By Carolyn Supinka
From June 27 through September 14, 2026, Portland Japanese Garden featured Woven Light: Washi Sculptures by Yuri Kinoshita in its Calvin and Mayho Tanabe Gallery. Yuri Kinoshita, the artist whose work is being exhibited sat down to discuss her background and the inspiration behind her contemplative and magical creations.
Paper isn’t the first medium that one would associate with large-scale sculptures. But for Yuri Kinoshita, the washi-artist based in Seattle, Washington, paper is a material that can be sculpted, molded, torn, woven, and suspended in intricate forms that can transform entire rooms with light.
Washi is handmade paper, produced using natural fibers such as bamboo and kozo, or mulberry bark. It has been produced in Japan for centuries, and used for practical as well as ceremonial and decorative purposes, from calligraphy and origami to religious rites. For Kinoshita, the fibrous texture of washi is an iconic element of her artwork, creating woven sculptural lamps in which the paper filters the harshness of a lightbulb to a comforting, warm glow.
“I would like the visitors who view my works to feel warmth and peace. And I hope that my works will bring a smile to their faces,” says Kinoshita. “Many of my artworks have curved lines, and I think what I’m trying to do with those lines is to express what I see in nature, for example, trees and the movement of wind and clouds. So it’s not just lighting or decoration that I’m making, but it’s something closer to living things. There’s life there. I want to make it as if it’s alive.”
Originally from Kyoto, Kinoshita was born to a third-generation kimono making family and studied and worked internationally before establishing her studio in Seattle, where the unique quality of the Pacific Northwest light and the beauty of the natural world inspired her illuminated sculptures.
“If you would ask me why I started to use washi, it’s partly because it was a familiar item in Japan, it’s everywhere,” says Kinoshita. “When I came to the U.S., I realized at a certain moment that the light of the Pacific Northwest reminded me of the light I saw through shoji doors growing up as a child. I saw that light filtered through clouds in Pacific Northwest. And I, at that moment, said oh, this is it.”
Stepping into her studio in a multistory office building in downtown Seattle, you feel as though you’ve stepped into a portal, leaving behind the cold fluorescent lighting of the world outside into a magical workshop: her sculptures in progress glow suspended from the ceiling next to paper samples and wooden bases that she uses for her standing lamps, many of which are created by woodworker Craig Yamamoto, nephew of Japanese American midcentury modern designer George Nakashima.
Kinoshita’s work filled the Calvin and Mayho Tanabe Gallery with light throughout the summer of 2026, illuminating the corner gallery with a soft glow from dawn to dusk. One wall featured suspended works: a trio of glowing suns with paper birds flying into their light, each with a twine ribbon around their necks and rhinestones for eyes: these she titled Kanata I, II, and III, and described them as “Birds flying with great strength toward the far-off sun – a message of pressing forward without hesitation toward the light.”
On the right wall of the gallery, a display of standing lamps filled the space, each featuring different arrangements of woven or molded washi designs.
Kinoshita herself visited the gallery to oversee the final touches of the installation, and to share an artist talk with the public on the first day of her exhibition. While putting the final touches on the exhibition, the artist stood in the tableau of light that she created, carefully finessing the folds of washi forming a set of rolling clouds moving across a horizon. Kinoshita’s washi sculptures weave together the natural world, centuries of tradition, and her own unique artistic vision.
Carolyn Supinka is Assistant Director of Exhibitions for Portland Japanese Garden and Japan Institute. After receiving an MA in Arts Management from American University and completing a Fulbright Scholarship in India, she has worked for cultural institutions and galleries on both the East and West coasts, and joined the Art Department at Portland Japanese Garden in 2022 where she supports arts exhibitions and programs.