Zétton

Makiko Fukuoka

I embroider plants that take my interest, my feelings about life and my experiences. Every day I sew a few more stitches so that within a season I complete a piece of work. I do this both so that I don't forget the stitches I learnt in Japan and so that I can keep a record of my feelings on the linen. Each individual stitch opens the doors to the world of embroidery up a little wider for me.

Botanical Series <BR />
Botanical Series: Green Necklace <BR />
Botanical Series: Bladder Campion <BR />
Botanical Series: Campanula <BR />
Flourish Series: Flourish 1<BR/> <div align='left'> At the end of August in 2017 I moved to Ireland with my family. I remember that the sun didn't set until eight o'clock at night and the grass was beautifuly green and glistened with rain. Everything around me was green. <I>Flourish</I>. The word suddenly came to my mind. Ireland is a country made to flourish. The trees, grass, flowers, berries and nuts flourish because people care about nature and the weather in Ireland helps greenery to grow. A beautiful Summer, a long Autumn and Winter from the end of October to March and then Spring when you finally see daffodils bloom everywhere. Irish people are also very articulate, and speak as though one word springs up after another. I don't necessarily understand all the numerous words that pass in one ear and out the other as they swirl around me like music, as full of life as the flourishing scenery around me. This is also another reason why I say that Ireland is a flourishing country. These works express what flourish means for me in Ireland, using my embroidery. Flourish is the word that, for me, best describes Ireland. </div>
The Gemstone Beach in Donegal<BR/> <div align='left'> We have been the most southerly point of Irealnd at Malin head, the most northerly at Mizen head, and visited counties Cork, Mayo, Clare, Kilkenny, Wexford, Galway and Donegal. For me, Donegal is the most typically Irish part of Ireland. The beautiful scenery and kind people, particularly at Doagh Famine Village, taught me some of the most important history of Ireland. In 2019 we visited Donegal and met a lovely painter who had her own art shop. She told us about a beach where she and her daughter would often go when her daughter was a child. She gave us a wink and started to talk us about the gemstone beach. She and her daughter sat on the beach together and closed thier eyes, put their hands into the stones and pulled out beautiful pea-sized crystals, worn smooth by the sea. This work expresses the memory of the gemstone beach and the painter we met in Donegal. The beautiful, colourful stones really looked like precious stones. </div>