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Akio Takamori – (1950 - )

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Akio Takamori – (1950 - ) AKIO TAKAMORI – (1950 - ) Growing up in post-war Japan, Akio Takamori was exposed to a wide range of humanity through the medical clinic operated by his father; these individuals would later reappear in his work. He studied ceramics at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo but was not inspired by the rigid, functional approach. An exhibition of contemporary Western art in 1971 opened his eyes to the ceramic works of such artists as Richard Shaw and Peter Voulkos; subsequently an invitation from Ken Ferguson to come to the United States to continue his education shaped the direction his art would take. While Takamori returned to Japan for a time, he ultimately settled permanently in the United States, living and working in Seattle, WA. His most recognized works include the envelope vessels which depict figures – one forming the front of the piece, the other the back, with the space between an integral part of the whole, and his freestanding figures - recreations of the people from his native village made specifically to interact with each other and the viewer. ARTIST’S STATEMENT – AKIO TAKAMORI “I create my figures from memories. I examine and visualize the meaning of scale, space, material and dimension of my memories. I refer my work to the historical drawings of Eastern Asia and turn great focus towards the grouping of figures, as well as the relationship between the oriental paper and ink, and how it compares to the clay and underglaze of my work.”1 1. Akio Takamori. “Artist‟s Statement.” in Peterson, Susan. Contemporary Ceramics. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000, 174. RESUME – AKIO TAKAMORI 1950 Born, Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan 1969-1971 Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan 1972-1974 Apprentice in traditional domestic pottery, Koishiwara, Fukuoka, Japan 1974-1976 B.F.A., Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO 1976-1978 M.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, Alfred, NY 1978 Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT 1979-1985 Studio artist, Nagura, Aichi, Japan 1982 Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT 1985-1988 Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT 1986 Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts The Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship 1988 Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts 1988-1994 Studio artist, Vashon, WA 1992 Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts 1993 Fellowship, European Ceramic Work Centre, „s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands 1993-present Professor, University of Washington, School of Art, Seattle, WA 1995 Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT 1995-present Studio artist, Seattle, WA 1996 Fellowship, European Ceramic Work Centre, „s Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands 1998 Finalist, Public Art in the Pike Place Market project,/Japanese American Citizens League, Seattle, WA 2000 Residency, Yeoju Institute of Technology, Yeoju, South Korea 2001 First Place, Virginia A. Groot Foundation, Evanston, IL 2002 Corporate Council for the Arts, Seattle, WA Residency, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 2003 Hermine Pruzan Faculty Fellowship Appointment, University of Washington, Seattle, WA Seattle Collects 2003 Purchase Award, City of Seattle, Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs 2004 Visual Artists Award, Flintridge Foundation 2006 Joan Mitchell Foundation 2008 Neddy Artist Fellowship BIOGRAPHY – AKIO TAKAMORI Although born in Japan several years after the end of World War II and the withdrawal of the occupying forces, Akio Takamori was nevertheless influenced by those events. The small industrial town where he lived, Nobeoka, located on the southernmost island of Kyushu, was being rebuilt and memories of suffering by family members were still very fresh. Takamori‟s father was a dermatologist and urologist, and operated a clinic whose patients covered a wide range of humanity. In addition to the immediate family, the household included relatives, housekeepers, nurses, and students, all living in the same house, a rich assortment of individuals who would later appear in his work. In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Takamori was a strong supporter of the arts, and from his earliest memories Akio was exposed to performers, writers, and visual artists of all kinds. He followed up on this interest in high school, joining the art club where the emphasis was on Western art. Following high school he applied to Musashino Art University in Tokyo; rejected by the four-year program he enrolled instead in the two-year program which concentrated on ceramics industrial design. Akio was not inspired by the curriculum offered, finding it rigid and traditional. A chance to see a touring exhibition of contemporary Western art