Jingyi Ye
by Jingyi Ye
“Lotus Flower Kosode” was inspired by my visit to Kyoto in 2019 where I attended the annual kimono exhibition for Japanese undergraduate textile students. I was captivated by a student’s work because he used the lotus flower motif, conveying the meditative state associated with classical Chinese flower-and-bird painting in Song Dynasty. This encounter reminded me of the Eastern perspective, which sees nature and humans as an inseparable whole, hugely differentiating from the Western view of seeing nature in a subject-object relationship.
At the time I studied Japanese kimono-making and the traditional dyeing techniques, as I appreciated that the kimono is a zero-waste garment. Traditionally, the one-size template enabled the garment to pass down to the next generations to preserve cultural heritage. Moreover, I was fascinated by the traditional Japanese colours extracted by natural dyestuff through a complex process which was environmentally friendly. Therefore, my research explored the complex process of kimono-making, encompassing the logic of kimono design, the style, the use of materials, tools, and the cultivation of artists’ hands. The material I used for kimono-dying consisted of natural Japanese dyes and Sumi inks. ROZOME, a wax-resist dyeing technique, was acquired from my professor-Bill Morton.
Jingyi Ye is an emerging Calgary-based fine art and craft practitioner. She currently studies at the Royal College of Art for her Graduate Diploma program in London, UK. She graduated from Alberta University of the Arts in 2022 and has her BFA with distinction after five and half years’ full-time study in Fiber Department.
Jingyi creates work that attempts to unify her multicultural identity by fusing Eastern perceptions with Western formal elements in image-making. She strives to search for the creative spirit, which she believes is situated in a dynamic intersection where art and craft meet. She is interested in exploring in-between space where the Eastern philosophy and the Western formal elements interplay and take shape through her experimentation with materials and processes.