Temari celebrates with Tie/Dye festival

By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser

•	Temari Tie/Dye Shibori Dyeing Aug. 6-7 conference Aug. 8 Family Festival Academy Art Center at Linekona; 536-4566

"This conference and family festival are opportunities to learn about other cultures and how Tie/Dye celebrates our need to make art," says Ann Asakura, executive director of Temari.

Teachers specializing in their craft have been invited from East and West for this special event. Ann Nakamura and Shigeji Matsumoto are coming from Japan, Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada and Angelina DeAntonis from California, and Coyne Matsuda, Moana Eisele, JR Ludlow, Flo Ikeda and Darius Homay from Hawai'i.

According to the program, they will teach hands-on classes in "Itajimezome & Kusakizome (Clamped Dyeing with Natural Dyes), Fiber Reactive Dyes, Shibori-Traditional to Contemporary, Shibori with Pigments, Momizome (Crumpled-Dyed Washi), Using Momizome, Itajimezome, (Clamped-Dyed Washi), Using Itajimezome Washi and Traditional Hawaiian Dyes & Design."

Many of the classes overlap. "We've learned that visiting artists, local teachers and students, and visitors prefer an intensive period to study and share ideas," says Asakura. "We're driven by economics and space requirements and influenced by evaluations from previous events." However, depending upon demand, Temari is committed to offering the more popular classes at its new location on Lusitana Street.

Three free lunchtime lectures Aug. 6 through 8 will explore indigo, dye chemistry and Filipino textiles and dyes. The fourth, a free keynote slide lecture, "World Shibori Dyeing," is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Aug. 6 at the Academy Art Center at Linekona and will be given by the "Ambassador of Shibori" (Japanese tie dye), noted artist, author, scholar and curator Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada.

Wada also will teach a full-day workshop titled "New Explorations with Polyester, Cotton, and Silk" and an afternoon workshop "Making Mechanical Lace."

The Family Festival on Aug. 8 will include free hands-on art activities for young and old alike. An indigo vat will be available with the purchase of the Temari T-shirt that can be resisted in numerous ways before dyeing a beautiful indigo blue. Demonstrations will illustrate how tie/dye fabrics are used, how kapa (Hawaiian bark cloth) is printed and how to make Japanese paper. A marketplace will feature a washi paper and wearable art.

Warning: If you intend to participate in any of the free, hands-on activities, wear your junk clothes.

And of course, the academy exhibit offers a reality check across the street.

For more information or to register for any of the workshops, call Temari or take a look at temaricenter.com.