil dyed prints to many museums:

1985: Mitzie Verne gave a lecture on Serizawa at the Mingei Museum in San Diego. Serizawa hand stencil dyed prints and fans were on loan to the Mingei Museum

2001: The Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Corning Gallery featured "Keisuke Serizawa, A National Treasure of Japan": from the Verne Gallery.

2004-2005: The Cleveland Museum of Art showed Serizawa's Katazome prints in "Visions of Japan from Three Cleveland Collections.

2005: The Morikami Museum of Japanese Folk Art in Delray Beach, Florida "The Emperor Was My Neighbor in Japan". Featured the works of Serizawa and Otsu-e from the Verne Collection.

There are four museums in Japan devoted exclusively to the works of Keisuke Serizawa. Serizawa's work have been on loan to the Louvre and The Grand Palais in Paris. The Boston Museum of Fine Art opened its new Asian wing in 1983. The first show was "The Living National Treasures of Japan". Serizawa's work was on the cover of the catalog.

"Serizawa: Master of Japanese Textile Design" opens at Japan Society in New York. Japan Society's website headline is,"Japan Society Gallery Celebrates Serizawa, Keisuke, Seminal Figure in Japanese Art".

The Verne Gallery will be showing Serizawa's hand stencil dyed prints and fans at the International Fine Print Dealers Association "Print Fair" in New York City at the 67th and Park Avenue Armory opening on Thursday, November 5 through Sunday, November 8th. In honor of the 55th Anniversary of the Verne Collection, The Verne Gallery will be featuring many of these Serizawa hand stencil dyed prints and fans that have been in the private collection for over 55 years. Please come and see us at "The Print Fair" in New York.

Mitzie Verne
(Founder of the Verne Gallery of Japanese Art in 1954)

Verne Collection website:www.vernegallery.com

Inspirations from the Prints & Plates at the Verne Gallery by Yuko Kimura

“Fusion no.1”(2009) collage of intaglio monoprint, enamel on copper, thread by Yuko Kimura

Working at the Verne Collection for over five years, I have found some wonderful inspirations for my artwork. As a printmaker, I have been particularly interested in observing printmaking plates along with the artists’ prints at the gallery. As the coordinator on the Japan trips the Verne Gallery organized for collectors, I have had the opportunity to meet the artists and observe them working in their studios. Some artists showed us various printmaking plates that they had been working on. They spend so many hours working on plates before actually starting to print on paper.

Currently, some of the beautiful small etching copper plates by Brian Williams are on view at the Verne Gallery. The print & plate is an earlier work by Brian of farmhouses near Kyoto, Japan. Many visitors at the gallery said that it is so fascinating to look at the detail of the plates. The black ink that is applied into the etching lines appears to be ready to print on paper. However, the ink is totally dry on the surface.

“Shiga House” (1980) etching print & plate by Brian Williams

Other plates that always attract print collectors are Daniel Kelly’s woodblock plates (plywood)that he used for “Butter Cup” (2008). Daniel originally used these plates as packing material for shipping the whole edition of 50 prints to the gallery from Kyoto last fall. He sent three plates and both the front and back were carved and used for printing. Each plate was used to separate the different colors, and it required over ten separate blocks and endless stages of printing to produce one image. The same block can be printed over several times to create the subtle shading from dark to light called “Bokashi”. On the surface, you can see all the carving marks with residue of inks and pencil registration marks. Whenever people ask questions about woodblock prints, these plates help people understand how difficult it is to produce traditional Japanese woodblock prints. The idea for this was based on a small woodblock print called “Buttercups” that Daniel made in the early 80’s which was collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“Butter Cup”(2008) woodblock plates and print on handmade paper from Nepal by Daniel Kelly

Another woodblock plate in the Verne Collection is by Clifton Karhu. The title of this piece is “ Ise Eatery”. In the plate , it shows the entrance door of the restaurant, and it is written”meshi”in Japanese character which literally means a bowl of rice or a meal. When we visited the Karhu’s old studio a few years ago when he was still alive, his wall space was filled and decorated with his woodblock plates above the shoji windows. The carved woodblock surfaces were all coated with brown varnish. I remember that Mr.Karhu showed us some of the unique plates that show only snowflakes or only rain. He would use them for adding the weather changes to any images. It was wonderful to see the woodblock plates as architectural elements at the Karhu studio.

