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Biography
Miki Kubo began her practice in glass after studied Visual Arts at Kyoto College of Art in Japan 1990.
Miki has moved to Australia in 1998.
Private Engraving lessons with Anne Dybka at Argyle Terrace, The Rocks Sydney from 2003 to 2005.
Miki has moved to Australia in 1998.
Private Engraving lessons with Anne Dybka at Argyle Terrace, The Rocks Sydney from 2003 to 2005.
Nature, Engraving and Miki
Nature
There are reasons for nature being how it is. There is a perfection to it. Nature does not have doubts or confusion. Nature doesn’t ‘think’ or ‘work things out’. It knows – and there is a profound trust in that. Animals know what they are and what they are meant to do. They are always being themselves, doing what they have to do, giving their best – 100%. They don’t take time off. They are pure, honest, instinctive, themselves. Certain.
Nature is always producing wonderous, profound music. As humans we are out of it. We only see the surface and are not seeing that there is another, deeper reality. We rush, and try to get as much as we can without paying attention. We are not hearing the music. We are lost and discordant – trying to force things, as if we know better than life does. We think we are dominant and in control, but we are the ones off course. We don’t flow with life, we struggle against it and we become lost in intellectualising and analysing. We create noise and clutter and obscure the beauty in life. We disconnect from it.
When I look at Nature, at Life, I see a purity and connectedness that I long to be part of again. I feel that I am out of it, and I yearn to reconnect with my true self, my song. I want to feel the harmony with life that I see there. I want to cut through the noise to have a direct experience of the music of life.
When I choose a subject for my art, I find and connect with a spark in it – a glimpse of its perfection and purity that it reveals to me. This is an honour and it puts me in touch with the knowing and trust that is there inherent in the subject. In this intimate relationship with the subject I find myself. I feel peace. There is no doubt.
There are reasons for nature being how it is. There is a perfection to it. Nature does not have doubts or confusion. Nature doesn’t ‘think’ or ‘work things out’. It knows – and there is a profound trust in that. Animals know what they are and what they are meant to do. They are always being themselves, doing what they have to do, giving their best – 100%. They don’t take time off. They are pure, honest, instinctive, themselves. Certain.
Nature is always producing wonderous, profound music. As humans we are out of it. We only see the surface and are not seeing that there is another, deeper reality. We rush, and try to get as much as we can without paying attention. We are not hearing the music. We are lost and discordant – trying to force things, as if we know better than life does. We think we are dominant and in control, but we are the ones off course. We don’t flow with life, we struggle against it and we become lost in intellectualising and analysing. We create noise and clutter and obscure the beauty in life. We disconnect from it.
When I look at Nature, at Life, I see a purity and connectedness that I long to be part of again. I feel that I am out of it, and I yearn to reconnect with my true self, my song. I want to feel the harmony with life that I see there. I want to cut through the noise to have a direct experience of the music of life.
When I choose a subject for my art, I find and connect with a spark in it – a glimpse of its perfection and purity that it reveals to me. This is an honour and it puts me in touch with the knowing and trust that is there inherent in the subject. In this intimate relationship with the subject I find myself. I feel peace. There is no doubt.
Engraving
When I engrave an animal, it is a portrait of that animal. It is not ‘a duck’, it is that specific, personal duck. Every individual animal is its own spirit. Each piece I make is an individual portrait of that animal, of that spirit.
When I make the piece, I fall in love with the animal. I am in conversation with it – searching, hunting for its essence, its soul. I feel an intimacy with it and have reverence for its perfection – as a whole. There is nothing about it that I wish was different. I feel deep gratitude for the whole miraculous process that brought it into being and brought me in contact with it in that exact moment. More primitive people, who live closer to nature, also have this reverence for nature.
Each animal is its own self. I can’t own, or possess it, or take it away from what it is meant to be. All I can do is honour and wonder at its perfection. I do this through glass engraving.
Engraving involves removing material to access the other, deeper reality that I see through my connection with the subject. It is a process of carving away. It is a process of purification – of removing the noise and revealing something noble and perfect.
