Mariko
Irie, a lifelong painter, was born and raised in Tokyo and
currently resides in Mendocino, California. She has been in
numerous solo and group shows and her work is collected
privately and publicly throughout the U.S., Japan, England,
Germany and Canada, including the Miasa Governor in
Japan. She has been exhibiting in galleries for the past
22 years.
Tell
us a bit about how you first started painting.
My mother watched me enjoying painting when I was in preschool
and took me to a painting class when I was an
elementary school. Up through high school, my media was
oil pastel, which is very common for children - so was crayon,
but I didn’t like it. I won prizes for my paintings.
When I was a high school, I got an oil paint set. I used to go
out and paint by the river. I loved painting and drawing
all the time, but I was not thinking I'd ever be a painter or
an artist. One of the reasons why: my art teacher in high
school was great - but the substitute who had just graduated
from an art university came to teach us. She believed that
only abstract painting was Art. She criticized my
paintings so badly, I quit painting in class.
Sunny Sunset Cliff |
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Then I was became fascinated by the idea of becoming a
designer. So I went to art school to prepare for the entrance
examination for Art University and studied drawing and
composition. I passed the examination for Musashino Art
University in Japan and my major was Interior Design.
After
graduating, I became an interior designer. The economy was a
bubble at the time, so I was making great money. But
after ten years, I felt something lacking in my life; there
was a hole in my body. I quit my job and married, but
that was not answer either.
It took me long time to figure out the answer. Right
before I was turned forty years old, I asked myself: If I
knew that I would die tomorrow, what would I want to
do?
The answer was painting. After I settled in Mendocino, I
started painting again.
Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?
Galleries started to show my work in 1989 and since then, I
have never stopped painting.
I have two sons; the younger son was two years old in 1989,
when I moved out from my ex-husband’s.
First, I was taking classes at the college and the classrooms
were my studios. When my sons started to go to school,
our living room was my studio.
What is the next? |
Five years later, we moved into a bigger house and I got my
own studio space. I worked on my art when they were at school
and until they got driver licenses, I was their driver. I
was happy to do so, because I wanted to enjoy them. It was
precious time in my life and I knew it wouldn’t last forever.
Now they have both graduated from universities and have their
own lives.
What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which
ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away? Which
ones are you looking forward to exploring?
In 1989, I took a printmaking class at the College of the
Redwoods. I did etching, monotype and serigraph. During my
first exhibition at the college, my etchings sold. So I took
them to show at a gallery and they started to sell them. I
felt so lucky.
In the late 70’s in Tokyo, I saw “American Super Realism”
paintings. It was sensational. I was fascinated by these
paintings. They were such a simple concept; the painters
were painting exactly what they were seeing and they were
somehow even more realistic than photography.
Jug Handle Beach at sunset |
Then I took painting class with Bill Martin. He was a
master Surrealism painter and an instructor of painting at the
College of the Redwoods. I wanted to learn Super Realism
technique from him. He passed away in 2009, but his family
continues his website: http://www.billmartingallery.com/
At one point, I became allergic to oil paintings and all
solvents, so I switched to watercolor. I've painted watercolor
for over twenty years now. It’s an incredible media. If we try
to control it, we end up losing control. But if we let
watercolor paint itself, it creates a fascinating painting.
Three years ago, I moved to San Diego. The climate there is
much dryer than Mendocino. My watercolor technique wouldn’t
work well, because it would dry too fast. I joined the
plein air groups and took water-mixable oils. I learned from
other artists how to paint fast. It was a big challenge for
me, but it was great, even with the struggling.
I’m having fun with water-mixable oils now.
Many of your paintings are set outside - at the beach,
during sunrise or sunset. There's such a lovely quality of
light in your art, as if we're actually seeing real sunlight.
What can you tell us about you make your work look so true
to life?
Thank you for saying that, it's a big compliment. Sunset,
sunrise. The beautiful moment is so short. I can’t paint fast
enough at the location itself - especially an 11” x 30”
watercolor painting, which takes about a week to finish.
So
I take photos. I spend time staring at the scene, trying to
absorb the light, shadow and colors.
Then I paint at my studio. When I start to paint, I don’t
think of any one thing, I'm just in my painting world - and
then - the painting is finished. From my experience, when
paintings are done this way, they make the best ones.
Shoes |
What does procrastination look like for you? What
techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?
Procrastination: I can’t do it! It’s my nature. If I know that
something should be done, I have to do it right away.
Otherwise, it just sticks in my mind and I can’t do anything
else. But sometimes, there are too many things to be done, so
I just make a schedule and a check list.
What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your
art?
Having a solo show at a gallery. That makes a good excuse
for focusing on painting.
How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?
A lot of times, I work from photos. When I’m staring at an
image, I start to remember that moment.
During other kinds of my paintings, for example, “Opening of
Happiness,” I just think “What is happiness?” and the image
comes from that. Sometimes a gallery will have a group
show with a theme.
For instance, the last theme show I did was “Love Note” and I
painted “Encounter” and “Art Lovers” for that.
How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped
you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?
When I’m exhausted, whatever I see looks horrible, so I take a
nap. That helps a lot. Or I might change the subject for
my paintings or play on the surface of painting to create
a new technique. It’s a part of learning the media all the
time, a process that always stimulates me. Taking trips
helps me a lot too. It takes my mind out from studio, then I
come back renewed, with a vision.
What do you feel you are learning about right now as an
artist?
I’m so lucky to be an artist, because I'll be learning
forever. It refreshes my life all the time and now we have all
this information through the internet. Art is forever and
alive.
Daffodils Glow |
What makes you happiest about your art?
When my paintings come out better than I imagined. When
people smile in front of my paintings, I’m very happy; it's
like my paintings have brought joy to this world. When
somebody falls in love with my painting and brings it into
their home, that makes me so happy. I feel that I connected
with them through my painting.
Thanks, Mariko!
© Jennifer Newcomb Marine