in 1971 opened his eyes to artists like Richard Shaw and Peter Voulkos, and he was impressed by the freedom inherent in the work. In addition, a European tour sponsored by the Japan Folk Art Museum – a graduation gift from his parents – exposed him further to what was going on in the art world outside Japan. When he returned he chose to enter a ceramic apprenticeship in Koishiwara, a small pottery village in the mountains in Kyushu. There, using local clay and a hill-climbing wood kiln, Takamori learned the traditional pottery techniques, the mingei folk tradition, making teacups by the hundreds. A visit by Ken Ferguson, then head of the ceramics program at the Kansas City Art Institute, resulted in an invitation to Takamori to come to the United States and continue his art education. The offer was accepted, with Takamori first spending some time in Chicago studying English at Loyola University and subsequently enrolling in KCAI in 1974. At first he concentrated on the familiar wheel-thrown pots but soon, encouraged by Ferguson, he began making his first sculptures. After receiving his B.F.A. from KCAI, Takamori went to the distinguished New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University where he earned his M.F.A. in 1978. Takamori spent the summer after his graduation at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, and then returned to Japan where he planned to set up a pottery. An offer from Jun Kaneko to use his home and studio in Nagura while Kaneko taught at Cranbrook Academy of Art intervened. Takamori accepted, working at the studio and also taking some teaching assignments. During one such assignment he developed his envelope vessels which were to become one of his signature pieces; the vessels were seen by gallery owner Garth Clark who invited Takamori to show the work in his Los Angeles gallery, and a relationship was formed that still continues. Slab constructed of porcelain, the envelope vessels depicted figures, one forming the front of the piece, the other the back, with the space between an integral part of the whole, what has been described as “inside-outside, front-back”. Usually the individuals were defined by different skin colors and had elongated and large eyes and nostrils. The lines are loosely drawn and sometimes multiplied. The pieces begin with a paper pattern which is placed on rolled clay and then cut. The details are then pushed and formed into the clay, the sides joined and formed to come together in an oval, and then sculpted until the finished work emerges. The pieces are sensual, often overtly sexual, and reminiscent of the erotic woodblock prints from 18th century Japan. 1983 found Takamori back in Montana teaching for a year at Montana State University. While there, he met former classmate Vicky Lidman, and a year later they were married. Akio returned to the Archie Bray in 1985 and remained there until 1988 when, having started their family, the Takamoris began looking for a permanent home. They settled in Vashon, WA, an island in Puget Sound not far from Seattle, and for the next five years Takamori worked and occasionally taught at the University of Washington. In 1993 Takamori received a summer residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC) at „s Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands, and upon his return he was offered a full-time teaching position at the University of Washington. The offer came at a time when the Takamoris were beginning to feel isolated at their island home and Akio‟s work had begun to evolve. They moved to Seattle in 1994 enjoying the stimulation of both city life and academia, and Takamori remains on the faculty there, now a full professor heading up the ceramic program. Takamori received another residency from the European Ceramic Work Centre in 1996 and it was during this period that he made his first freestanding figures. They were exhibited in 1997 at the Garth Clark Gallery in New York to the astonishment of the art world more familiar with his envelope vessels. Clark said the figures “had long been the ghosts in Takamori‟s mind,”1, memories of the individuals in Akio‟s native village of Nobeoka. The period at the ECWC allowed these figures from the past to emerge in the present and Takamori had again set out on a new path. The single figures, unlike his earlier work, were not meant to stand alone but to interact with each other and ultimately with the viewer. The figures are constructed of stoneware, which Takamori finds more forgiving than porcelain, and are coil-built sculptures. Unlike the earlier vessels the inner space is now contained but they are no less evocative. The figures are completed with carefully depicted clothing that defines their place in society and their faces have fully defined features. In a series done in the mid-1990‟s the figures are sleeping, dressed in everyday clothes not necessarily Japanese or Western, and lying on tatami mats. Their eyes are closed; there is no facial expression to reveal their personalities.
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