BORO & SASHIKO

WORKSHOPS

                                      "Lauren's Dress - Boro Style"   - John Porter, April 2022

My first exposure to Boro and Sashiko occurred during a workshop offered by the Bainbridge Artisans Resource Network on Bainbridge Island, WA.  I belonged to BARN when I lived in WA a few years ago and was glad to see its announcement of a virtual workshop taking place in February and March, 2022. 
 
Wikipedia has explanations of these two art forms.  Briefly, Boro began as a functional practice in northern Japan to repair apparel so as to lengthen its utility.  Adding patch upon patch to apparel generally used in industrial clothing from generation to generation served a practical end.  Sashiko is a stitching technique used in Boro that utilizes specialized threads and needles. Eventually Boro and Sashiko caught the eye of artisans and these products began to be valued as works of art.

The BARN workshop was led by nationally recognized Sashiko experts Jason Bowlsby and Shannon Leigh Roudhan (Boro & Sashiko, Harmonious Imperfection:  The Art of Japanese Mending & Stitching).  It was designed to take the artistic elements of Boro and Sashiko to a different artistic level as students created wall hangings using these techniques.
  
My second formal exposure to Sashiko took place during two days one week apart at the Glen Arbor [Michigan] Art Center.  Ms. Alyssa Brieanne Spytman (alyssabrieannedesign.com) was the instructor for this workshop which took place in April 2022.