When SF State art instructor and Honolulu native Estelle Akamine entered her junior year at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Ca., she knew she was in trouble. She had not yet chosen a major and she had no idea what she wanted to choose.

If she had not looked up to see a big purple coil of yarn hanging outside the dorm room window as it dried from a fresh coat of dye, she may not have realized that she wanted to enter the world of art.

During her first year at Notre Dame, Akamine had taken jewelry, sculpture, crafts and weaving courses but she had not considered becoming an art major, she said. The dangling ball of yarn had spurred that urge within her.

“The thick skein of purple yarn was intensely beautiful and I wanted to be able to get my hands on it, like how some women feel about a fur coat,” Akamine said, “That was the beginning of an aesthetic experience, you know, becoming alive.”

Now, 20 years after graduating from San Jose State University with a bachelor’s degree in arts, crafts and textiles and a master’s degree in plastic arts, Akamine, 51, is a well-established artist and educator who also received her teaching credential from SF State.

Her artwork is centered upon making clothing and costumes from recycled trash. She presents her work at “trashion shows,” along with performance art and sculpture in fibers and wearable art made from industrial or recycled materials.

She showcases her art in a studio she owns at the Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard, STUDIO Gallery and at the Legion of Honor museum in Lincoln Park.

Akamine said that although she enjoys the popularity she has gained as an artist, she receives even greater joy through contributing to the community by teaching others what she has learned.

She teaches Art 222, the beginning textiles course at SF State, and has been a full-time art teacher at Westmoor High School in Daly City for six years.

At the invitation of art department Chair Candace Crockett, Akamine became a guest lecturer for the department in February 2005. Crockett eventually asked Akamine to teach an evening textiles course at SF state for the 2005/2006 school year.

Akamine said she gladly accepted the position.

“When Candace asked me, I was in shock,” Akamine said. “She is a well-known and respected artist, innovator, teacher and author on weaving.

“I accepted immediately and didn't want to know what the salary was because I didn't want that to affect my decision.”

Crockett said she offered the position to Akamine because she was impressed by how involved and moving her textile art lectures were.

“Although I have been familiar with her name and work for many years, it was the lecture (she gave in February) that made me aware of the breadth of her work and her approach to art,” said Crockett.

“The students who came to the lecture were very responsive to her as a person and to her work.I am delighted she will be teaching in the art department this year.”

After teaching for only a week at SF State, Akamine said she feels comfortable and excited to work at a university with an abundance of materials and alongside “top artists who are very supportive and truly helpful.”

“There is a lot of attention to detail (in the art department) and that must come from the art (chair), who is a woman and very hands on,” Akamine said. “We have a first-class dye room and some very technical looms, so in my opinion, this is fiber art heaven.”

At SF State Akamine said she would like to teach everything she knows to the Art 222 students, but with 16 weeks of school, she said she can only attempt to teach one thing per week. Hence, the agenda for beginning textiles includes making and dyeing yarn, and using that yarn to make baskets, weave cloth, and crochet and other textural projects like fiber sculpturing.

“This is the course people often joke about as ‘basket weaving,’ but it is not for dummies,” she said. “I see the beginning (textiles) course as pleasant as well as meaningful.

“If (students are) learning how to use (their) hands and see the world differently, it can be a blast. It is really about exploring and finding out about yourself in a creative context.”

The class will also be fun, Akamine said. Although she expects her students to put a lot of effort into their work, she was pleased to see that students were not running out the door in the first week when they heard that nine hours of homework may be required per week.

Akamine said she plans to take her students, from both Westmoor High and SF State, to the Legion of Honor, where some of her pieces are on display in the show “Artwear: Fashion and Anti-fashion,” a survey of art clothing from the 1960s to the present.

Another item on her agenda is to get students to be more actively involved with the real-life art world, by encouraging them to sell their work or show their pieces in open studios.

Art should be seen and students should also get the privilege to receive feedback on their work, Akamine explained.

“I’ve spent 20 years in every imaginable venue,” she said. “I can encourage students to nurture themselves and contribute to the real world, and have a taste of the art world.”

With those goals before her, Akamine said she is right where she wants to be.

“What are the odds that everything in my life is so aligned right now?” she said. “Everything is exactly the way I want it to be. This is the best art year in my career. It’s fabulous. This was something I had wanted intensely 30 years ago when I graduated with my MFA at San Jose State, and never in a million years would I imagine I’d be here.”