Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
I’m kind of upset right now. My former professor and a huge influence on my artwork is lecturing at AMOA today Saturday October 16th at 5:30pm. That’s today! (At least in this moment of writing, check the date before you run out the door). I’m upset because I did not know until just now. It’s no ones fault really. We aren’t that close, he probably thinks I still live in Dallas and apparently I am not hooked into knowing what’s up in the Austin scene as much as I thought I was. Or perhaps people just don’t know how amazing the work of Akio Takamori is and if that is true then he’s not getting the exposure in Austin I think he deserves. Whatever the case I will be there for his lecture, as should you.
Courtesy of James Harris Gallery, Seattle
Courtesy of James Harris Gallery, Seattle
Courtesy of James Harris Gallery, Seattle
Billed on AMOA’s website as a ceramic artist, he is a super legend in the clay community. Yet Akio is truly more than that. He was recently included in the group show Do I Know You at Inman Gallery in Houston this past July as well as being in The Museum collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and shows at one of my favorite contemporary galleries in Seattle, James Harris Gallery. Akio is one of the few "clay" people who I think of as an artist first and foremost. Working for years in many mediums he draws, makes prints, and now uses photography in addition to his figurative and painterly sculpture. It is his example that instilled the love side of my love/hate relationship with clay and also influenced myself and many others along the way to push our ideas and practice without fetishizing material. As a teacher he often gave harsh criticism when it was appropriate but more importantly he set an example outside of the classroom with his work ethic and success.
Garth Clark Gallery, New York
If it seems like I am gushing, I am. Please give me this one opportunity and I’ll take it since this is a blog. A big public thank you goes out to him for teaching me to have ambition, passion and drive within my work and for art in general. Something that I did not have an example or understanding of in my childhood and am now only truly coming to understand. Having been a teacher myself for the past ten years I know how much a thank-you can mean since they usually are assumed and never spoken. On that note thank-you Akio and all of the teachers out there making a difference even if you didn’t mean too.
Akio Takamori lectures at AMOA Saturday October 16, 2010 @ 5:30 PM and is free and open to the public.
1 comment
Hi, Margaret. The AMOA Art School will be bringing ceramic artists to Austin for the next four years as part of the program launched with Akio Takamori. Emails were sent to ALL area ceramics faculty and sculptors, asking them to alert all their students and email lists; it was included in two 6500 person e-blasts;it was on the cover of the fall Art School catalogue mailed to 10,000; it’s been on our website for months and finally was in a Chronicle ad the week of the event. I’m sorry you didn’t know about it. The workshop and lecture were jam packed. Akio is a wonderful artist and person. It was a great pleasure for us to host him. The idea to bring him was James Tisdales; he’s our artist in residence and head of our ceramics program. He and Akio were at Archie Bray together. AMOA doesn’t have a marketing person right now, so we’re doing the best we can and expanding our email lists all the time; we’d love to have you on it. You can reach me at AMOA-Laguna Gloria if I can provide any further information. Thanks for blogging about this!
All best,
Judith Sims
Sr. Director of Education/AMOA