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Maki Horanai & Hillel Weintraub – Paintings, artist books and mixed media
19-20 May, 2012
Hillel Weintraub and Maki Horanai
Studio:
Mountain Dreams Atelier
119 Long Road, Eagle Heights.
Ph: 0424 960 817
What you’ll see:
Maki Horanai and Hillel Weintraub are an artistic couple whose creations enjoy great synergy. Japanese-born Maki is a painter and a ceramic artist. Her work demonstrates incredible attention to detail and depicts whimsical scenes. Maki’s American-born partner, Hillel, composes poetry and prose to accompany her images. He also creates sumptuous and delicate artist books which feature his words and Maki’s art.
Maki Horanai grew up in a small seaside village in Hokkaido, northern Japan, where she often sat or played along the beach. Maki’s early influences were the ocean, the shore, the birds and islands she saw both in reality and in her imagination.
She began painting in high school and continued through college and graduate school where she was strongly influenced by the colours and themes of western religious and iconic art.
Maki met her partner Hillel in Japan, where he lived for 25 years. Hillel was teaching media and communication in Japan and when he spotted one of Maki’s paintings he sought out the artist and offered to buy the piece. It was her first sale.
A friendship was forged and together they embarked on an adventure to Australia.
They were attracted to Tamborine Mountain by the beauty of the natural landscape and the strong, close-knit artistic community.
Together they studied ceramics and broadened their creative repertoire.
“In Japan ceramics is a part of our life,” explains Maki.
“I like to have ceramic pieces in my home and I have always admired potters. We have tea ceremonies, they are very traditional.
“My mother was always collecting nice ceramic dishes, we would use them to eat dinner, whatever, it was just a pleasure to do that.
“I try to show my identity in my ceramic work. In Australia ceramics is very interesting, you don’t have a long history in traditional style, the atmosphere is freer, more experimental.
“With ceramics I need to plan, to think what I will do on paper and then I start.
“With my painting I have no idea, I just do.” Her collection includes quirky ceramics of birds and other animals, wall hangings and little ceramic boxes which she calls ‘dream boxes’.
Hillel also works with ceramics but says where Maki’s pieces are artistic his are ‘weird’.
The couple enjoy encouraging young people towards the arts. From their home studio they run regular art classes for local children aged five to 15.
“They come here after school, they don’t so much want to be taught as to express themselves,” explains Hillel.
“We provide the support and ideas, it’s amazing what they can do creatively. We make books, I talk about bookmaking and book design.
“Our books are the biggest thing we sell in our shop.”
Their gallery, Mountain Dreams Atelier, is situated in Tamborine’s busy Gallery Walk.
As well as selling limited edition prints of Maki’s paintings (the originals are available down the road at Marks and Gardner Gallery) and ceramics, the couple offers a range of delicately decorated artist books.
They are a combination of beautiful papers, Maki’s illustrations and Hillel’s words.
“I write Haiku, I am inspired by her paintings. Maki’s art really moves people, it’s quite unusual, it’s not really a conscious thing, you can’t verbalise it,” says Hillel.
“She feels that people should look at her work and come up with their own ideas. I really have a great time writing poems for her.”