Lisa Walton x Kancan
"MOTTAINAI", 2022
"You can do anything with textile. They don't have to be fabric as we know it. It can be anything."
-Lisa Walton
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Lisa Walton, a textile artist from Australia has been creating textile art for over 30 years. With her familiarity with textile art, she is a member of the international textile group called “Cloth in Common” which submits creative projects bi-monthly. Lisa is primarily a quilter that enjoys creating her own dyed fabrics. She loves that she is able to branch out her creativity within her art of textile. Her deep passion to share her knowledge of textile art has expanded to online workshops and virtual artist stories for those interested in textiles.
MEANING OF DENIM
To Lisa, denim is an essential piece of clothing that everyone has. “Denim to me means it’s an every man fabric. Everybody has a pair of jeans. When I first met my husband 100 years ago his uniform was a denim jacket and denim jeans and I don’t think I saw him in anything else for many years. He just loved it. I think everybody has a pair of jeans. We have our favorite jeans. It’s like putting on a pair of warm slippers.“
ABOUT THE WORK
When creating art, Lisa enjoys having creative freedom in building her art pieces. Having a theme in a project guides her with structure, although one of the joys of working with textile art is that she doesn’t have to play by the rules. In her project working with Kancan denim, her inspiration was to showcase her methods reusing and recycling. Her piece, "Mottainai" is incorporated with kimono fabrics she buys second-handed from her trips from Japan. Likewise, the meaning behind Mottainai in her words is "Japanese for waste not want not." She wanted to highlight the shapes, elements, and textures while still complimenting the denim with the kimono fabric. She creates weaving patterns and unique stitching to bring out simple details within the art piece. By using recycled fabrics, Lisa displays the necessity of giving reused fabric a second life.
"I wanted to work with the fabrics to work with the kimonos to create something that would show there is still beauty to be made. I know they will have a second life one day."
-Lisa Walton
