From Deseret News archives:

Art in silence

Rie Hachiyanagi's show at BYU employs blank handmade paper

Published: Saturday, Nov. 20, 2004 10:42 p.m. MST
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Hachiyanagi said "Benevolence" doesn't try to emphasize the quality of ritual per se, but her slow movements force the artist and the viewer to engage in the process rather than the results. And "actions that appear mechanical or mundane are elevated to a heightened level of awareness."

Each of the other works in Hachiyanagi's installation evoke thoughts and feelings of reverence and peace, of being connected with something that isn't requiring a verbal or physical answer. "The Golden River," which references D.H. Lawrence's poem "The Ship of Death," presents viewers with a multitude of miniature vessels, made of handmade paper, folded with rare tenderness and hanging as a long stream at various heights from a grid by thread. The boats stir with each breeze made by viewers, as if moving along on the waters' current.

In the artist's piece "Threshold," viewers enter a room to discover layer upon layer of handmade paper on the ground. Isolated lights shine up through the paper, and, depending on the amount of paper over the light, the installation glows in patches. It is visually striking.

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Hachiyanagi said "Threshold" has multiple meanings. "There was this experience I had as a result of a serious automobile accident. While I was in ICU, I saw myself outside, standing in a field of the most beautiful white, warm light. I stood there for the longest time. I wanted to be immersed in the light, but something made me turn around and come back. I feel that if I would have stayed in the light, I would not have come back."

It has been 10 years since Hachiyanagi's accident, but it's only recently that the experience has come back to her in sketches. "It seemed like the right time to do it (the installation)."

Each of the eight locations in "Rituals of Being" will inspire viewers to a quietness of being, encourage a reverence for the process of thinking and seeing, but only if they choose to participate in the ritual.


If you go . . .

What: "Rituals of Being," works by Rie Hachiyanagi

Where: Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo

When: Through March 26, 2005

Gallery hours: Monday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, noon-5 p.m.; Closed Sunday

How much: Free

Phone: 422-1140

Web: www.byu.edu/moa


E-mail: gag@desnews.com

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