Kae Sasaki is an artist in residence at the Deep Bay Cabin for the 2019 Riding Mountain Artists Residency.
Kae is a visual artist who works primarily as a painter. As a recent immigrant from Japan to Canada (2000) her work explores the complexity of modern identity, and displacement that can be felt when straddling different cultures. Her work has been exhibited across Canada.
While in residence in Riding Mountain National Park, Kae will focus on the creation of a handsewn, child-sized, beaded kimono, to meditate upon the history of Japanese Canadians leading up to WWII. The kimono is reconstructed from vintage kimono fabric using Japanese glass beads and lined with pleated Canadian Maple Leaf tartan.
“I have been creating a handsewn child-sized kimono, with a beaded front of river stream patterns to commemorate the history of Japanese Canadian fishermen who, at one point, controlled nearly half of the fishing licenses in British Columbia. The year 2019 marks the 100-year anniversary of the Department of Fisheries of BC to take away the fishing licenses from Japanese Canadians preceding the eventual Japanese internment in Canada.
Currently I am able to cover modest 7 to 8 square inches over an 8-hour working day, and I hope the longer days with natural light over the summer months and the presence of water at the lake will maximize more productivity and focus into accomplishing as much beading as possible.”
Artist Presentation
Join Kae on Thursday, August 8, where she will show the beaded kimono that she been working on while in residence and a short presentation of the history of beadwork/bead production. Audience members are invited to create a small beading project with supplies provided by the artist, or bring their own bead work for an informal beading group following Kae’s presentation.
