June Sekiguchi | Pattern Play

june sekiguchi pattern play

cover:

12 Times Mandala (detail)

2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood 48 x 48 x 2 in.

To my heart and soul, Mike, Hana Mei, Quin, and Jaden —JS, 2008

Stacked Building Boxes (detail)

2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood various sizes

Pattern Play I explore pattern in a cultural context. I am interested in the transition where universal patterns evolve into an ethnic identity and how that further synthesizes into a significant personal aesthetic. Pattern in this continuum is a result of an extensive study of the arts, particularly textiles and architectural details, from the historic Silk Road regions. The Silk Road was a network of trading routes ranging from the Far East through Central Asia and the Middle East to the Mediterranean. It served as a conduit for the reciprocal flow of ideas, necessities, and expressions of art, craft, and design. I find great meaning in the idea of the Silk Road as a metaphor for cross-cultural exchange and I see a timely relevance of the importance to achieve cultural understanding of these regions in our world today.

There is a direct correspondence between this global interest and my upbringing as an Asian in cultural isolation in Arkansas in the 60s and 70s. I consider the insular place of my birth a catalyst, which propels me to look beyond the vernacular to global aesthetic traditions that inform the content and outcome of my work.

Tools and materials drive the work. I use a scroll saw to cut patterns in wood that I paint and layer for wall-hung constructions and sculptures. By constructing my work from multiple pieces, I explore the idea of separate entities combining to form a greater whole.

Individual planes of pattern form successive layers, creating textures of light and shadow that enhance and reveal while also filtering and obscuring what is behind.

June Sekiguchi, 2008

Polyhedron 2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood 24 x 24 x 24 in. (folded); 60 x 36 in. (laid flat)

The foldable Polyhedron is a marriage of pattern and change. From the flat, unhinged plane to the fullness of surfaces connected, this modifiable sculpture transforms in character from passive to dynamic and back again.

12 Times Mandala 2006 acrylic on scrollcut wood 48 x 48 x 2 in.

Multiple common units combine to form the piece. Twelve identical sections were used to create this mandala at a scale that could only be achieved by piecing together individual elements. The circle pattern placed in a curved formation accentuates the movement and energy of the healing mandala.

River Oued Farda at God’s Bridge 2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood 48 x 8 x 3 in.

The river, a vital lifeline for any culture, runs as veins through a country.

Oued Farda, on the outskirts of Chefchaouen, Morocco, cuts through the land, creating the Bridge of the Gods and linking one mountainside to another. Chefchaouen is a sister city of Issaquah, Washington, home of the artist, and similarly links one culture to another.

Ajrak Series 2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood 24 x 24 x 3 in.

This ongoing series of wall-hung sculpture draws from the Ajrak fabric printing technique native to the Sindh region of Pakistan. The original woodblock printing process is deconstructed by keeping the layers separate so that the positive and negative spaces become sculptural.

Layering the patterned screens obscures what is behind while adding the depth and texture of cast shadows.

Stacked Building Boxes (interchangeable sets)

2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood various sizes, from 13 x 13 x 13 in. to 36 x 12 x 18 in.

The motivation to find dynamic interactions of space using static planes of pattern inspired the reinterpretation of the classic forms of children’s building blocks. The patterns used are drawn from iconic designs originating from regions as diverse as Southeast Asia and Northwest Africa, which are then processed into a personal, more intuitive, vocabulary of shapes. Change is the one certainty in life and is metaphorically represented by the ability to reconfigure the blocks.

Increasing the scale alters the memory of children’s blocks to form a new experience.

Stacked Building Boxes (details)

Silk Road Prayer Wheel 2006 acrylic on scrollcut wood 80 x 80 x 32 in.

The Silk Road Prayer Wheel is a kinetic, interactive sculpture that is inspired by the Tibetan prayer wheel and restructured in an exploration of iconic patterns found in the historic Silk Road regions. The mandala is a mechanism used in spiritual healing. The mandalas spin independently, referencing the motion and meaning that the classic Tibetan prayer wheel elicits.

Light Boxes 2008 plexiglas 39 x 9 x 5 in. and 48 x 9 x 5 in.

