Seiko Purdue
Above the Line

4.19.24–5.17.24

This is an installation that I re-worked using the same element of the previous installation.  The forms are cast from tie-dyed fabric that looks like topographical maps or nipples.  We see such basic forms in various organic environments/systems, from large scale to small, including the human body.   By looking at above the line, we imagine something happening underneath.  

—Seiko Purdue

Seiko Atsuta Purdue is Professor in the Fibers/Fabrics area in the Department of Art at Western Washington University.  After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Kyoto Seika University in 1992, she came to the United States where she received an MA at Montclair State University and a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  She has exhibited textile installations widely and has given workshops on Japanese textiles (shibori, katazome, and papermaking) for many years.  She curated “Coded Threads: Textiles and Technology” and “Katazome Today: Migration of A Japanese Art.”

Much of her work is installation-based, using fiber materials or ideas of fiber, seeking to connect East and West. She explores both traditional and contemporary textile techniques, particularly casting.  After exploring the theme of motherhood using domestic materials such as clothing and toys, she is moving towards more global issues; “Hyoga (Iceberg)” is based on the concept of global warming and “Meadow and Cluster” was created during the pandemic.  Her concerns about labor and honoring handworks are involved in her artmaking in various ways.