Biography

Seiko Atsuta Purdue is Professor in the Fibers/Fabrics area in the Department of Art at Western Washington University.  After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Kyoto Seika University in 1992, she came to the United States where she received an MA at Montclair State University and a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  She has exhibited textile installations widely and has given workshops on Japanese textiles (shibori, katazome, and papermaking) for many years.  She has curated “Coded Threads: Textiles and Technology” and Katazome Today: Migration of A Japanese Art.”

Much of her work is installation-based, using fiber materials or ideas of fiber, seeking to connect East and West. She explores both traditional and contemporary textile techniques, particularly casting.  After exploring the theme of motherhood using domestic materials such as clothing and toys, she is moving towards more global issues; “Hyoga (Iceberg)” based on the concept of global warming and “Meadow and Cluster” created during the pandemic.  Her  concerns about labor and honoring handworks are involved in her artmaking in various ways.  Wish Project is ongoing project and “Kimihimo Wishes” is the latest of her public participation work intended to connect human relationships during the pandemic.     

Curriculum Vita

Seiko A. Purdue

Professor, Fibers/Fabrics
Department of Art, Fine Arts Complex 226a
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA 98225-9068
360-650-4832
Seiko.Purdue@wwu.edu

http://www.seikopurdue.com/
 

Education: Master of Fine Arts, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, 1997
Master of Arts, Montclair State University, NJ, 1995
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Kyoto Seika University, Japan, 1992

Appointments:
Western Washington University, Department of Art, Bellingham, WA

2019- present, Professor, Fibers/Fabrics 2008-2019, Associate Professor, Fibers/Fabrics
2002-2008, Assistant Professor, Fibers/Fabrics
2001-2002, Lecturer, Fibers/Fabrics

Exhibitions and Professional Activity:

 2023            

•  Curating Group Exhibition, “Katazome Today: Mingration of a Japanese Art”,  Whatcom Museum Lightcatcher Building, Bellingham WA

(forthcoming)

2022  

• Solo Exhibition, Geheim Gallery, Bellingham WA (forthcoming)

2021            

•  “Meadow and Cluster”, Solo Exhibition, Gallery Gallery, Kyoto, Japan                  

•  “Earth Matters”, Group Exhibition, Watermark Art Center, Bemidji, MN

•   “Kumihimo Wishes; Current Times”, Solo Exhibition, Jansen Art center, Lynden, WA

2020

• “Currents 2020: National Craft Exhibition & Symposium, featuring Northwest Designer Craftsmen”,  Schack Art Center, Everett, WA

2019             

• "Summer Daydreams", Curated Group Exhibition, Chase Gallery at City Hall, Spokane Arts Fund, Spokane, WA

• Judge for International Quilt & Fiber Arts Festival, Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, La Conner, WA

• “Dye & Tie: Japanese gift-wrapping textiles” (Katazome workshop), Whatcom Museum Lightcatcher, Bellingham WA

2018

• Lecture, “Coded Threads: Textiles and Technology,” Fiber Art Department, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China

• Katazome Workshops, BARN Fiber Arts Studio, Bainbridge Island, WA 

• Co-Organized invitation of Shoji Yamamura (Kurume Ikat master from Kyushu) for textile lecture series, Seattle Art Museum, Gardner Center for Asian Art and Ideas; assisted on 2 day workshop

2017    

• Coded Threads: Textiles and Technology, Curator for Group Exhibition, Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

• “Decoded Threads,” Collaboration with choreographer Pam Kuntz, sound maker Richard Scholtz and photographer Helen Scholtz (I crocheted the dress, helped recording the sounds and images for the projection, and collaborated in developing the piece), Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA  

•  Invitational Group Exhibition, Matzke Fine Art Gallery, Camano Island, WA

2016

• “Hyoga”, Solo Exhibition, Gallery Gallery, Kyoto, Japan

• “Fiber Fusion,” traveling group exhibition (juried), Richland, Redmond, Port Towsend, WA

• Artist Talk, Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan

2015      

• “Press and Twist”, Solo Exhibition, Green Chalk Contemporary, Monterey, CA

• Residency on Papermaking and Solo Exhibition, Udatsu Paper and Craft Museum, Echizen, Fukui, Japan

2014 

• “Casting: Labor of Love”, Solo Exhibition, Anchor Art Space, Anacortes, WA

2013 

• “Wishes for the Planet”, Public Participation Project during the Vanishing Ice Exhibition, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Seattle

• “Warp and Weft: The Northwest and Japan”, Solo Exhibition, IMA (San Juan Islands Museum of Art), Friday Harbor, WA

2012 

• Window Installation, Mindport Gallery, Bellingham, WA

• “Show Us Yours”: 2012 CoCA Members Show, Georgetown, Seattle, WA

2011 

• “Peace 2011”, Group Exhibition, The International Center in New York, NY

• “Tan-nan Art Festival”, Invitational Group Exhibition, Fukui & Kyoto, Japan

• Researched Kurume Kasuri with Shoji Yamamura, Kurume, Japan

2010 

• “Lofty Aspirations”, Indoor Permanent Sculpture, Viking Union 50th Anniversary project (Collaboration with Cara Jaye), Viking Union, WWU, Bellingham, WA

2009 

• “Craftforms”, International Juried Exhibition, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

2008 

• “Tattered Cultures, Mended Histories”, invitational group exhibition in conjunction with Textile Society of America 2008 symposium, Academy Art Center, Honolulu Department of Art and Art History/University of Hawai'i at Manoa, HI

2007 

• “Fabric of Identity”, co-curator and participating artist, Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

2006 

• “Intersections: Contemporary Work by Japanese American Artists”Invitational Group Exhibition, Bainbridge Arts, Crafts, & Education, Bainbridge Island, WA

• “Nakami”, Solo Exhibition, Honmachi Art Gallery, Osaka, Japan

2005 

• Wish Tying, Book production to document ten-year “Wish Tying” project

• “Wish Tying”, Solo Exhibition, Mindport Gallery, Bellingham, WA

• 5th International Kaunas Textile Art Biennial (See http://www.smic.lt/textile/next/entry.htm) M. K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kaunas, Lithuania

• “NuArt 05” Anacortes Art Festival, Invitational Group Exhibition, Anacortes, WA

2004 

• The Fifth International Biennial on Contemporary Textile Art Exhibition &Conference, SCYTHIA 5, Kherson, Ukraine