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September Issue 2007
Plum Elements in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Mayumi Oda
Internationally-recognized
print artist and activist Mayumi Oda will make her first visit
to the Lowcountry for the opening of her show, Her Smile Unending:
Silkscreens and Etchings of the Ubiquitous Goddess, on view
at Plum Elements in Charleston, SC, from Sept. 27 through Oct.
21, 2007.
Oda, who currently lives in Hawaii, is one of the artists featured at Plum Elements. Nature - whether the mountains, sea or gardens - often provides the background for the women and goddesses that fill Oda's silkscreens and etchings. Vibrant colors express a special energy and joy, while her subjects transmit a sense of inner-knowing, contentment, and strength. Of course elements of Japanese design or references infuse most of Oda's work, but her style and subjects cover a range that reflect the wide-range of her life experiences and influences, and the universaltality of the goddesses - how the feminine divine exists in all.
In her writings and her artwork, Oda expresses
the wonder, importance, and renewal she experiences from nature
and gardening. In her book, Goddesses, she recounts how
as a high school student she felt confined, but that during her
five-mile ride to and from school through rice paddies and fields
she would sometimes stop on her bicycle, "in the middle of
a cabbage field taking a deep breath - that was always a moment
of liberation."
Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Oda was strongly influenced and supported
by her mother's deep appreciation for art and creating, as well
as her Buddhist history professor father's presence and outlook.
A graduate of the highly competitive Tokyo University, with a
degree in Fine Art, she also studied at the Pratt Institute, after
her US arrival in the late 1960s. She was married to an American
professor of Japanese literature and lived in New York, Princeton
and Cambridge. In the late 70's she moved to Muir Beach near the
Zen Community Green Gulch Farm. Her work is included in the permanent
collection of more than a dozen public institutions including
the Museum of Modern Art- New York, Museum of Fine Arts- Boston,
and the Library of Congress.
Her work reflects her many experiences and observations. And, while it's very personal, at the same time Oda's work contains aspects to which many instantly connect. "More than 15 years ago, I was first introduced to Mayumi and her work and I felt an immediate connection - it was as if many of my feelings finally found their way to form and color," recalled Andrea Schenck, proprietor of Plum Elements. "So, I was truly honored and completely delighted when she easily agreed when I asked to represent her work here."
"Mayumi's own story and what she draws others to, is following dreams - one's heart," explained Schenck. "Because of this, Mayumi's show and visit here to meet with people who have admired and collected her work is an incredible way to celebrate Plum Elements' first year anniversary."
For more info check our SC Commercial Gallery
listings, call 843/727-3747 or e-mail at (info@plumelements.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing
Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2007 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 2007 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.