Join artist Rima Day to learn more about the techniques and processes used to create the textiles in Weaving Splendor: Treasures of Asian Textiles from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
About Rima Day
Tennessee-based artist Rima Day uses thread, fabric, and paper to create artwork inspired by nature and the human body. With a background in fashion and costuming, she has adapted her skills and knowledge to express herself through art. Recently, her work was featured in Tennessee Craft’s biennial exhibition Best of Tennessee Craft at the Tennessee State Museum.
Day studied fashion design in her native city of Tokyo, Japan, and later in New York City; she also worked as a freelance custom ballet costumer in New York City and Connecticut. While working at Vanderbilt University’s costume shop, she began upcycling used jeans into eighteenth-century-style dresses, which she exhibited in several galleries. Through this experience, Day realized she can use her sewing skills to explore new possibilities and create art.
Day’s textile-based works evoke Japanese good luck charms called senninbari (“thousand-person stitches”). These belts were decorated with one thousand knots or stitches, each made by a different woman, and were given as Shinto amulets to soldiers leaving for war to wear for luck or protection. The red thread used in senninbari symbolizes human connection.
Image: Rima Day. Ghost Heart III. Silk organza and thread on cotton doily. Courtesy of the artist. © Rima Day
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