To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower，
Hold Infinity in the palm of your Hand
And Eternity in an hour.
--William Black
Artists can always discover the mysteries of nature in time, and the secrets of the leaves are constantly being revealed, and the artists take these secrets to give the leaves a second life.
PART.1
"A Leaf, a Story"
#01 Litas
Japanese artist
ins: lito_leafart
Lito is a Japanese leaf carving artist who creates stories from blades.
He gave a new story to each ordinary leaf, and each story became the small world of this leaf, and it was also the small world of Lito's heart.
The story that happened in this small world gives people a feeling of incomparable quiet harmony and warmth, and watching his works makes people feel that the beauty of the world is intertwined with me.
Nature can always give people effective healing, which also explains the original meaning of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Suffering from attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, Lito realized after work that he was not suitable for work and decided to quit his job.
After resigning, he put all his attention on the creation of leaves, and after feeling the healing of nature, he created it twice, portraying the energy given to him by nature as a warm story to pass on to more people.
In Lito's creation, the sky and the leaves are always blended, giving each story a colorful dream.
And these dreams are beautiful that cannot be felt in the adult world.
As Lito said in his work, "There is no need to force yourself", on the road of life, find the direction you love, in order to go further.
#02 Hillary Waters Fayle
American artist
ins: [email protected]
Hillary Waters Fayle is an American embroidery artist with BFA and MFA degrees (BFA/M.A.).
Her studies in fiber design and craft/materials studies are niche majors in the arts. During her school days, she kept exploring and learning, and then she discovered embroidery and fell in love with it.
Later she met a group of artists and producers who were committed to using superb techniques and a long tradition of craftsmanship to achieve their artistic vision. This has a new inspiration for her artistic career.
Fayle uses only the simplicity of needle and thread and the leaves themselves, and does not add anything else, better showing the purity of nature and craftsmanship.
Fayle had intended to study ceramics when he was in college, but he made a mistake and eventually learned fiber design.
It is precisely because of this miss that we can see such a beautiful work of leaf embroidery art.
In addition to embroidery, Hillary Waters Fayle also does the art of hollow carving of leaves. Each leaf has a different taste under her carving.
In this group of works, the leaves become flexible with the carved lines, like a fire dancing in the wind, changing their posture from time to time.
Every leaf becomes a continuation of life in the hands of the artist.
They are intergenerated, but they are different.
2021/11/29
LEAVES
Looking back, Hillary Waters Fayle said, "I really felt like the universe was guiding me in the direction I needed." ”
Perhaps, everyone has their own established path in life, and when you go wrong, the universe will guide you back to your own path in time.
PART.2
"A leaf is not just a leaf, it is everything in the world"
#03 Raku Inoue
Canadian artist
Raku Inoue was born in Japan in 1983 and grew up in Montreal, Canada, and his artistic creations are full of two sides due to growing up in two different cultures.
There are both bold ideas and meticulous techniques, forming his unique creative style.
"A big part of creating art is finding balance and figuring out who you are."
Raku Inoue specializes in creating animal and insect images with natural plant elements, emphasizing casualness and showing the beauty of nature with nature.
Someone described him this way, "He is the magician of flowers, turning flowers into all things, and his skills are magical." ”
Animal series
2021/11
Spring, summer, autumn and winter each season provides him with a variety of materials. In his insect series, he uses sticks, seeds, petals, leaves, etc., to create a full, three-dimensional insect image.
Insect series
In his search for a balance between man and nature, Raku Inoue perfectly explains what a leaf is not just a leaf, it is everything in the world. The respect for nature makes his works more vivid.
#04 Helen Ahpornsiri
British artist
British artist Helen Ahpornsiri mainly works on the material of pressed ferns.
By using their tiny stems and leaves, we create illustrations featuring marine life, birds, insects and other animals. Each painting requires hundreds of blades, and it takes a great deal of effort and patience to make a painting.
This gave these lifeless blades a new lease of life in Helen Ahpornsiri's hands.
Helen Ahpornsiri grows and collects plants, leaves and seaweed in East Sussex, England, and preserves them using traditional embossing methods, then subtly reimagines them as works of art.
Sea Life series
PART.3
"Dead leaves fall to the ground, that is, new life"
#05 Kay Sekimachi
Japanese-American artist
Born in San Francisco, Kay Sekimachi studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, from 1946 to 1949.
In 1949, she began weaving on looms and was so skilled in labor-intensive craftsmanship that she was often referred to as "weaver's weaver".
Sekimachi has worked on fibers for nearly 50 years and is recognized as a pioneer in the revival of fiber as a medium of artistic expression.
During World War II, Kay Sekimachi studied origami and painting in a Japanese-American prison camp.
In 1946, she entered the California College of Arts and Crafts, spent two summers at the Haystack Hills School of Technology in Maine, and by 1949 she began weaving large intricate wall hangings.
In the late 1970s, Sekimachi began making small pots and bowls that combined Japanese paper with the material she left behind when she was weaving.
Leaf Bowls series on display
These works are made of dry leaves, chemically treated to retain clear veins, and through the overlapping of leaf veins, and the use of watercolor, chu, paper and spray paint to shape them into bowl-shaped sculptures, finally showing us the vitality and fragile beauty of the artist's thoughts combined with nature.
Sekimachi avoids the use of color to enhance the sculptural quality of its shapes and to emphasize the natural properties of its chosen material.
Fascinated by ancient Japanese paper, she created a series of standing geometric columnar shapes that hint at ancient totemic figures.
#06 Susanna Bauer
German artist
German artist Susanna Bauer combines natural leaves and crochet to create an intimate dialogue with nature.
In her work, there is a good balance between fragility and strength.
She repairs, decorates and combines fragile natural materials with lace crochet.
The expression produced by this laborious traditional technique of relying on tension has given Susanna Bauer a deep contemplation of the beauty and complexity of the natural world, while the works also reflect the complex and tender relationship between ourselves and our environment.
Bauer's attention is very focused, especially when she is dealing with threads and leaves. Her art is well thought out and suggests a kind of meditation-like concentration.
Although small in scale, each transformed leaf is transformed into a fascinating miniature sculpture. This makes the fragile and small leaves the basis of sculpture to meet its secondary challenges.
Every leaf has its origins: by the lake, in the park, under the trees...
For Bauer, the leaf is an element that deserves respect and consideration. She adds or subtracts leaves with a sense of awe.
She strives to enhance the natural beauty, which is her starting point. In her view, it is not that she reshapes the leaves, but that she cooperates with nature.
Two different leaves, as if close, but far away, intimacy is not without gaps, if you are far away, it looks like the relationship between people, too close will be tired, too far away will be estranged, intimate estrangement is just good.
Needle by thread and leaf, they are both interconnected and independent of each other, they are a community of destiny.
Dead leaves leave the tree, and life is over.
Susanna Bauer stitches together these leaves in a weaving technique, giving them the meaning of rebirth. Or maybe they come from the same tree.
They are fragile and shatter when touched. The artist is cautious and thinks boldly. How to find the balance point is between her needle and thread.
The moment the dead leaves fall to the ground, it is both the end and the new life.
Before every work of art is born, it must be accompanied by a rebirth that breaks and then stands. Just as every seed takes root and grows into a tree, a flower, a leaf after absorbing the nourishment of the earth.
And this tree, a flower, a leaf, is a work of art that nature has given us. When the flowers were about to wither, when the leaves were about to wither, the artists saved them and gave them a second life.