Mika Obayashi

Jewett Art Gallery

September 6 - October 28, 2022

 

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Gospel of Three Dimensions, a new installation by Mika Obayashi, is being exhibited for the first time in the Jewett Art Gallery at Wellesley College. Made from abaca paper, cotton cord, and indigo dye, and with a title inspired by Edwin A. Abbott's 1884 novella Flatland, this artwork reflects Obayashi's interest in creating sculptures that can be looked at, in, and through all at once, changing and calling into question the ways we typically experience space.

 

Obayashi explores the three-dimensional possibilities of craft materials by modifying traditional craft processes, such as papermaking and basket weaving. The scale of her work varies widely, from small, self-contained objects to human- and architecture-scaled installations that seek to mindfully articulate empty or institutional space. Themes of balance, liminality, and symbols of nature materialize repeatedly in her work.

 

Gospel of Three Dimensions may be viewed from any point in the gallery, and viewers are invited to enter partway into the sculpture from the back to experience it more immersively. While repeated gridded and squared forms throughout the piece put it into direct conversation with the built structure of the gallery (and the prominent sun screen on the exterior of the Jewett Arts Center), the piece also has atmospheric qualities that respond to changes in light from hour to hour, day to day, allowing an attentive or repeated viewer to experience in the context of passing time as well as shifting space.

 

Mika Obayashi is a fiber and installation artist from Michigan. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College in 2019, where she focused on sculpture and papermaking. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Japan and the US. Her first solo exhibition, As the Crow Flies, was held at the fiber arts venue GalleryGallery in Kyoto, Japan in 2020. She is a recipient of the 2020 Amelia Peabody Award for Sculpture given by the St. Botolph Club Foundation in Boston. In 2022 she was a resident at the Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY, which provided essential and material support for the creation of this artwork. She currently lives and works in western Massachusetts.

 

This exhibition was on view in the Jewett Art Gallery from September 6 through October 28, 2022.

 

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