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何事にも全力を尽くした青春時代

金光叔子は1958年5月、岡山県に生まれました。3人きょうだいの末っ子として大切に育てられ、父親の外出に叔子だけついていくことも多く、行く先々で可愛がられるアイドルでした。
そんな周囲からの愛情を一身に受け、叔子は元気で活発な子へと育ちます。体を動かすことが大好きで、いつも外へ遊びに行っていました。運動神経も良く、かけっこや鉄棒は男の子顔負けで、運動会ではいつもリレーの選手を務めました。パッチワークキルトで活躍する現在の姿とは真逆と言っても過言ではないでしょう。
母はそんな末娘の姿を案じたのか、ピアノやお習字、華道など、様々な習い事をやらせました。ところがそんな親心とは裏腹に、叔子の運動神経はますます冴え渡っていきます。どうやらその姿は近所でも有名だったらしく、大人になってから「（叔子さんって）あのよく走っていた子ですか？」と尋ねられるほどでした。しかし後年彼女がパッチワークキルトで芸術的才能を開花させる上で、当時の習い事は密かにその素養を育んでいたのかもしれません。
こうして中学・高校へと進学した叔子は、その後も運動を続けます。高校の進学先は地元でも有名なスポーツが盛んで、様々な競技で毎年のように全国大会へ出場するのはもちろん、日本代表選手も輩出したことのある名門校でした。叔子はテニス部に入部し、文武両道を目指して懸命に練習に励みます。運動神経の良さから大いに期待を集めていただけに、なんとかその思いに応えたいという思いもありました。
ところが高校生となった彼女に、思わぬ事態が待ち受けます。十二指腸潰瘍でした。
幸い回復はしたものの、この病が叔子の競技生活に大きな影を落とします。初めて体を思うように動かせない環境に置かれ、その後の進路についても考えるようになりました。
「大学に行きたい」
そんな思いが、ふと彼女の中に湧き上がります。元々４年制大学への進学は頭の中にありましたが、叔子の高校では卒業生の大多数が短大へ進んでいました。それでも自分は大学に行きたいという思いが、病を経て鮮明になっていったのです。
そして叔子は、テニス部を引退しました。運動が好きな叔子が、初めて自らの意志で運動から距離を置いた瞬間でした。しかしその決断もあり、大学受験に無事成功。念願の大学生となったのです。
その後も叔子は、テニスを続けました。大学では同好会でキャプテンを務め上げました。今置かれた環境を受け止め、自分にできる精一杯を尽くす彼女の生き方は、この時期に培われたのでしょう。結婚を境にしてテニスからは遠ざかってしまいますが、後に切り開かれる芸術家としての道も、こうした生き方があってこそ花ひらいたに違いありません。

結婚と義両親

2５歳の時、叔子は近所の人からの紹介でお見合いをします。偶然にもクリスマスイブの日のことでした。それから早1ヶ月、年が明けて2月1日には結納も決まります。まさにあっという間、恋愛結婚が半ば常識となっている現代では考えられないスピード婚です。
そんな急速な生活環境の変化に戸惑う叔子を助けてくれたのは、夫の両親でした。義父と義母は、まるで実の娘であるかのように優しく迎えてくれました。出かける時はいつも一緒で、時には３人で旅行もしたこともあります。叔子も義両親の厚意に感謝し、2人の思いに答えようと頑張りました。現在まで様々な困難があったものの、義父の大らかさと義母の優しさのおかげでなんとか乗り越えることができました。
現在、パッチワーク作家として日々活躍する叔子ですが、その裏には義両親の素晴らしい応援があると言います。芸術家としての成功は、同時に2人への恩返しでもあるのです。

