– (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 ; subsequently an invitation from 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/ 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

1993-present Professor, , 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 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 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. Takamori sees this series of figures as more universal but still paying homage to tradition and heritage through the use of the tatami mats and the absence of shoes on the figures. “By taking off one‟s shoes and lying down, everyone is equal. Even General MacArthur becomes just an old man when he takes off his shoes.”2 Later figures move from the inhabitants of his village to the greater world stage, with images of figures from World War II, from Old Master paintings, and members of the aristocracy.

Takamori‟s work continues to evolve. Writing in Between Clouds of Memory, produced in conjunction with a mid-career retrospective of Takamori‟s work at the Ceramic Research Center of the Arizona State University Art Museum in 2005, Garth Clark said, “Now there are murmurs that Akio may be preparing to return to the vessel again. There are questions in this format that he still has not asked, and they are again beginning to prod him into response. And so our journey continues.”3

At the mid-point of his career, Akio Takamori has realized a unique place in contemporary ceramic arts. His work has been recognized with numerous awards and grants, among them three Visual Artists Fellowship Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; two fellowships from the European Ceramic Work Centre; several artist-in-residencies; First Place Award from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation; Hermine Pruzan Faculty Fellowship Appointment at the University of Washington; Visual Artists Award from the Flintridge Foundation; and most recently an award from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in 2006 and a Neddy Artist Fellowship in 2008. He has exhibited extensively in both one-person and group shows, and his work is in numerous private and public collections including the Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center; the Carnegie Institute Art Museum, Pittsburgh, PA; the George Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto, Canada; the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC; the Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan; Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, NY; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.

1. Garth Clark. Akio Takamori. New York: Garth Clark Gallery, 2000: 22. 2. Ellie Irons. “Akio Takamori‟s Sleeping Figures.” Ceramics (Sydney, Australia) no. 58 (2004.) 3. Akio Takamori, Peter Held, and Garth Clark. Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, a Mid-Career Survey. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, 2005.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY – AKIO TAKAMORI

Books and Catalogs

Beal, Suzanne. This Is Not a Group Show. Seattle, WA: School of Art, University of Washington, 2007.

Biskeborn, Susan. Artists at Work. Seattle: Alaska Northwest Books, 1990.

Carney, Margaret. Visual Perspectives: Fourteen Years of the Virginia A. Groot Awards. Chicago: Virginia A. Groot Foundation, 2002.

Clark, Garth. Akio Takamori: Ceramic Sculpture. New York: Garth Clark Gallery, 2000.

______. The Artful Teapot. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2001.

______. Ceramic Echoes: Historical References in Contemporary Ceramics. Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1983.

Dietz, Ulysses Grant. Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Form. Madison, WI: Guild Publishing, 2003.

Del Vecchio, Mark. Postmodern Ceramics. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001.

Flynn, Michael. Ceramic Figures. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

Guido, Jeff. The Figure and Clay. Detroit: The Pewabic Society, 1988.

Held, Peter, ed. A Human Impulse. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Art Museum, 2008.

Held, Peter, et al. A Ceramic Continuum: Fifty Years of the Archie Bray Influence. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001.

Held, Peter, and Susan Peterson. Shared Passion: Sara and David Lieberman Collection of Contemporary Ceramics and Craft. Tempe: Arizona State University Art Museum, 2003.

Lang, Jamie, and Mason Riddle. Double Vision. Minneapolis, MN: Northern Clay Center, 2004.

Lauria, Jo. Color and Fire. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2000. Lynn, Martha Drexler. Clay Today: Contemporary Ceramists and Their Work. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990

Mathieu, Paul. Sexpots. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2003.

Ming, Bai. Overseas Contemporary Ceramic Art Classics. Xinjang, China. Xinjang Fine Art Publishing House, 2002.

Ostermann, Matthias, and David Whiting. The Ceramic Narrative. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.

Peterson, Susan. Contemporary Ceramics. New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2000.

______. The Craft and Art of Clay. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2000.

Piche, Thomas, Jr. Everson Ceramic National 2000. Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art, 2000.

Reijnders, Anton. The Ceramic Process. London: A&C Black Publishers, 2005.

Rinder, Lawrence. Awards for Visual Artists: Flintridge Foundation, 2003/2004. Pasadena, CA: Flintridge Foundation, 2004.

Stirrat, Betsy, and Sarah Burns. The Art of Desire: Erotic Treasures from the Kinsey Institute. Bloomington, IN: SoFA Gallery, Bloomington Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University, 1997.