“Ise Eatery”(1996)woodblock plate by Clifton Karhu”

Every summer, one of my responsibilities is to organize the print drawers of all the artists at the gallery. It is a great way to observe each print. One day, I was looking through the mezzotint artist, Katsunori Hamanishi’s drawers, and I was so inspired by the prints that have a thin lead leaf-plate as a part of the print images. One of them is titled “Division Work no.16”. At the Verne gallery, this Hamanishi’s special print is one of the few works that have incorporated actual plate(lead leaf) into the print.

I E-mailed Mr.Hamanishi, asking what made him decide to include lead leaf in some of his mezzotint prints. As always, Mr. Hamanishi replied to me by the next morning. ( Thank you very much!) He wrote, “As you can imagine, I was attracted to the understated subtle color of lead itself. Lead has such a special color and I remember that I tried to make the lead color by mixing etching inks, but it was impossible for me to make the same color. As a result, I found very thin lead leafs. The embossing was done for these lead leafs using a collagraph technique, and then, the plates were chine colle’d with spray adhesive.”

Mr.Hamanishi is famous for using gold leaf and mica as well in his highly crafted mezzotint work. He wrote, “Both gold leaf and mica were used in ancient times in Japan. Gold leaf was used by the Kano-ha school and Rim-pa school for fusuma, wall paintings and lacquer handicrafts, and mica( kira-zuri) was used by woodblock artist, Sharaku during the Edo period. He used mica in order to show elegance in some of his prints. After I tried using mica in my own style, I found out later that Sharaku used mica in the same way in his Ukiyo-e prints. At a glance, both gold leaf and mica may look gaudy and glittering to some people. But I use gold leaf and mica for creating a quiet atmosphere. Also the contrast of gold with Urushi lacquer-black ink intensifies the beauty of my mezzotint.

"Division Work no.16" (1990), mezzotint and lead leaf

Silence Work #3b, (2000),Mezzotint with gold leaf and mica by Katsunori Hamanishi

Since I discovered the earlier work by Mr.Hamanishi, I kept thinking about the beautiful effects I could achieve using copper foil on my print surfaces. My fascination with Hamanishi's lead leaf prints and the way he incorporates gold leaf and mica in his mezzotint work inspired me to try and make a new series titled "Fusion".

As a printmaker, I have always been attracted to texture on etching plates. In 1993, I started to experiment combining two different mediums, etching and enameling over the used etching copper plates. I had stopped working with enameling for a long time since I had no access to an enameling kiln. This year, I set up an old small enameling kiln in my studio, working with this medium again. I am particularly interested in a method of integrating prints and enamel pieces into collages by stitching them together with threads. Like my grandmother, who sewed the families' clothes together with scraps of fabric together, I have been exploring endless possibilities of layering fiber textural elements from cloth in my work.(See my BABA and BORO series at www.vernegallery.com)

Usumono from Boro series 2009, collage of intaglio monoprint on paper and silk, thread by Yuko Kimura (Usumono is a translucent kimono fabric)

For this “fusion” project, I used thin copper foil that has the same thickness as printmaking paper. Then, I cut out the foils in free forms and enameled over the surface of etched lines. I used transparent enamels so that the etched lines would show through the layer of enamel.

“Fusion no.5” Collage of intaglio monoprint, enamel on copper, thread

During the process of firing, the brilliance of color and the texture of the enamels are varied by the amount of heat and time in the kiln. This relates to my process of pulling prints through the press. The condition of the ink and the paper, and the pressure of the press are elements that change the print images. Each process informs the other, as I change from print to enamel and back.

Here I would like to say “Many Thanks" to Mr.Hamanishi for technical information via e-mails. Also, special thanks to Michael for warm support which keeps me going.

By Yuko Kimura

Please see the work of Brian Williams, Daniel Kelly, Clifton Karhu, Katsunori Hamanishi and Yuko Kimura at www.vernegallery

Thank you for looking at the blog. Michael Verne

Visiting Mayumi Oda by Yuko Kimura

Frog under the Crescent Moon

It was a foggy morning, I drove the one main road toward the south west of the big island in Hawaii. (This foggy gas came from the Volcano in the south.) There is only one main road in this island wherever you go. Driving from the North part of the Island, I saw continuous vast black lava landscape without seeing any buildings or people for a while. After passing the small Kona airport, you start to see more houses, shops and the university buildings, and from the main road, you constantly see the ocean in the near distance. The color of water is intense blue. Pure nature is right there in this island.

