Mr Finch and Yumi Okita comparison

Mr Finch and Yumi Okita are both textile sculptors who are inspired by nature. They both use a similar set of materials including fabric, wire and embroidery floss. They also both use similar techniques which include hand stitch, machine embroidery and fabric dying. 

Yumi Okita bases her pieces predominantly on moths and butterfly's but also creates other insects where Mr Finch creates a wide variety of creatures, animals and flora.

Although both inspired by nature, Mr Finch is mostly inspired by folk stories and children's books; creating surrealist sculptures of animals in human clothing and characters which you would expect to find in a fairy tale. 

Yumi Okitas pieces are very textural and are made up of different layers of textile processes. Her pieces are often sculpted with wire and built up, often using faux fur for the main body of her creations and hand dyed fabric with machine and hand embroidery for the wings. Mr finch's pieces are more padded almost like that of a children's toy, stitched and stuffed transforming a simple piece of old fabric into a sculpture. Yumi creates very precise sculptures with accurate details on the wings especially in her moths and butterfly's to ensure they look like the real specimens she is inspired by, however Mr Finch creates loosely based sculptures adding floral elements and clothing giving his work that surrealist twist he specialises in. Yumis pieces are very ristructed in size mostly up to a foot wide she has not create any extremely large textile works, where Mr Finch's pieces come in a variety of shapes and sizes some of which can be several feet long. 

Unlike Mr Finch Yumi uses a very vibrant colour scheme mostly made from her embroidery giving her insects an exotic feel according to the part of world they come from, where Mr Finch used a muted colour scheme and layers of ruffles and appliqué to add detail giving his pieces a more vintage look, almost like they have been well used or hidden in a storage space for some time. 

Yumi will often dye and create her own fabric for her work but unlike Yumi Mr Finch will look for used clothing and scraps of fabric in vintage stores and charity shops to use in his pieces to give his work a charm and add character which works very well. 

I like both artists work as they are both very skill full and  both artists clearly put a lot of time and effort into their works. It is clear to see both artists love of their work through the care and attention to detail in their pieces. I like the way they are both inspired by nature and admire the way they can create realistic sculptures when using textiles with a great deal of character. 

I have been inspired by both artists to create my own textile sculptures based on my themes texture and nature to create similar style samples which could eventually be developed into a final textile sculpture.