Youkobo Artspace | leonieandrews

It’s a cliche but time is going by so quickly at my residency that I am torn between making work and taking in all that the city has to offer. So the decision has to be made about going to exhibitions and events and working in the studio.

My compromise is to use my travels through the city to collect material that I can use in my work. More importantly I cannot stitch for extended periods of time without running the risk of causing muscle strain so regular breaks are necessary. (OK that’s my excuse).

Sketches on the subway

I wouldn’t even try to count the number of galleries in Tokyo, there are just too many. In my first two and a half weeks I’ve seen exhibitions of Venetian Renaissance paintings, works from the Pompidou Centre in Paris and an excellent retrospective of Japanese-born photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto at the recently re-furbished Tokyo Photography Museum.

Sketching at the sumo wrestling

In parallel to the stitching I mentioned in the last post I am also working with photos I’ve taken, adding to them to make new images and making collages from catalogues and other things I have found.

Collageof a beauty catalogue

Don’t ask me where this is all going, that’s the whole point of making new work while on a residency!

Playtime with Andy Warhol balloons at the NGV

Playtime with Andy Warhol balloons at the National Gallery Victoria (NGV)

I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to tell you that I have been awarded an Asialink Arts Residency in Tokyo!
This means that I have been given a grant to go and work on my art for two whole months (later this year) at the Youkobo Artspace in Tokyo.
Last week I was in Melbourne meeting with the staff from Asialink and many of the others artists, including writers, visual artists and curators who will also be travelling and working across Asia in 2016. It was great to meet the other artists and find out what they will be doing and also to hear from previous grant recipients about their experiences. It’s very exciting and at the same time just a bit daunting to be part of this program.

In addition to Asialink, the arts residency program is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and also in my case by Arts ACT.

You can read the Arts ACT press release here.

A full list of the 2016 residents can be found here.

leonieandrews

Tag / Youkobo Artspace

Tokyo and other distractions

Celebrations!