パッチワークキルト作家としての出発

パッチワークキルトとの出会いは、叔子が結婚してからのことでした。
元々、裁縫とは縁が無かったわけではありません。母親は手先が器用で、洋服を仕立ててくれたり、夜なべして手袋を編んでくれたことがありました。また、中学一年生の頃には、習い事の他にミシンを買ってもらいました。他にも、趣味で創作人形やアートフラワーを作っていたこともありました。
そんな叔子にとって、パッチワークキルトは全く未知の世界ではなかったと言えるでしょう。程なくして良い作品ができるようになり、いつの間にか教わる側から教える側へと回っていくようになります。30歳の頃には、すでに公民館やカルチャーセンターで講師を任されるほどの腕前に成長していました。次第に彼女の中でより高いレベルを目指す気持ちが膨らんでいきます。
「より本格的なパッチワークの教室を提供したい」
その思いを形にすべく、36歳でアトリエ・カナの開設を決断します。後押ししてくれたのは、夫の両親でした。日頃から叔子を可愛がってくれていた2人は、アトリエの場所としてマンションの一室を提供します。叔子はその申し出に深く感謝する一方で、その応援に答えるべくパッチワークの指導と教室運営に一生懸命励みました。その甲斐もあって教室は人気が高まり、多くの生徒に恵まれます。教室も複数に拡大し、41歳の時には初めて全ての教室の合同展を開催し、1000人以上の来場者数を記録しました。子どもの頃の小さな思い出の編み物の光景が、これほど多くの人々が集う一大イベントになるなんて、いったい誰が想像したでしょうか。
このとき叔子は、その光景を見つめながら、人とのつながりと、一人一人の優しさを改めて感じていました。義両親の大きなサポートがあったことはもちろんですが、幼少期から彼女を支えてくれたのは、他でもない実の両親ときょうだいです。パッチワークのように多くの人々が支えてくれたことで、今の自分があると知ることができたわけです。

現在、そして未来への思い

アトリエ・カナは、大成功で終わった合同展の後も、順調に発展を続けています。叔子の努力と周囲の協力に支えられ、2011年には岡山ドームを会場に再び大規模な合同作品展を開催。来場者数は、最初の合同展の2倍に当たる2000人を超える大盛況となりました。岡山ドームでの合同展は2018年にも開催され、山陽のパッチワークキルト界におけるアトリエ・カナの存在を強く印象付けた形です。
一方、自らの創作活動では、パッチワークの原点に立ち返ることを意識するようになりました。叔子はその原点について、「楽しみながらゆったりとした作品づくり」と定義します。パッチワークは元々、庶民のつぎはぎ裁縫が、生活を豊かにするための技術として発展した工芸です。振り返れば叔子の人生も、母の縫い物で豊かになった幼少期の思い出が原点にあります。そこから様々な出会いを通して新たな美しさを作り出してきた彼女の人生もまた、パッチワークキルトのようでもあります。
まずはその原点に帰り、再び生活を豊かにするパッチワーク作りに取り組むようです。そして今一度、自分を支えてくれた人々に感謝と恩返しをしていくことでしょう。

Kanamitsu Toshiko’s Youth, When She Gave Her All to Everything.

Kanamitsu Toshiko was born in Okayama Prefecture in May 1958. As the youngest of three siblings, Toshiko was raised with great care and often was the only one to accompany her father when she went out. She was adored wherever she went. With this love and affection from those around her, she grew up to be an energetic and active child. She loved to move about and was always going outside to play. She was also very athletic, as good as any boy at running and the bars, and was always a relay runner on sports days. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is the exact opposite of the current Kanamitsu Toshiko who is active in patchwork.
Perhaps worried about her youngest daughter’s appearance, her mother made her take part in various lessons such as for piano, calligraphy, and flower arrangement. However, despite her mother’s wishes, Toshiko’s athletic skills became more and more brilliant. She was apparently famous in the neighborhood for her athleticism, so much so that when she had grown into an adult she would be asked, “Are you the girl who used to run so well?” However, the lessons she learned at that time may have secretly laid the groundwork for the flourishing of her artistic talent in patchwork quilts in later years.
In this way, Toshiko went on to junior high and high school and continued to exercise. The school where Toshiko went to high school was famous in the area for sports. It was a prestigious school that not only participated in the national championships every year for various sports but also produced athletes who represented Japan. Toshiko joined the tennis club and practiced hard to achieve both literary and sports goals. Because of her athleticism, people had high expectations of her, and she wanted to live up to those expectations somehow or other.However, when she became a high school student, she met with an unexpected complication. A duodenal ulcer.
Fortunately she recovered, but this illness cast a large shadow on her competitive life. She was for the first time in a situation where she could not move her body as she chose, and she began to think about her future career.
“I want to go to college.”
This was the thought that suddenly welled up inside her. Originally, she had been thinking to attend a four-year college, but at Toshiko’s high school the majority of graduates went on to junior colleges. Nevertheless, her desire to go to university became clearer after her illness.
And so Toshiko left the tennis team. It was the first time Toshiko, who loved to exercise, voluntarily distanced herself from it. However, partly because of this decision, she was able to successfully pass the university entrance exam. She became the college student she had always wanted to be. After passing the exam, she continued to play tennis. In college, she was the captain of her club. Her way of life was probably developed during this period, as she accepted the situation she was in and did the best she could.
Although she drew away from tennis after her marriage, the path which she would later carve out for herself as an artist must have blossomed because of this way in which she lived.