Plexiglas is used as a new medium to achieve a different effect with the element of light.

The patterns range from personal secret symbols to iconic cultural motifs.

Jack 2008 acrylic on scrollcut wood 24 x 24 x 24 in.

Drop…bounce…collect…is a repetitive cycle in the child’s game of jacks. Inherent in the process is an increase of skill with a progressive difficulty of success. Jack is an interpretation of a piece of the game manifested by the intersection of planes.

June Sekiguchi SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: 2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

2000

Pattern Play. ArtXchange Gallery solo show. Seattle, WA A Brief Walk on the Edge. Shift Gallery, solo show. Tashiro Kaplan Building, Seattle, WA Art at Urban Hardwoods. 3 person show. Urban Hardwoods. Seattle, WA What Does Compassion Look Like? ArtXchange, Seattle, WA Fall City Sculpture Walk. Commission award. Fall City, WA How the Soy Sauce Was Bottled. Wing Luke Asian Museum. Seattle, WA Small Works Members’ Show. Shift Gallery. Tashiro Kaplan Building. Seattle, WA Pratt Fine Arts Instructor/Student Show. Pratt Gallery, Tashiro Kaplan Building. Seattle, WA 2007 Annual Regional Juried Art Show. Kenneth J. Minnaert Center for the Arts. South Puget Sound Community College. Olympia, WA Demographic Tapestry: Strands of Our Culture. Inaugural Exhibition Sammamish City Hall.

Dianne Elliott, curator. Sammamish, WA June Sekiguchi. Up Front[art], ArtEAST cooperative gallery, Issaquah, WA Intergenerational Moments. Chicago Cultural Center. Chicago, IL A Circular Route. Vidya Gallery. Co-sponsored by the Tibetan Healing Fund and the Tibetan Nun’s Project. Curated by Debbi Lester. Seattle, WA Women Beyond Borders. National traveling exhibition commencing at the Palo Alto Arts Center, Palo Alto, CA. Paired with Yuri Kochiyama.

Plugged In and Caffeinated. Columbia City Gallery. Kamla Kakaria, Larry Calkins, Barbara Shaiman, jurors. Seattle, WA Infusions. Floating Leaves Tea. Solo exhibition. Seattle, WA Shrines for the Environment. Mary Lou Zeek Gallery. Salem, OR Collective Works. Featured artists from the Art Collective Issaquah, WA Contemporary Works of Asian Traditions. The Other Roadside Attraction. Mt.Vernon, WA Gilda’s Club Red Door Campaign. Juried selection. Seattle, WA Greenwood Art Walk. Birdem Turban Gallery. Seattle, WA Northwest Women’s Arts and Crafts Show. Karma Place. Bow, WA Techlink Engineering Resources, Corporate Headquarters. Belleveue, WA Greenwood Art Walk. Birdem Turban Gallery. Seattle, WA. Blue Heron Gallery. Vashon, WA. New Work: Ajrak Series. Chazen. Seattle, WA Aurora Women’s Health Center. Seattle, WA Joe Bar. Seattle, WA Dynamik Space. Seattle, WA June Sekiguchi and Garrison Coverdale. Blue Heron Gallery. Two person show. Vashon, WA International Microwave Symposium. Guest programs. Seattle, WA Heart of the Beast Invitational. Silverwood Gallery, recipient of Best of Show. Vashon, WA Spontaneous Explorations. Adell McMillan Gallery. University of Oregon. Eugene, OR City of SeaTac. Peggy Weiss juror. SeaTac, WA

Stacked Building Boxes

AWARDS: 2007

2006 2005

King County Public Art Collection, Portable Works 4Culture Special Projects Grant Artist Trust GAP Grant George Tsutakawa Sculpture Scholarship, Pratt Fine Arts Center Artist Trust EDGE Program

2006 acrylic on scrollcut wood various sizes

COLLECTIONS: 2008 2007

Chefchaouen Municipality, Chefchaouen, Morocco Wing Luke Asian Museum King County Public Art Collection Portable Works

catalog design: Katherine Idziorek, ArtXchange Gallery photography: Ken Wagner copyright 2008 ArtXchange Gallery

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