We're delighted to feature as part of our galleries section this month a set of works in cloth by Kiranada Sterling Benjamin (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; centering and ecstatic; both planned and spontaneous. Kiranada works 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 her 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.

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