Virtual Studio Tour with Fiber Arts Professor Seiko Atsuta Purdue

Seiko Atsuta Purdue is a professor of fibers/fabrics in the Department of Art and Art History at Western Washington University. After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Kyoto Seika University, she came to the United States where she received a Master of Arts at Montclair State University and a Master 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. Her most recent major project was curating the exhibition “Coded Threads: Textile and Technology” in 2017 with help from her colleague Pierre Gour at Western Gallery.

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 worked on global issues. “Hyoga (Iceberg)” is a site-specific installation work based on the concept of global warming and is an investigation of a landscape of melting ice. She is currently exploring natural dyeing with papermaking and is creating a new series concerned with labor and honoring handworks in various ways.

The May 2021 studio tour was arranged by the WWU Alumni Association.