We’re delighted to feature a set of her works in cloth (with an extended Flickr selection and notes). Painting with hot wax and liquid dyes on thirsty cloth is an apt way to describe the work Kiranada does. Her background in fibers includes training in the Japanese kimono industry and research in the traditional Japanese classical arts; from scoll painting and tea ceremony to literature.
Her work is a meditation and a centering in this diverse world, reflecting 18 years of life in Kyoto as well as impressions from winter studios in Spain, Costa Rica and Indonesia. Working with applied dyes, and hot wax on silk is a meditative process for me; centering and ecstatic; both planned and spontaneous. I work with color and pattern, layering and mark making with resist-dye techniques, using the materials of acid dye, silk fabric and ganryo pigment.
In the past images for my work have come from textile research, ancient craft traditions and a delight in process. Other subject matter came from time spent in the Alhambra in Granada, sketching in the Mosque of Cordoba as well as painting on the edge of rice fields in Indonesia.
An interest in the spiritual qualities of cloth, transformation and a global view led me to work on a series of seven kesa (Buddhist monastic robes) that I prepared for the millennium to be on view at PEM from December of 2006 through June 2007. As cloths of healing and unity, one for each continent, they were made to be on site around the world on January 1, 2000.