Mayumi Oda’s house was surrounded with lots of tropical green plants and fields. This place is called “Ginger Hill Retreat Center” And Mayumi came out from her kitchen wearing white clothes possibly after the early morning-meditation. Mayumi teaches Zen Buddhist practice and gardening for growing organic vegetables there. She said she moved to this island from California about 7 years ago and that was a long time dream for her. Inside the new studio was so spacious, high ceiling, lots of windows with beautiful wooden floor. She spread out her large scale drawings and prints on the floors. She said she always likes being bare foot and works (and walks) on the drawings and paintings that are on the floor. What a comfortable and peaceful place to work! At the corner of the room, there was a pile of her drawings and her little dogs were sitting and relaxing quietly on them. But it seems like it is very natural thing in her studio. She didn’t ask the dogs to move from her drawings.


Mayumi let me look through piles and piles of drawings from the past. It took 3 hours for me to look through. Many of them are sumi and Japanese watercolor pigment-drawings and sketches of Goddesses and Buddhist figures on rice paper or newsprints in various sizes. Like Mattise, she seems to draw with simple lines in a spontaneous free manner without worrying about mistakes. Some of the drawings have layers of cut-out paper pasted in order to change the lines and forms. It was wonderful to see the process of change in the drawing surface. Even though, many of them have wrinkles and torn edges, I told her how much I love her drawings with collage that show the editing process. She said she never thought of showing these sketches/drawings to the public until recently, but these original drawings started to sell very well. Along with a number of Buddhist images, I found a couple of outstanding early drawings from her Victorian Invention series. In particular, I selected two drawings from her famous print “Victorian Invention, Bicycle”. One of the drawing is in color, and the other one is a simple graphite sketch drawing on newsprint. Of course, these have wrinkles, stains, and torn edges, but all of these elements show a history of her layers of work in process. These original drawings are preparatory work for her silkscreen prints that she produced in the 70’s. That was when she lived in Princeton, N.J. Looking at these drawings with Mayumi, she recalled her earlier exhibitions in the 1970’s at Mitzie Verne’s house in Shaker Hts. Almost the whole edition was sold by Mitzie that day almost forty years ago. With these memories, she feels so special about this piece. Mayumi also remembers Michael’s father, Daniel Verne ,who was an oral surgeon,and who did humorous caricature drawings of her. She said that Daniel was a most admirable person.
Victorian Invention. Bicycle watercolor

Mayumi said that she was originally an etcher and etching is her favorite medium. She used to print all by herself and to work so many hours printing using toxic acid and other chemicals for etching that she developed a serious health problem. She also lost some friends who used toxic chemical for printmaking. Since then, Mayumi became very health conscious. For her etching, she worked with deep etching, deep embossing, and sugar lift for suggesting splash of water. She uses simple lines to suggest movement of figures or animals and plants. The main subject matter in her etching are images of deep sea diving and of her love of gardening. They all look so alive and happy. She said she doesn’t care whether her print or technique is perfect. Rather, her interest is to express each line freely by using deep etching. Her lines have a wonderful physical nature. They are both simple and beautiful and expresses a moment of liberation.


Mayumi loves using bright colors, and she hopes that viewers can get lots of energy from her work especially during difficult times in their life. I was so lucky to be able to visit her and to learn about her creative process. When she is not in her studio, she works many hours weeding in her garden each day. She said everything grows so fast here, and that she has to constantly keep up with the weeding. She looks so healthy, small and skinny. But she is so full of energy. She gave me energy today. That was incredible!

July 2009

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee

( Irises(detail), Watanabe Shiko, from Cleveland Museum of Art)
Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art

June 27– August 23, 2009
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall

50 masterworks on view from CMA’s renowned collection of Asian art acquired during Dr. Lee’s tenure as a curator and director

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art is a memorial exhibition honoring the late Dr. Sherman E. Lee (1918-2008). Comprising approximately 50 masterworks of Asian art acquired by the museum during Dr. Lee’s tenure of more than three decades as a curator and director of the CMA, Streams and Mountains Without End pays tribute to one of the most important individuals in the history of this institution and a leading figure in the museum world.

Under Dr. Lee’s leadership, the Cleveland Museum of underwent a dramatic transformation—both physically and in terms of the development of its collection—and became one of the most significant institutions of its type in this country. His broad knowledge of the field and insistence on maintaining the highest standards of aesthetic quality are clearly reflected in a collection that is world renowned and has strengths in many different areas. Nowhere is this more evident than in the remarkable holdings of Asian art assembled at CMA during his tenure. The exhibition explores and celebrates Lee’s role in building CMA’s Asian collections as well as his collecting philosophy, taste, and scholarship in the field.

