We celebrated the 2018 winners of the Haiku Invitational presented by Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. with a Haiku Quilt designed by Linda Coe. The quilt will be on display in VanDusen Botanical Garden’s Visitor Centre from March 15-April 20, 2020.
INSPIRATION FOR HAIKU QUILT by Linda Coe
I have a woodcut print from the Ukiyo-e period by Ando Hiroshige (1797 – 1858), titled “Evening Cherry on Mt Yoshino.”
That image always instils a sense of calm in me when I view it. My love of gardens and the natural world are an inspiration in my artwork.
My relationship with the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (VCBF) began in 2011. I responded to a Call For Entry to the fibreEssence CBATT exhibit held annually at the Silk Purse Gallery and I’ve been fortunate to be accepted for the last several years. Prose and poetry also inspire my work. Each year I try to approach the exhibit entry with a new concept. This led to an awareness of VCBF activities.
A change of season always stimulates creativity for me. Over the years the VCBF has become a multifaceted public celebration of spring. In neighbourhoods all around Metro Vancouver, trees bloom and shower us with petals-sidewalks are awash and parked cars disappear under a cloud of pink. Individuals, couples and families gather under the trees-sometimes stopping traffic-to gaze up into the overflowing branches. The shared joy brings communities together. It is inspiring!
TECHNIQUES
I departed from my mixed media art as that involves complex and time-consuming hand-dyeing natural fabrics; cutting, overlaying, hand and machine stitching and often printmaking and other media.
The Haiku Invitational art quilt, as a piece of public art, needed to be a durable, colourful, and engaging “frame” for the haiku panels.
It is a machine-stitched pieced art quilt in a simple block design using commercially printed cotton. The haiku panels are attached to it with embroidery floss.
Here are other creative ways we’ve celebrated in the past!
2017:
Haiku Koinobori
Inspired by the carp streamers flying at Sakura Days Japan Fair. this installation is designed to unite our diverse communities through culture, history, and haiku on hand-painted carp scales. Presented by Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.
Haiku Mime
Yayaoi Hirano and flute percussionist, Holly Burke, collaborated on our Sakura Days Japan Fair stage and Cherry Jam stage and performed an interpretive mime piece integrating our Haiku Invitational 2016 winning poems presented by Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.
2010:
Haiku Tree
The Haiku tree feeds on and absorb the atmospheric energy that surrounds it, ultimately offering us a curious look into each neighbourhood through its reflection of Haiku on the planted tree. Each tree ‘grew’ in a different location of Vancouver during the first three weeks of the Cherry Blossom Festival. The Haiku tree invited the public to take a rest and encourages them to write their own Haiku on it with a permanent marker. After three weeks of ‘growth’, the trees will be exhibited in VanDusen Botanical Garden for the last week of the festival.
2009:
Haiku Paper Tree – Bing Thom Architects Installation
Haiku Flags – Bing Thom Architects Installation
Under Heaven’s Dome – Sounds of Haiku
World premiere of “Under Heaven’s Dome ~ Sounds of Haiku”, an avant–garde new music composition by Leslie Uyeda performed by Vancouver Opera singers and musicians at Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park. The ticketed program was inspired by our Haiku Invitational program and featured Barbara Towell, Mezzo-soprano; Leslie Uyeda on piano; Kathryn Cernauskas on flute; Heather Pawsey, soprano; and Sue Round on cello, presented to an audience of 125 people.
2008:
Haiku Rock
