Robin Van Lear (Cleveland, Ohio) is a celebrated visual and performing artist and designer, and member of the Moko Jumbie Mas Camp team. Van Lear is known for creating spectacular public parades featuring costumed stilt-walkers, giant puppets, masquerade, and a fusion of international Carnival art practices.
During two public workshops in June 2022, Robin collaborated with residents of The Bentway community to hand-dye the colourful silk banners for display inside the Bentway Studio Atrium and outside on the terrace during the weekend Mas Camp workshops, using the two techniques, the art of Shibori and direct dyeing.
In Japanese, Shibori means “to wring” or “to squeeze”. The art of Shibori is one of the simplest yet most satisfying approaches to resist dyeing. More controlled than Tie-Dye, and with more options, Shibori consists of folding and binding techniques that attain orchestrated patterns of brilliant colours by using cold water and Procion MX dyes. The banners on view were created using three popular Shibori techniques: Konoko (Elastic Bands), Miura (Binding with String) and Arashi (Pole wrapping). The dyeing technique used on the banana banners is a simple process of applying dye directly to the fabric with a brush.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
ROBIN VAN LEAR
Robin Van Lear migrated in 1990 from California to Cleveland Ohio where she created Parade the Circle Celebration in the Department of Community Arts for the Cleveland Museum of Art and other annual festivals: the Chalk Festival, the Winter Lights Lantern Festival, and the Community Festivals program. These signature events drew an annual attendance of nearly 500,000 people. In her personal practice, Van Lear has designed numerous puppets, costumes, and kinetic sculptures as well as taught at colleges and universities across the USA and internationally. She currently maintains a large studio in Cleveland Heights where she creates installations, costumes, theatrical sets, and giant puppets.