Marriage and In-Laws

When she was 25 years old, Toshiko was set up on a date by her neighbor. The date happened to be on Christmas Eve. One month later, on February 1st, after the start of the New Year, the exchange of engagement gifts was decided. It was a very quick marriage, unthinkable in today’s world where love marriages have become the norm.
It was her husband’s parents who helped Toshiko cope, confused as she was by such a rapid change in her way of life. Her father-in-law and mother-inlaw welcomed her as kindly as if she were their own daughter. Whenever she went out, she went out with them, and sometimes the three of them even traveled together. Toshiko was also grateful to her parents-in-law for their kindness and tried her best to meet their wishes. Although Toshiko has met with many difficulties to date, she has managed to overcome them thanks to the generosity of her father-in-law and the kindness of her mother-in-law. Today, Toshiko works day after day as a patchwork artist, and she says that behind her work is the wonderful support of her in-laws. Her success as an artist is at the same time a repayment to both of them for their kindness.

Starting Out as a Patchwork Quilt Artist

Toshiko’s first encounter with patchwork quilts came after she got married.
Not that she did not have a connection with sewing to begin with.
Her mother was very good with her hands. She tailored clothes for Toshiko and once worked overnight to knit her a pair of gloves. Moreover, when Toshiko was in the first year of junior high school, her mother bought a sewing machine for her, in addition to setting up her lessons. Toshiko also used to make her own dolls and art flowers as a hobby.
For Toshiko, then, patchwork quilting was not a completely unknown world. Soon, she became able to produce good works, and before she knew it, she went from being taught to teaching. By the time she was 30 years old, she had already developed her skills to the point where she was assigned to teach at community centers. Gradually, the desire to achieve a higher level welled up within her. “I want to provide a more fully fledged patchwork class,” she thought.
In order to give shape to this desire, she decided to open Atelier Kana at the age of 36. It was her husband’s parents who gave her the support to do it. The two of them, who always treated her with affection, offered her a room in their apartment as a place for her studio. Toshiko was deeply grateful for the offer and worked hard to teach patchwork and manage the class so as to make good use of their support. Because of this, the class grew in popularity and became blessed with many students. Her classes grew in number, and at the age of 41, she held the first joint exhibition of all the classrooms, which was attended by more than 1,000 people.
Who would have imagined that a minor memory of knitting in childhood would become a big event with so many people in attendance? At the time of the exhibition, as she gazed at the scene, Toshiko felt a renewed sense of human connection and the kindness of each individual.
While she of course had great support from her inlaws, it was Toshiko’s own parents and siblings who supported her from an early age. She realized that, like a piece of patchwork, she existed thanks to the support of the many people who had come together to support her.

Thoughts on the Present and the Future

Atelier Kana has continued to grow steadily after the joint exhibition, which proved a great success. Supported by Toshiko’s efforts and the strong support of the people around her, another large-scale joint exhibition of works was held at Okayama Dome in 2011. The exhibition was a great success with over 2,000 visitors, double the number of visitors to the first joint exhibition. The joint exhibition at Okayama Dome was held again in 2018, and it has made a strong impression for Atelier Kana in the patchwork quilt world of Sanyo.
On the other hand, in her own creative activities,Toshiko has become conscious of returning to the origins of patchwork.
Toshiko defines such origins as “creating works of art in a fun and relaxed way.” Patchwork is a craft that originally developed from the patchwork sewing of ordinary people as a technique to enrich their lives. Looking back, Toshiko’s life also has its origins in her childhood memories, memories enriched by her mother’s sewing. And her life since then, which she has spent creating new forms of beauty through encounters with diverse people, is also like a patchwork quilt.
It appears that Toshiko is trying to first return to these origins and then to creating patchworks that will once again enrich people’s lives. And she will no doubt be expressing her gratitude and giving back once more to the people who have supported her.

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Profile /経歴

金光叔子　Toshiko Kanamitsu

1958年　岡山県出身
アトリエ・カナ主宰
作品出展国遍歴（JEPAA関連事業）：ドイツ、カナダ

Born: 1958 Okayama, Japan
Atelier “KANA” Organizer
Exhibition of Works(JEPAA): Germany, Canada…

 

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