Juxtapositions of selected works in the exhibition clearly demonstrate the visual and stylistic standards that informed Lee’s selection of works of art for the museum, and introduce visitors to subjects, themes, and styles that cut across the large and diverse field of Asian art. Encompassing works of different cultures in a wide range of media, the exhibition conveys the remarkable range of Lee’s aesthetic and scholarly interests as well as his willingness to venture into certain new fields not yet widely recognized as collecting areas by Western connoisseurs. Visitors will come away with an appreciation of Lee’s discerning eye, his foresight, and the collection’s extraordinary scope and quality.

Born in Seattle, Wash., Dr. Sherman E. Lee received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from American University, and a doctoral degree from Case Western Reserve University. Lee joined CMA in 1952 as curator of Oriental art and was promoted as the museum’s third director in 1958, a position he held through 1982. He had a passion for Asian art, and under his tenure as both curator and director, helped to build a world renowned collection at CMA.

Lee was internationally known and revered for his many books including A History of Far Eastern Art, profiling exhibitions and leadership within the museum world. In addition to serving as director of CMA, Lee served as curator of Far Eastern art at the Detroit Institute of Art, associate director of the Seattle Art Museum; led the Japan Society, Asia Society, and The China Institute; and served as adjunct faculty in the art history department at Case Western Reserve University. Before his death, Lee was an adjunct professor of art history at the University of North Carolina.

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art, and curated by Anita Chung, curator of Chinese art at CMA; Stan Czuma, curator emeritus of Indian and Southeast Asian art; and Jim Ulak, deputy director of the Freer and Sackler galleries. This exhibition is presented by Hahn Loeser + Parks LLP. Support for education and public programs has been provided by the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

For program listings, please check the website:
http://www.clemusart.com/events/talks.aspx

WARABUKI: THE DISAPPEARING THATCHED FARMHOUSES OF JAPAN BY BRIAN WILLIAMS

A big shaggy roof of mossing thatch. Beams and boards of unfinished wood, silvery with age. Cracked plaster, ochre earth showing through. Sliding paper door windows, with maybe a tear here and there from grandchildren visiting from the city
Chickens let free to forage among the vegetables. Japanese garden by the front door with obligatory pond and stone lantern, enclosed by an old tiled
wooden fence, and presided over by a venerable and artistically pruned pine.
What a beautiful combination of textures and shapes, what a rich sense of peaceful age! I damn.
near leaped out of the bus window. I had fallen in love

I had no idea such houses existed. Actually, I had no idea at all what I was going to see when I got on the bus from Kyoto. It was autumn of 1972, and I had had just arrived in Japan on a one way ticket, and with only a backpack and $300. in my pocket. And I hadn't done much homework either. Hadn't really
read any guide books, couldn't even say good morning in Japanese. So I was open to anything, and had few expectations.

I climbed Mt. Fuji three days after I got here, then headed to Kyoto. Found a cheap backpackers hotel, and started teaching English illegally. In my free mornings, I roamed Kyoto, old temples and shrines. slowly, I settled in and started to make my way. But I became anxious to get out of the city, and thus I found myself on that bus, with its illegible (to me) destination and headed north from Kyoto into the mountains. In the little mountain village of Hanase, I first saw some of the old thatched farmhouses of Japan. Made from the earth and part of it. They were beautiful, and completely in harmony with their surroundings. My fingers ached to paint them.

I painted in Hanase for years, in all seasons. I traveled elsewhere too, all over Japan, finding some regional variations and styles of these marvelous country homes. And everywhere I went,
I saw the age of Warabuki ("Straw-roofed") houses was coming to an end. Young people were leaving for the cities. Agriculture was being mechanized, and , no longer economically viable, was turning into a part-time weekend occupation, done as much to take care of the ancestral land as to make a living. There was no time to harvest the thatch, no community to gather for a communal thatching.

Thatchers were a vanishing breed of craftsman, and people no longer had time to harvest and dry the thatch. So it was getting more and more expensive to thatch a roof, cheaper to cover it with tin.

To the country people, tile was, and still is a sign of greater affluence. With some money, a conversion could be made to a tiled roof. Better yet, a new house could be built with synthetic
materials(modern!). This process is now in an end stage, and there are very few thatched houses left anywhere in this country, and most of those are imperiled. But I live in one, and in my next post, will write some about the adventure of living in it, and in a farming village, for a quarter century now.

From Brian Williams 5/22/2009

If you would like to make a comment to Brian, please feel free to. If you have trouble
using the blog, please e-mail me your comment to info@vernegallery.com and I will put it
on the blog for you. Please see Brian's paintings and prints at www.vernegallery.com

The photo of the farmhouse above shows it about to be bulldozed. The painting, "Autumn Leaves" of this farmhouse was done in 2009.