KAZU (The pseudonym)
Name : Kazuhiko Ishida
Nationality: Japanese
Kazu was born in Japan in 1959. As a child, he was fond of painting pictures and creating original toys. For that purpose, he gathered materials from mountains sometimes without taking meals. When he entered the junior high school, Kazu got interested in the pencil drawing, and that interest had become earnest at the time of entering Saga University, Department of Education. His works were popular among the student of the art department, and later recognized by Zenji Fukagawa a prominent art professor of the university.
Kazu continued to draw pictures while working as a teacher of elementary schools after graduating. It was in 1991 that he met a ceramist Osamu Tsuji, and greatly affected in terms of a life as an artist. Since then he began groping every day to find a truly original work that only he can create in the world.
One day after several years, he got a hint from a child playing with ribbons, and finally contrived the original way of drawing in 2002, after countless trials and errors. He named this new way of drawing Shisaiga art, meaning, “threads colors painting”, as it is colored with threads. But later he changed the name to Iyashiga art, which means, “healing threads painting”, the name which shows the characteristic of the drawing.
Kazu has been working vigorously, and his works can be seen in exhibitions in Saga and Fukuoka, and recently have received more media attention. Kazu hopes to discipline himself, and keep presenting his artworks to the world.