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Two Renowned Bamboo Artists to Present at Florida Tech April 4, 7

Tanabe Shōchiku III's "Warrior" from 2006. Photo by Forrest Cavale.

World-renowned contemporary bamboo artist Tanabe Shōchiku III will demonstrate his mastery of bamboo weaving at an outdoor presentation at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 4, at Florida Institute of Technology’s Panthereum amphitheater.

The demonstration will be followed by a reception at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, which is currently presenting several of Tanabe’s pieces as part of its Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art exhibition. The exhibition runs through April 25.

Tanabe Shōchiku III, who assumed his artist name in 2008, was born in Osaka Prefecture in 1973. He first trained under his father, the bamboo artist Chikuunsai III, who also is included in the Modern Twist exhibit.

Tanabe’s work captures the essence of the medium both conceptually and visually, a skill which has garnered him international acclaim. His work is included in the collections of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the British Museum in London. He is also unusual among Japanese bamboo weavers in that he is active outside Japan as an ambassador for his art form, exhibiting and demonstrating in Australia, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the U.S., and Switzerland.

Admission for the bamboo demonstration and reception is $25, or $20 for members of the Friends of Textiles. Guests are encouraged to pre-register by calling Donna Sewell at 321-674-6129 or emailing textiles@fit.edu.

The following Tuesday, April 7, another well-known bamboo artist, the American Charissa Brock, will offer a lecture titled, “From the Bamboo Grove to the Studio: The Creative Journey” starting at 6 p.m. in the Denius Student Center’s Hartley Room on the Florida Tech campus. It will be preceded by a reception at 5:15 p.m.

Brock, who works and teaches out of her studio in Portland, Oregon, has been making artwork with natural materials since 1994.Through studio-based research and object making, she creates one-of-a-kind bamboo sculptures with ornate details. In her studio, Brock’s question-based exploration yields new techniques to apply to the work. She discovered bamboo as an art material in 1999 while earning her MFA at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Featured in numerous publications, Brock’s work has also been exhibited widely in the United States and is included in the collection of the Arizona State University Museum.

The cost for the lecture is $10 for the general public and free for Friends of Textiles members and full-time Florida Tech students, faculty and staff, with Florida Tech ID. Reservations are not necessary.