Bamboo Basketry and Accessory Workshop by Jiro Yonezawa, Slow Fiber Studios, Berkeley

Internationally renowned bamboo sculptural artisan Jiro Yonezawa is the current artist-in-residence at Slow Fiber Studios, a program of World Shibori Network.

The residency commenced on 26 July, with a gallery opening of his sculptural bamboo works and a talk at the Slow Fiber Studio space in Berkeley. Mr. Yonezawa spoke passionately about his work and demonstrated how he works with a pliable fiber like bamboo. This was followed by a pot-luck lunch and a meet and greet with the artist that was open to the public.

Mr. Yonezawa is also conducting a series of bamboo workshops as a part of his residency. The first two in the series – the one-day bamboo accessory  and the three-day beginners workshop were completed over last two weekends. The participants had a great time learning more about bamboo and the fundamentals of bamboo basketry.

Below is a photograph of student work-in-progress from the one-day bamboo accessory workshop.

There are limited spots still open for the last two workshops as well as the closing ceremony scheduled for later this month. For details please visit < here >

About the artist – 

Mr. Yonezawa has been a bamboo sculptural artisan for 35 years. He completed his training at Oita Prefectural Beppu Industrial Art Research Institute in Japan and apprenticed with Ono Makakatsu. He has had numerous solo exhibitions and has shown in group exhibitions such as SOFA New York and SOFA Chicago. His work has been shown in the United States, Japan, and Europe. From 1998-2008 Jiro lived in the United States, he now resides and works from his new studio in his hometown in southern Japan.

Photo Courtesy : Jiang Guo, Chere Mah and Jiro Yonezawa