Communicating the fundamental beauty and energy of nature is an essential element of Chisen Furukawa's work. She concentrates on the grace and beauty that is inherent in organic materials. Each piece begins with the plants that she selects and a specific idea or concept. She frequently works with reeds and in this installation she transformed the prolific fragmites reed that invades disturbed wetlands. She worked at the Newhouse Gallery at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center for a month prior to the exhibition to collect and prepare the reeds.

Furukawa recognizes that at any point in time Ikebana can be seen as a contemporary art form that allows for experimentation. With the passing of time, earlier forms are now seen as Traditional Ikebana. She did not learn Ikebana to become an artist, but during the process, she noticed the possibility for creativity and decided to explore Ikebana as a form of artistic expression. She is drawn to the work of James Turrell, Walter De Maria, and Christo, who work with space and time on a large, universal scale, and to the philosophical approach to painting of Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt.

Chisen Furukawa studied with Kasen Yoshimura, Head Master of the Ryusei-Ha School of Ikebana. She presented a solo exhibition at P.S. 1 and received an Asian Cultural Council fellowship in 1991. Her work is permanently installed at Vintage Villa Mukogaoka in Kanagawa, Japan and is in the permanent collection of the Honma Museum in Yamagata, Japan. She was awarded the Ryusei-Ha Kasen Grand Prize five times and is currently a master teacher.

www1.ttcn.ne.jp/~chisen/index.htm