Beth Shibata: The Shape of Things

Nature photographer Beth Shibata (Class of '90, M.A., English/Linguistics/TESL) will be showing her latest work at the Madrona Marsh Nature Center in “Sankaku, Shikaku, Maru,” a solo show that runs from August 21-October 6. A reception will be held on Friday, September 8 at the Nature Center, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

A student of the martial art aikido, Shibata explains the title as based on “the fundamental shapes on which much of life revolves and evolves.”

“In aikido, the triangle, square and circle have several levels of meaning,” she explains. “On the physical level, the triangle relates to stance with one foot slightly advanced. The square concerns the strategy of facing one's partner center to center. The circle refers to the direction of movement. On a technical or mental
level, the triangle indicates energy flow and entering; the square is solidity and control; and the circle is unification and blending. On a spiritual level, the triangle indicates the imagination (head); the square, the self (heart); and the circle, source of life (lower abdomen). In nature, these shapes show up all over the place.”

While helping to teach a junior naturalist class at the Nature Center, Shibata learned that one way to show students how to draw natural objects is to point out their basic shapes, such as a cat that has a rectangular body with a circular head and triangular ears, or butterflies with oval shaped bodies and triangular wings.

“This may be another instance where our esthetics are rooted in our biology and our biology is embedded in the universe,” she says.

A self-taught photographer since the 1970s when she received her first 35 mm camera, a fixed lens Yashica, as a college graduation gift, Shibata has worked primarily with natural light and with subjects in their natural state. Her images are influenced by her studies in biology and English, as well as her training in the martial arts aikido and iaido (a martial art that involves swordplay). She founded an experimental exhibit space, The Gallery at the Dojo, which was open from 1998 to 2003. Located in a martial arts school, the alternative gallery exhibited works that depicted the connections of beauty, power, discipline, and harmony between the martial arts and the natural world. The gallery is now online as Gallery Shin Jigen.

Shibata’s work has been exhibited at the Chautauqua Art Association Members Gallery in Chautauqua, NY, as well as in private collections in New York, Florida, and California. She has participated in group shows at The Gallery at
the Dojo and the Lotus Festival in Westminster, California. She has had several solo exhibits at the Madrona Marsh Preserve Nature Center and is a member of the San Pedro Art Association. Her work can be viewed at http://home.earthlink.net/~bjshibata/photography.htm

- Joanie Harmon