Takamori, Akio, Peter Held, and Garth Clark. Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, a Mid-Career Survey. Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Art Museum, Ceramics Research Center, 2005.

Tourtillott, Suzanne J. E. The Figure in Clay. New York: Lark Books, 2005.

Waller, Jane. The Human Form in Clay. Marlborough, England: Crowood Press, 2001.

Periodicals

“ Awards 2006.” American Craft 66 no. 6 (December 2006/January 2007): 28-33.

“Akio Takamori.” Ceramics Monthly 31 (September 1083): 37.

“Akio Takamori.” Craft New Zealand no. 40 (Winter 1992): 37.

Bonansinga, Kate. “Theater of Memory.” Ceramics Monthly 48 no. 2 (February 2000): 55-57.

Brown, Glen R. “Multiplicity, Ambivalence & Ceramic Installation Art.” Ceramics (Sydney, Australia) no. 54 (2003): 3-8.

Clark, Garth. “Akio Takamori‟s Villagers.” Kerameiki Techni: International Ceramic Art Review no. 35 (August 2000): 4-8.

______. “The Pictorialisation of the Vessel.” Crafts (May/June 1986): 40-47.

“The Erotic Life of Clay.” Ceramics Monthly 51 no. 4 (April 2003): 16, 18.

Failing, Patricia. “Seizing the Moment.” Artnews 101 no. 3 (March 2002): 76, 78-79.

Farr, Sheila. “Figures Explore Multicultural Life.” Seattle Times (October 22 2004).

______. “Takamori Looks Upward and Inward for Ceramic Inspiration.” Seattle Times (Marcy 15 2002.)

Fish, Marilyn. “Glazes of Glory.” Art & Antiques 1 no. 1 (Winter 2008 Collectors Sourcebook): 52-57.

Hedger, Leigh. “The Art of Desire/Kinsey Institute Today.” Research and Creative Activity (September 1997): 34-35.

Irons, Ellie. “Akio Takamori‟s Sleeping Figures.” Ceramics (Sydney, Australia) no. 58 (2004): 71-74.

Iwano, Elaine. “Sculptors Takamori and Warashina Share Personal Histories.” International Examiner, September 17-30, 2003.

Jensen, Robert. “Architectural Ceramics, Eight Concepts.” American Craft (June/July 1985): 46-51.

Kangas, Matthew. “Akio Takamori: Global Village People.” Sculpture 20 no. 5 (June 2001): 12- 13.

Kelley, Jeff. “Potters and Prints.” American Ceramics 4 no. 1 (1985): 52-59.

Koplos, Janet. “Akio Takamori at ASU Art Museum.” Art in America 94 no. 10 (November 2006): 216.

______. “Report from Seattle: Plugged in and Caffeinated.” Art in America 93 no. 8 (September 2005): 62-67, 69, 71.

Lange, Peter. “Encounters with Clay: The 16th Fletcher Challenge Ceramic Award 1992.” Ceramic Review no. 139 (January/February 1993): 16-20.

Luecking, Stephen. “Stories Seldom Told.” American Ceramics 10 no. 1 (Spring 1992): 38-45.

Lynn, Martha Drexler. “Akio Takamori, Piquant /Contemporary Observations, Time-honored Means.” American Craft 53 no. 3 (June/July 1993): 52-55.

Matsuo, Amiko. “Reflections on Biculturalism: Japanese Ceramic Artists in the US.” Ceramics (Sydney, Australia) no. 60 (2005): 31-35.

Nakane, Kazuko. “Akio‟s World.” International Examiner 26 no. 6 (March 17-April 7 1999).

Nasisse, Andy. “The Battleground of Eros: Akio Takamori.” American Ceramics 5 no. 1 (1986): 30-35.

Newby, Rick. “Out of the Box: The Graphic Art of Akio Takamori.” American Ceramics 14 no. 1 (2002): 34-37.

______. “To Stave Off Death: Akio Takamori‟s Life Studies.” Ceramics: Art and Perception no. 8 (1992): 33-37.

Ohaus, Thomas. “The Ceramic Art of Akio Takamori.” International Examiner 28 no. 10 (May 16-June 5 2001.)

Ollman, Leah. “Different Worlds Intersect as They Set Sail Together in Takamori‟s Boat.” Los Angeles Times (June 1 2001.)

Ostermann, Matthias. “Ceramic Narratives.” Ceramic Review no. 218 (March/April 2006): 38- 41.

Riddle, Mason. “Review: Double Vision.” Ceramics Monthly 52 no. 9 (November 2004): 15-16.

