WINSTON-SALEM, NC: Eiko Ishioka,
a designer, avant-garde artist and citizen of
universal culture, will offer a free public lecture
on February 2, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. at The Thrust
Theatre at Performance Place on the campus of The
North Carolina School of the Arts. Ishioka is world
renowned for her award-winning costume and set
designs for stage and film including Broadway’s M.
Butterfly, Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula and Cirque
du Soleil’s Varekai. Ishioka’s vibrant presentation
will revolve around a multi-media retrospective of
her work.
The Kenan Writers’ Encounters,
now in its second year, is a program sponsored by
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts,
presented in collaboration with The North Carolina
School of the Arts’ division of Academic Programs
(the liberal arts and sciences arm of the
conservatory). For more information on The Kenan
Writers’ Encounters call (336) 722-0030 or visit
www.kenanarts.org The second lecturer for this
year’s Encounters is Brian Greene, whose 1999 book
The Elegant Universe (which was also made into a
Peabody Award-winning NOVA series) reached number
four on the New York Times best-seller list and was
a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Green will offer
a free public lecture on March 30, 2006 at 7:30 p.m.
“Eiko Ishioka has dramatically
expanded my perception of visual design.,” states
Ellen Rosenberg, Ph.D. Humanities Faculty, North
Carolina School of the Arts. Rosenberg teaches
humanities and creative writing at NCSA and is
Project Director of The Kenan Writers’ Encounters.
“Since Ishioka doesn’t limit herself to the
traditions of stage, film or fashion she is able to
cross beyond conventional restrictions and manifest
a visual reality that comes from her exploration of
imagination. These two individuals bridge the worlds
of the arts, sciences and humanities and exemplify
The Kenan Writers’ Encounters’ aim to show the
dynamic and creative connections between
disciplines.”
One of the most influential
designers of this century, Eiko Ishioka’s costumes
for stage and film transcend convention and
expectations. She is notorious for creating images
that are provocative, emotional, sometimes shocking,
and always beautiful. Ishioka’s work has won many
awards, including Tony Award nominations for scenic
and costume design in 1988 for M. Butterfly, an
Oscar for best costume design in 1992 for Dracula
directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and a special
Cannes Film Festival Award in 1984 for Mishima,
directed by Paul Schrader. She won a Grammy Award
for the artwork of Miles Davis' Tutu album.
Recently, she created the costumes for the film The
Cell, directed by Tarsem Dhandwar, and continues to
be sought out by adventurous directors for her fresh
and unique vision. Other notable projects include
Dreams and Nightmares for the magician David
Copperfield on Broadway and the Netherlands Opera
production of Wagner's Ring of the Nibelungen.
Ishioka has published two retrospectives of her
work, Eiko by Eiko in 1983, and Eiko on Stage in
2000. Her third book, I Design, written in Japanese
(2005) is a behind-the-scenes account of 12 of her
major, international projects.
" For me, design itself has the
power to perform. Costumes are not just a dressing
for performers - be they actors, singers or
acrobatic artists - they’re really collaborators
with the performer."
- Eiko Ishioka
Although known as a strong-willed
perfectionist, Ishioka does not insist on
unconditional acceptance of her concepts and
welcomes the collaborative process. She believes
that there should be friction between the artists as
they argue and grapple with ideas, analyzing and
discarding their own convictions. "I crave the
wonderful product born from the volatile creative
journey traveled with another artist." She has
worked with composer Philip Glass, jazz musician
Miles Davis, fashion designer Issaye Miyake and
architect Arata Izozaki. On screen or on stage, her
work does not blend in or subtly disappear.
Original, strange and sensual, she makes the
production itself the storyteller, visualizing time
and place with uncommon, arresting images.
"The Kenan Writers’ Encounters
series, as part of the Kenan Institute’s Shaping the
Future Initiative, is intended to enhance the
discourses that inform public understanding of the
arts," says Margaret S. Mertz, executive director of
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute of the Arts, a
privately funded program of the North Carolina
School of the Arts. “By bringing Brian Greene and
Eiko Ishioka to NCSA for extended visits, we are
looking to enhance the intellectual discourses that
underpin a variety of artistic endeavors. We believe
that these intensive interactions between writers on
the arts and young artists truly serve the Kenan
Institute for the Arts’ mission - - that is, ‘to
invigorate and advance the artistic energies of a
society in ways that benefit everyone’.”
The Kenan Writers’ Encounters
intend to provide a beacon for community discussion
on the role of creativity in the 21st century by
combining public lectures, receptions, NCSA master
classes and interactive forums. The writers of this
series provide insight into what constitutes
creativity for the individual and for society, how
artists can best be trained, how the experiences of
the American scene redirect and shape creative
output, changing the arts scene across the world.
For more information about The
Kenan Writers’ Encounters call (336) 722-0030 or
visit www.kenanarts.org
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1722 South Main Street
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27127
