INTRODUCTION / INSPIRATION
I was obsessed with things like origami, plastic models, old buddha statues when I was young. And seeing my father’s life-size sculptures made of bronze and plaster was a normal part of my daily life. I was attracted to old objects and objects with profound and material sense that exceeded my height, and I admired them in a way. I also liked seeing the plants and trees in the garden from the window, and the mountains that stretched in the background. Recently, I am particularly interested in architecture and Japanese gardens. Everything I experienced when I was young has built the background for the work I am making now. I try to make works that shows the enthusiasm that still remains after eliminating the superficial and personal feeling and thoughts from the work as much as possible. I cherish an object for existing as it is and I cherish the space that it occupies.
STUDIES
In 2008, I entered the Kyoto University of Education, where I majored in Fine Art, and started studying ceramics in my junior year. After receiving my Bachelor’s degree, because I desired further studies, I enrolled on the Master’s degree program at the Kanazawa University of Art. I continued onto the doctoral program and received my PhD in Fine Art in 2017. During the last year of my Doctor’s program, I was seeking a place to make larger scale works, which I always desired but was not possible at the University, and decided to stay at the ‘Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park’ as an artist in resident. After completing the doctoral course, I has moved to Shigaraki to pursue my creative practice.
WORKING PROCESS
My works are created through simple processes of hand building a membrane of clay, then firing it. Upon completing the building and drying processes, a low-temperature glaze mixed with metal oxides is applied after a bisque firing, and it gets fired again. After the glaze firing, I build a right-sized kiln for each work. I use gas burners to raise the temperature of the kiln, and then I pour in buckwheat or rice husks and carbonize the work to develop the colors of the metal oxides. Each process before completing a work is to realize what it is to make an object with clay and what it is to fire it. Making is also a time, for me, to discipline myself to face my inner self.
MATERIAL
Ceramics
DREAM COLLABORATION
I especially like and respect the artists that are Isamu Noguchi and Richard Serra.
INFORMATION
Photography with courtesy of Gentoku Katakura
