My figures speak to me of that peaceful place in myself - calm, open, aware.
My art reflects the influence of my childhood in Japan and of the rigorous discipline of my apprenticeship in traditional Japanese wood-fired ceramics. Wood firing and working with clay became a way of life, defining an aesthetic that guides my work and life.
For 40 years, my work with clay has challenged and nurtured me, enriched and transformed my life. The work has evolved from vessels and animal shapes to the human-like forms and abstract wall reliefs of recent years. The changes have come out of my relationship to the materials and process—the clay, kiln, firing, and my changing intentions. For the past 20 years I have also been working in bronze—most recently in China, where I’ve made larger-than-life figures for public spaces.
The forms I make—pots and sculpture, bronze and ceramic—are a tangible expression of my evolving inner self. There is beauty and power in their quiet simplicity.
I work in Kent, CT where I built my studio and 30-foot long Japanese style wood-firing tunnel kiln (anagama).