Those are needle-hole perforations in paper… because I know you’re wondering! Today I’m talking to the very prolific artist, and teacher, Wendy Kawabata. I wrote about her needle-hole series, titled “Blind World” a few years ago, but they are just one of many gems in her extensive portfolio. So, this episode is coming to you from Hawaii… I’m in Maui, and Wendy lives on Oahu… mai tais for everyone! Listen right up there under that intricate beauty, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, some of her newest work. Wendy has recently gone back to oil painting after a very long break:

Ahhh, gorgeous! Each of these are titled “Cairns III”, “Cairns II”, and “Cairns VII Here Comes The Sun”.

Now, these pieces are both drawings and mixed media. Wait… is it fabric… or drawings .. or both? …

You can see why I wasn’t sure! The top two are gouache and colored pencil on paper, and the bottom two are gouache, colored pencil, and kantha cloth on paper. Love them all!

Next, the work inspired by her month-long residency in Iceland. This is “In The Land” when it was shown in 2016 at Sanderson Contemporary in New Zealand:

Dreamy, icy watercolors and that amazing crocheted flower piece… which has oh so much more behind it than grey, metallic paint covered flowers.

Oooh, I love this series too {see, prolific!}. This is a gouache and pencil on paper series, titled “Acts”:

Note the “mama”… such a beautiful reason for having that word woven into these drawings from a few years back.

And here we are, the first body of work of Wendy’s that I ever saw. “Blind Worlds”. So gorgeous:

Needle-hole perforations in paper, or as Wendy would say, drawing with holes. Love, love, love!

And finally, this is the piece she mentioned near the beginning… logs covered in crochet with Wendy’s made-up stitches {thank goodness for mothers}:

Beautiful… right stitches or wrong stitches! Thanks so much to Wendy for doing this with me; thanks to Saatchi Art and Thrive for supporting the episode, and thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear, not next weekend but the weekend after that {Feb 17}

Other links:

1. Material Slip Show, March 4 ~ April 6th
2. Sanderson Contemporary, NZ
3. University of Hawaii at Mānoa