BAMBOO SCULPTURE
Charissa Brock is a fiber artist working with bamboo, a giant grass that has been used for centuries to create baskets and other everyday objects. She integrates wood, glass, paper and thread as visual accents and structural components. Her abstract sculptures are crafted using basketry, woodworking, and fiber art techniques. Brock’s early art education began under the tutelage of her mother, Emily Brock, a nationally recognized glass artist. Later, she earned a BFA in Glass from Center For Creative Studies, College of Art and Design. After college, Charissa studied basketry with individual teachers before earning an MFA in Fibers at Tyler School of Art/Temple University in 2000. She has used bamboo as a primary material since first discovering it while at Tyler. In addition to her studio practice, she teaches workshops across the USA. A Japanese TV show hosted her in Japan spring, 2017 during which they filmed her interacting with the members of the bamboo community for an episode of “Who wants to Come to Japan?” It was an exceptional opportunity wherein she met and learned from people with a long tradition of working with he material she loves. Her artwork is in private collections worldwide as well as Arizona State University Museum, the Rivermark Hotel, and the Hyatt Regency Maui.
BAMBOO ART
FOR THE WALL
Using a variety of techniques I create sculptural wall works out of bamboo, glass, waxed linen thread, and sometimes paper. These works combine techniques I have developed with traditional techniques to create pattern, flow, and composition. Because they are created out of line they can cast shadows. Many of the sculptures can be hung vertically or horizontally to fill a space, and many are made from elements that can be recombined to fill a larger or smaller space.
BAMBOO SCULPTURE
My bamboo sculptures are created to either hang from the ceiling, sit on a table top, or a shelf. The sculptures come from several different bodies of work. Whether narrative, abstract, or purely a celibration of my material, they are carefully crafted with the highest level of craftsmanship in mind.
Bamboo Art Classes
Charissa Brock has been teaching adults and children for over 20 years in bamboo, glass, and other mediums. Whether it is classes in her studio, or classes somewhere else, she joyfully shares and guides students through the process of making.
Latest From Our Blog
Onsen, What has drawn people to Beppu for Centuries
One evening, after a day of filming, the film crew took me to an Onsen run by a 3rd generation Onsen owner. The Hyotan Hot Springs are in Kannawa. Outside the onsen was this great structure built out of bamboo to cool down the water, which came out of the spring...
The Show Room, Bamboo Vocational School
The Bamboo vocational arts training center is in Oita, the Southern part of Japan. It was decided to establish the school in that part of Japan and make Oita the bamboo capital of Japan because of the demand for bamboo baskets by visitors to the hotsprings. It started...
Tanabe Chikuunsai iv studio visit part 2
After a morning looking at Tanabe-san's families artwork we had a lovely lunch at a nearby restaurant. During a tour of the teahouse in the back of the restaurant I learned that Osaka was actually the birthplace of Japanese tea ceremony. I also learned that we had...