Toshiko horiuchi biography examples

There’s a vibrant com­mu­ni­ty of tex­tile artists in the Cana­di­an Mar­itimes, but there’s only one com­pa­ny cre­at­ing two-ton, thir­ty-foot-wide cro­cheted pieces for kids to romp on.

In Nova Scotia’s pas­toral Annapo­lis Val­ley, Toshiko and Charles MacAdam run Inter­play Design & Man­u­fac­tur­ing, where they mas­ter­mind giant art installation/​play struc­tures woven of stretchy nylon fibers. The struc­tures have delight­ed vis­i­tors to muse­ums, parks, and play­grounds around the world. They’ve been the back­drop for gang­ster chas­es in Jack­ie Chan films and have even been found their way into video games.

Born in Tokyo in 1940, Toshiko Horiuchi’s expe­ri­ence as a post-war refugee pro­found­ly impact­ed her. ​“I real­ized even as a young child that life should be spent doing what makes one hap­py.” With degrees from Tama Art Uni­ver­si­ty and Cran­brook Acad­e­my of Art. she became a staff design­er at the Boris Kroll Fab­ric Com­pa­ny in New York City, then through the 60s, taught weav­ing and fab­ric design at var­i­ous institutions.

Hori­uchi con­tin­ued cre­at­ing her art while teach­ing and is con­sid­ered a lead­ing mem­ber of the 1970s’ new wave’ of exper­i­men­tal fiber artists. She explored woven fiber’s rela­tion­ship with light and move­ment in pieces like ​‘Atmos­phere of the For­est,’ ​‘Atmos­phere of the Float­ing Cube,’ and ​‘Lumi­nous Cur­tain,’ and became fas­ci­nat­ed with how manip­u­lat­ing knit­ted mate­r­i­al cre­at­ed new shapes – cro­chet­ing was a tech­nique she termed even ​‘more freeing.’

Then one day in 1970, some­thing hap­pened in a Tokyo gallery that set her on a new tra­jec­to­ry. Two chil­dren jumped into the art­work Hori­uchi had just installed, and it start­ed bounc­ing, shift­ing shape. The piece came to life as they played. ​“The tex­tiles start­ed mov­ing, and I thought, ​‘Fan­tas­tic! This is much more inter­est­ing than just mak­ing b

  • The 82-year-old Japanese-born artist had to
  • Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam attended Cranbrook Academy

    • Dose # 75: Toshiko’s Netted Play Structures

    Today, we enter the netted world of artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam. It was her work that inspired me to do this series Knits & Nets. I first encountered her art at … Continue reading →

    March 16, 2015 · 1 Comment

    Dose # 74: Knits & Nets 6: The Echelman-Kozielska Collaboration

    Today,  we look into  the wonderful work that has resulted from the collaboration of sculptor Echelman with choreographer Kozielska of Stuttgart Ballet. Dose # 69-75- Knits & Nets Dose #74: Knits & … Continue reading →

    March 15, 2015 · Leave a comment

    Dose # 73: Knits & Nets 5: Echelman’s Traveling 1.26

    Today and tomorrow we will focus on the dynamic creations of sculptor Janet Echelman.  We begin with her traveling art installation “1.26” which takes on a new meaning with every city … Continue reading →

    March 14, 2015 · Leave a comment

    Dose # 72:Knits & Nets 4: Ghost Net Art

    Today, fisher folks in Australia’s remote Darnley Island (Erub) turn ghost nets into beautiful artworks to send out a powerful environmental message and call-to- action to the world … Dose # 69-75- Knits & Nets Dose #72: Knits … Continue reading →

    March 13, 2015 · Leave a comment

    Dose # 71:Knits & Nets 3: Tatyana’s Knit Garden

    Today, a biologist uses her knitting skills and her intimate knowledge of nature to make anatomically correct renditions of flowering plants… Dose # 69-75- Knits & Nets Dose #71: Knits & Nets 3: Tatyana’s Knit … Continue reading →

    March 12, 2015 · Leave a comment

    Dose # 70: Knits & Nets 2: Crocheted Cells by Emily Barletta

    Today, an artist brings crocheting and biology together in her masterpieces… Dose # 69-75- Knits

  • Horiuchi MacAdam is a leading fiber
  • Born in Tokyo in
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    Horiuchi is not showing any of her actual work at the Knitting & Stitching Show, but she has been happy to allow us to present documentation of her work to introduce her to a new audience.

    Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam is one of Japan's leading fibre artists, and one of a very small number that sometimes use knitting or crochet in their work. Living in Canada, she now specialises in creating large, interactive textile environments that function both as imaginative and vibrant explorations of colour and form, at the same time as providing thrilling play environments.

    She was born in 1940 and attended Hibiya High School - a school known throughout Japan for it's high standards. She studied fine art at the Tama Art University, Tokyo, followed by a Masters at Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan.

    The beginning of her career coincided with the development of 'fibre art' as an active sub-section within the fine art world. Her work was very much a part of the new wave of fibre art that happened in the 1970's, and she was one of several Japanese artists to make a deep impression.

    'Fibre Columns/Romanesque Church'
    sprang, nylon rope - 15' x 90' x 12'

    'Fibre Columns/Romanesque Church' and 'Atmosphere of the Floating Cube' were two pieces that were featured within several major accounts of that movement, in books such as 'The Art Fabric Mainstream' by Mildred Constantine & Jack Lenor Larsen. There they describe how 'she knit hundreds of gold and silver lengths, stretched them into concave panels, and composed them as a cube. Then, with powerful knee-height floodlights, she transformed the whole into a haloed radiance.'

    'Atmosphere of the Floating Cube'  - knitted gold & silver Mylar with linen. National Museum of Modern art, Kyoto.      

    Working on a large scale seems to be a part of Horiuchi's character. Larsen & Constantine noted that, at the t

    Meet the Artist Behind Those Amazing, Hand-Knitted Playgrounds

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    Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam is known for her massive, colorful architectural sculptures/playgrounds. The most famous example of her work is the expansive net-structure inside the "Woods of Net" Pavilion at the Hakone Open Air Museum in Japan - which Horiuchi MacAdam knitted, entirely by hand, over the span of a year.

    We took a moment to speak with Ms. Horiuchi MacAdam about the Pavilion and her other works, how they bridge the worlds of art and architecture, and how they irresistibly invite the world to play. You can read our interview, and see more images of her fascinating work, after the break...

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    AD: Some of your earlier works, such as “Fibre Columns / Romanesque Church,” are very architectural in nature - were you inspired early on by architecture? How so?

    When I was a student at Tama Fine Art University in Tokyo, we were introduced to the work of Antonio Gaudi by a professor of architecture. Eventually, in my late 20's, I traveled to Europe and the Middle East. Of course, I went to Spain to see Gaudi's work. I also traveled to Isfahan in Iran in particular to look at mosques. Both impressed me a great deal. Antonio Gaudi's work, as you know, is based on studies of 'naturally' curved forms (catenaries) as determined by gravity, turned upside down.

    When I was working as a textile designer in NYC, I began to question:

    1. What does it mean to apply 'surface' design to textiles?
    2. At its most basic, What is a 'textile'?

    These 2 questions grew in scope and importance for me and after 2 years I decided to leave the company I was working for (where they treated me very well), and begin searching for answers.

    When I saw Antonio Gaudi’s work, I realized immediately his forms are naturally connected to textiles. And then when I saw the mosque at Isfahan, I realized the shape of the mosque and the inlaid

      Toshiko horiuchi biography examples