Yoshiko is available for consultancy projects. Her expertise has been sought for fabric research & development, historical and cultural accuracy, and curatorial advisement.
Cultural and Educational Tour Leadership
Clients have included:
- Aranya Naturals, a TATA welfare project for natural dyeing;
- Selvedge Foundation from London, UK
- Fashion Designer Christina Kim for dosa inc;
- Costume Designer Colleen Atwood for “Memoirs of a Geisha” (Academy Award for Best Costume Design);
- Curator Maribeth Graybill for University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), Ann Arbor;
- Owner Eleanor Coppola for FFC Presents;
- San Francisco Film Arts Foundation (now the San Francisco Film Society);
- Seibu Department Store, Miyake Design Studio, and Vepar for Asha by MDS;
- Dyer Tsuyoshi Kuno of Kuno Dyeworks for Cirque du Soleil and Tiffany & Co.
- Owner Elizabeth Wilson and Designer Fifi White for Asiatica
Curatorial engagements have included:
- Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.;
- Philadelphia Museum of Art;
- National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India;
- Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco
- Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
- Jim Thompson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand
Please email yoshiko [at] yoshikowada [dot] com to present any proposals.
EXHIBITIONS — CURATING AND JURYING
Curator, “mnemonikos: Art of memory in Contemporary Textile,” Mnemonikos JTAC Article, Jim Thomson Art Center, Bangkok, Thailand, 2014
Curator, “African American Quilt,” Nagoya Dome, World Quilt Carnival, Nagoya, Japan, 2005; and at the Festival of Quilts, Birmingham, U.K. 2007
Curator, exhibition “Fusion – Shibori Artwear,” Gallery Concept 21, Tokyo, Japan, 2005.
Curator, “Ragged Beauty: repair and reuse, past and present,” Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco CA, 2004.
Curator, “Tactile Dimensions: Shibori Now,” Kitting & Stitching Show, London, UK; Dublin, Ireland; and Harrogate, UK, 2002.
Co-curator, “Silk Dichotomies,” Northampton Center for the Arts, MA in conjunction with the conference of the Textile Society of America at Smith College, Northampton, MA 2002 and Leedy-Voulkos Gallery, in conjunction with the conference of Surface Design Association at the Kansas City Institute of Arts, Kansas City, MO, 2003.
Curator, “Tactile Dimensions,” Felissimo Design House. New York, NY, 2002.
Guest curator, “Shibori: Tradition and Innovation – East to West,” Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco, CA, 2001.
Guest curator, “Shibori: Expanding the Tradition,” San Francisco International Airport Museum, the Corporation of Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, CA, 2000.
Juror, Fiber Focus ’99, contemporary works in all fiber media by artists from nine Midwestern states, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 1999.
Curator, exhibition “Masterpieces in World Shibori Tradition,” Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile, 1999.
Juror, International Silk Scarf Contest, exploration of new silk blend fabric designed by Junichi Arai, Nippon Silk Center, Japan, 1998.
Co-curator,”The Kimono Inspiration: Art and Art to Wear in America,” The Textile Museum, Washington DC. Traveled to four other venues in US, including Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 1996-97.
Juror, “Insight! Diversity! Intensity!,” an international quilt competition and exhibition, Studio Art Quilt Associates, Gallery at Arrowmont School, Gatlinburg, TN, 1995.
Juror, the International Textile Design Contest. The Fashion Foundation, Tokyo, Japan, 1988-94.
Curatorial advisor, “Japanese Design: A Survey Since 1950, “Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA. Exhibition travelled to Milan, Paris, Dusseldorf and Osaka, 1992-94.
Co-curator, “Contemporary Shibori,” “Exotic Kimono Works by Foreign Artists,” and “Art-to-Wear,” organized in conjunction with the International Shibori Symposium, Nagoya, Japan, 1991-92.
Consulting curator, “World Masterpieces in Shibori,” Nagoya City Museum, Japan, 1991-92.
Juror, “Innovation > Inspiration,” Springwater Fiber Arts, Alexandria, VA, 1992.
Juror, “Speaking in Tongues – Ethnic Influences,” The InterArt Center, New York, NY, 1992.
Juror, “Kimono,” a national juried exhibition. Textile Art Centre, Chicago, IL, 1990.
Curator, the foreign section of the International Shibori Exhibition “Shibori City Nagoya,” Nagoya, Japan, 1989.
Consultant, the Indigo Foundation, Amsterdam, Holland for “Indigo–Naturally Blue,” Indigo/Leven in een kleur exhibition at the Tropen Museum, Amsterdam and book (see P.2), 1984-85.
Co-curator, “American Shibori,” Fiberworks Gallery, Berkeley, CA and Pyramid Center, Rochester, NY, 1982.
Consultant, “Cotton Ikat” exhibition held in 1982 at the Tropen Museum, Amsterdam, Holland, 1981.