Engraving requires great focus. Mistakes can’t be erased. The spinning bit demands deep concentration. Ear muffs reduce outside distractions. Constantly running water means that I can’t see the surface where marks are being made. I trust in my connection with the subject and in the engraving process and focus goes deeper and deeper.
My work is detailed, precise, fine – it draws me in to see what is really there. Within this connection and focus, I find myself. I am purified. Just as I remove extraneous glass to reveal the essence of the animal subject, so too, what is redundant in my mind is removed and I feel connected to the subject, to life, to my true nature. I am joyful.
Engraving on glass brings three dimensions, and the play of light and shadow, to the work. This is what makes it so appropriate as a medium for representing life. In sand casting there is a sense of liquidity – a captured pond of water. Each work is a moment taken from the stream of life - dynamic, but frozen in glass.
When people see my work, the first, quick response can be – ‘Oh, what a nice picture of a bird.’ But in staying with the piece, the other reality emerges. My intention is not to be decorative. I am not aspiring to conform to a vogue or glass style. I am striving to express this universal language of life that I yearn for – to go beyond the surface and speak straight to people’s instinct, to their intuition, to their hearts.
We need to be reminded of what is real, what is important. There is something more than we are finding with our intellect. What we are meant to be is more than this. There is a greater music than this. In my work I am calling to the heart of the viewer to connect with this richer, more pure, reality.
My work is done in homage to the Life Force. In making a piece I touch the core of me – I reveal what I worship, who I am and what I aspire to be. I hope that through my work, others can find some of the peace, truth and joy that I find there.
When I engrave an animal, it is a portrait of that animal. It is not ‘a duck’, it is that specific, personal duck. Every individual animal is its own spirit. Each piece I make is an individual portrait of that animal, of that spirit.
When I make the piece, I fall in love with the animal. I am in conversation with it – searching, hunting for its essence, its soul. I feel an intimacy with it and have reverence for its perfection – as a whole. There is nothing about it that I wish was different. I feel deep gratitude for the whole miraculous process that brought it into being and brought me in contact with it in that exact moment. More primitive people, who live closer to nature, also have this reverence for nature.
Each animal is its own self. I can’t own, or possess it, or take it away from what it is meant to be. All I can do is honour and wonder at its perfection. I do this through glass engraving.
Engraving involves removing material to access the other, deeper reality that I see through my connection with the subject. It is a process of carving away. It is a process of purification – of removing the noise and revealing something noble and perfect.
Engraving requires great focus. Mistakes can’t be erased. The spinning bit demands deep concentration. Ear muffs reduce outside distractions. Constantly running water means that I can’t see the surface where marks are being made. I trust in my connection with the subject and in the engraving process and focus goes deeper and deeper.
My work is detailed, precise, fine – it draws me in to see what is really there. Within this connection and focus, I find myself. I am purified. Just as I remove extraneous glass to reveal the essence of the animal subject, so too, what is redundant in my mind is removed and I feel connected to the subject, to life, to my true nature. I am joyful.
Engraving on glass brings three dimensions, and the play of light and shadow, to the work. This is what makes it so appropriate as a medium for representing life. In sand casting there is a sense of liquidity – a captured pond of water. Each work is a moment taken from the stream of life - dynamic, but frozen in glass.
When people see my work, the first, quick response can be – ‘Oh, what a nice picture of a bird.’ But in staying with the piece, the other reality emerges. My intention is not to be decorative. I am not aspiring to conform to a vogue or glass style. I am striving to express this universal language of life that I yearn for – to go beyond the surface and speak straight to people’s instinct, to their intuition, to their hearts.
We need to be reminded of what is real, what is important. There is something more than we are finding with our intellect. What we are meant to be is more than this. There is a greater music than this. In my work I am calling to the heart of the viewer to connect with this richer, more pure, reality.
My work is done in homage to the Life Force. In making a piece I touch the core of me – I reveal what I worship, who I am and what I aspire to be. I hope that through my work, others can find some of the peace, truth and joy that I find there.
Birds sing for the joy of life.
I engrave to celebrate life.