In This Issue
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Cecilia Vicuña ● Inter-Connection/ Sustenance & Healing
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Christine and Margaret Wertheim ● Community and Kin Builders
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Nazanin Noroozi ● Collective Memory and Displacement
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Rina Banerjee ● Cross-Cultural Kinship
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Chiyomi Taneike Longo ● Spiritual Connectivity
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Connie Tell and Donna Brookman ● Kinship: Guest Editors
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Connie Tell and Donna Brookman ● Kinship: The Art of Connection
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WEAD Editors ● Recommended Reading
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Susan Leibovitz Steinman ● Message from Founding Editor
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WEAD Editors ● Featured Artist
Spiritual Connectivity:
Chiyomi Taneike Longo
‘In the depth of Karamatsu wood
There is a passage for me to walk
Misty rain is falling on the path
The mountain breeze circulates through it”
Kitahara Hokushu’s poem, “Karamatsu Woods” (from which this stanza was taken) has been a major influence in my work and reflects my own nature and philosophy.
Prior to coming to the United States, I lived in the countryside in Japan, a small village which, at the time, had no local newspaper or public transportation, in truth we were rather isolated from the greater society. This relatively secluded community, surrounded by bamboo forests, rice fields, and all the flora and fauna that abounded there was an integral part of my being, and the foundation for all that I have become. As a child I wondered why most people seemed to admire flowers more than trees, rocks, and streams, to which I felt so closely connected. Looking at the leaves, shining a vibrant green against the blackness of the shadows I experienced the balance of yin and yang. The moss-covered rocks seemed to be singing to me and I felt their song deep in my soul. I was also mesmerized by the vastness of the brilliant blue sky which seemed to draw me upward to soar and become a part of its limitlessness. The bare earth in front of our house became my drawing tablet, almost limitless to my minds eye, which invited me to fill that void with boundless drawings. To this day I continue to work on large canvases to recreate the seemingly endless drawings of my childhood.
Many years later, after receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, my works exemplified a connection to nature and my basic philosophy. I try to create the physical and spiritual harmony of the duality of nature on the canvas with forms and diverse medium and textures. I have limited my palette and expanded the surface textures to create a melodic rhythm which reflects nature’s cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
I invite the viewers to follow along my path through Karamatsu Woods and be awed by the journey as I have.
– Chiyomi Taneike Longo
“The Silence Between The Lines”
All photos courtesy of the artist.
About Chiyomi Taneike Longo
Chiyomi T. Longo’s distinguished exhibition history includes over fifty solo and group exhibitions in the United States and internationally. Her work is in numerous collections including Oracle; Emergence Capital Partners; Deputy Consul, Republic of Argentina; Touchstone Productions; Kaiser Medical Center; Hashimoto Corporation; Museo Del Historico Renegale, Ensenada, Mexico; and many others. A recipient of multiple awards and honors, Chiyomi lives and works in Santa Rosa, CA. She is represented by Ren Brown Collection Gallery in Bodega Bay, CA.