Shank, Will. “The Erotic Life of Clay.” Ceramics Monthly 51 no. 4 (April 2003): 16, 18.

Silberman, Robert. “Akio Takamori: Between Clouds of Memory.” American Craft 66 no. 1 (February/March 2006): 58-61, 98.

Sperry, Robert. “Potters Making Prints.” Ceramics Monthly 33 no. 5 (May 1985): 38-40.

Takamori, Akio. “The Figure Erotic.” Studio Potter 16 no. 1 (December 1987): 10-12.

______. “Impression of Travel.” Yukan Daily (Japan), December 4 and 16, 1990

______. “My God Images.” Monthly to Magazine (Japan), September 1982.

______. “Out of the Cage.” Studio Potter 21 no. 1 (December 1992): 54-55.

Takamori, Akio, and Peter Ferris. “Vessel Concepts.” Ceramics Monthly 36 no. 2 (February 1988): 27-30.

Tirrell, Norma. “The Archie Bray Legacy: Four Decades of American Ceramic Art.” Ceramics Monthly 41 no. 10 (December 1993): 47-62.

Vanesian, Kathleen. “Akio Takamori.” American Ceramics 15 no. 2 (2007): 74.

______. “Sexpots.” New Times (Phoenix) (April 18-24 1996): 69.

Wagonfeld, Judy. “Head Games.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer (March 18 2002.)

Wood, D. “Beyond Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, A Mid-Career Survey.” Ceramics Monthly 53 no. 10 (December 2005): 14-16.

______. “A Retrospective Workshop.” Ceramics Technical no. 22 (2006): 41-44.

Welch, Adam. “North American Ceramic Sculpture Now.” Ceramics (Sydney, Australia) no. 58 (2004): 92-96.

Zhou, Guangzhen. “Po.” “Akio Takamori and „His Outside and Inside‟ Erotic Vessels.” Artist Magazine (Taiwan) (November 1997): 436-438.

Video and Other Media

“Akio.” Directed by Martin Holt. Helena, MT: Montana Art Works, 1986. VHS

“Akio Takamori Workshop at the Archie Bray Foundation.” Directed by Martin Holt. Helena, MT: Montana Art Works, 1991. VHS

“Craft in America DVD Complete Series.” PBS, 2007. DVD (1 Disc).

GALLERY REPRESENTATION – AKIO TAKAMORI

Garth Clark Gallery, 24 W. 57th Street, #305, New York, NY 10019

Grover/Thurston Gallery, 309 Occidental Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104

Frank Lloyd Gallery, 2525 Michigan Avenue, B5B, Santa Monica, CA 90404

WEB SITES – AKIO TAKAMORI http://www.henryart.org/audiovideo/AkioTakamori.mp3 Link to download of interview between Akio Takamori and Elizabeth Brown, Chief Curator, the Henry Art Gallery, “Drinking Sake and Celebrating the Universe.” http://www.vroomjournal.com/articles/akio.php Article on Takamori exhibition “The Laughing Monks”. http://www.cs.washington.edu/building/art/AkioTakamori/ Article on Takamori http://www.henryart.org/pastex/main.htm Akio Takamori: the Laughing Monks. Exhibition http:/seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?slug=visart222&date=20041022 Sheila Farr. “Akio Takamori‟s Figures Explore Multicultural Life.” Article from The Seattle Times, October 22, 2004. http://www.traxgallery.com/artist.php?sid=takamori Brief article on Takamori http://www.criticalceramics.org/reviews/shows/takamori.shtml Lara Taubman. “Akio Takamori: Between Clouds of Memory.” Article from Critical Ceramics, April 27, 2008. http://www.flintridgefoundation.org/visualarts/recipients20032004_akiotakamori.html Flintridge Foundation. Article on Takamori. http://www.franklloyd.com/dynamic/artist_bio.asp?ArtistID=33 Frank Lloyd Gallery web site information on Takamori http://www.garthclark.com/Artist-Detail.cfm?ArtistsID=94 Garth Clark Gallery web site information on Takamori http://www.icshu.org/2007/figures/takamori.html “Figures in Clay.” From International Ceramics Studio site. http://art.washington.edu/div_art/ceramics/a_takamori_bio.html University of Washington School of Art web page for Akio Takamori http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR01k6AY-PE Link to video “Figurative Artist Akio Takamori http://www.craftinamerica.org/artists_clay/story_263.php? Brief article on Akio Takamori

September 2008