This New Exhibit Features 100 Works From Akiko Ike
Originally published on Milwaukee Magazine 5/18/23Japanese artist Akiko Ike’s new exhibit Akiko Ike: Boro Chiku-Chiku opens this weekend at The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. The renowned artist coined the onomatopoeic phrase of the exhibition’s title – it sonically describes the sound of her needle running through cloth. Take a moment to slowly and phonetically say the phrase “chiku-chicku,” and you may just hear a snippet of art.
“What you’ll see in the exhibition is just thousands and thousands and thousands of stitches,” explains Emily Schlemowitz, Senior Curator at the museum. “So even if you don’t know much about fiber arts, I think you would be impressed by the level of meticulousness and care that goes into everything she does. It’s kind of like thousands and thousands of brush strokes.”
Ike has a unique connection to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Art, through one volunteer who is a big fan. “We have a long time volunteer, Takako Willben, who’s Japanese, and from around the same region that Ike was from,” says Schlemowitz. “[Willben] has lived in Cedarburg for a very long time and she actually showed us Ike’s work. In 2019 we showed three of Ike’s pieces and had her here to teach a workshop. That’s when we started talking about doing a solo exhibition.”
Akiko Ike: Boro Chiku-Chiku at Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts; Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts
The show, which runs through Aug. 27, is Ike’s first-ever solo museum exhibition in the United States. It was supposed to happen in 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic, so this premiere has been years in the making. Although her work has been shown internationally in countries like France and Australia, and throughout her home country of Japan, the 80-year-old artist only just started her practice.
Twenty years ago, at 60 years old and after raising a family and finishing her (first) career, Ike started crafting using stitching techniques like sashiko, boro and kantha. She transformed old work and indigo-dyed clothes into works of art.
“There are ten koi fish hanging in the gallery,” says Schlemowitz. “They vary in size from five to 20 feet. We installed them so you can walk between them, so it’s more sculptural than two dimensional. Ike used banners from Children’s Day, which is a Japanese holiday celebrated in May. So she’s taken these banners that were displayed around Japanese villages and then repurposed them through her stitching. Some of them are really old and historic and some are a little bit more modern. But they’re all cotton and just so beautiful.”
Ike uses imagery from her environment, the Japanese coastline, fishermen, even her own children. She uses her inspiration to stitch together her art, composing evocative creations that inspire a viewer to look a little closer.
“It’s a ritual,” says Schlemowitz. “Ike owns a gallery and she’s there four days a week, and basically stitches the whole time. She does it while we’re eating, it’s just a part of her daily life.”
There will be 100 of Ike’s works on view during this exhibition, and Schlemowitz shares that all of the pieces were brought over in suitcases by Ike and three associates whose travel was made possible through the Japan Foundation in New York.
Ike will be in person for the opening celebration on Friday, May 19 form 5:30-7 p.m. and will host a Boro Chiku-Chiku bag making workshop the next day (May 20) from 9 a.m.-noon. The exhibit runs through Aug. 27 and all didactics and supporting text for this exhibition will be presented in both English and Japanese.
