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By Patricia Belyea
SENDAI JP I met Keiko Goke many times at the Tokyo Quilt Festival but so did thousands of other enthusiastic quilters.
In January 2020, the last year of the immense international show, Keiko was featured with a retrospective exhibit. Titled The World of Keiko Goke, over a quarter of a million attendees viewed her lifelong creative journey.
This month, when traveling in northern Japan, I visited Keiko at her home in Sendai. With instructions to take a train to a certain station, Keiko was waiting for me. We crossed the street to her nearby house and settled into her living room for a chat.
I had so many questions. When did you start quilting? In the 1970s. Why quilting? I saw the Jonathan Holstein collection of quilts in the Ginza? How did you learn to quilt? I had no knowledge of patchwork or classes when I got started. How did you become a sensei (honored teacher)? A persistent person contacted me and asked me to teach her.
When she got started, Keiko made picture quilts. She wanted to be unique. Her quilts were always bright. Soon her colors were called Goke colors.
Through our conversation, I learned that Keiko has gone to Paduccah twice. She is a major fabric designer. And Keiko has a quilt in the collection of the International Quilt Museum in Nebraska.
We headed upstairs to see her studio. All Keiko’s major quilts were out on loan or given away. Instead we looked at some small patchwork pieces.
Just as delightful to see were Keiko’s sweet treasures around the room.
When we returned downstairs, Keiko took me into a back storage room. There she astonished me with a floor-to-ceiling high shelving unit filled with fabrics that she has designed!
Before I left, I asked Keiko what she is working on currently. Although she has 20 quilting students who come by her home weekly or monthly, Keiko is doing less quilting herself these days.
Instead Keiko has gotten into knitting. On the couch was a recently finished wool scarf. Next thing I knew, I was the happy recipient of the jaunty scarf.
I was also invited to take home a kokeshi from Keiko’s collection. My choice? An adorable sleeping baby in a striped basket.
Oh wait! Keiko also gave me a satchel that she had made. So much generosity!
It was such a pleasure to meet one of Japan’s top quilters — a woman who had infused her patchwork with energy, happiness, and color.
I would not have been able to communicate with Keiko without the help of my guide and translator, Reiko Matsuda.
Thank you to both Keiko and Reiko!
ABOUT US: Okan Arts, a petite family business, is co-owned by mother-daughter duo Patricia Belyea and Victoria Stone. Patricia and Victoria sell Japanese textiles online, host creative quilting experiences, and lead quilting & textile tours to Japan.
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