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Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, A Mid-career Retrospective
For Release: February 01, 2006At The Art Gym, Marylhurst University, March 7th – May 3rd, Between Clouds of Memory: Akio Takamori, A Mid-Career Survey is the first in-depth analysis of Takamori’s ceramic and graphic art work created since 1976. This hallmark exhibition of 42 ceramic sculptures and nine prints was organized by the Arizona State University Art Museum. It is presented at Marylhurst in conjunction with the 40th annual conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, March 9-12, in Portland. NCECA has underwritten the Marylhurst University presentation of the exhibition.
The Art Gym will be closed Easter weekend: Friday, April 14 through Monday, April 17.
Between Clouds of Memory presents works drawn from the artist’s personal holding, the Arizona State University Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center (CRC) permanent collection and private and public collections nationwide. In an era of increasingly global influences and contradictions, the show dramatically demonstrates the artist’s ongoing search for personal and cultural identity.
Takamori, currently living and working in Seattle, was born in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan in 1950. Drawing on a childhood in postwar Japan, Takamori’s figurative work is often autobiographical and includes villagers, school children, shopkeepers and family members, modeled from memory.
The Art Gym is located on the third floor of the B.P. John Building on the Marylhurst University campus, 10 minutes south of Portland, Oregon on Highway 43. The Art Gym is open from noon to 4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission is free.
Founded in the fall of 1980, The Art Gym at Marylhurst University has a 25-year history of presenting work by hundreds of artists based in the Northwest. The Art Gym has published more than 50 exhibition catalogues, and sponsored more than 100 conversations about art in the region. In 2004-2005, The Art Gym was a recipient of the Governor’s Arts Award.
More About the Exhibition
Notes from Arizona State University Museum of Art Curator Peter Held
According to Peter Held, Arizona State University Curator of Ceramic Arts, Takamori’s signature ”envelope“ vessel constitutes a groundbreaking development in American ceramics. It coincides with a ”golden era“ in the 1980s, when American ceramic artists let loose a torrent of creative energy. Many of these major artists come from Takamori’s alma mater, the Kansas City Art Institute, under the tutelage of Ken Ferguson.
Takamori’s work remains figurative and expressive of human emotion and sensuality. In recent years the dramatic sexual imagery of his 1980’s and early 90’s vessel forms have evolved into quieter, more contemplative sculptural works that reflect Takamori’s ever-changing relationship to clay.
Takamori's figures are masterfully executed in porcelain with a deft hand for decoration, a marriage of western and non-western influences. His use of black lines reminiscent of Japanese wood block prints coupled with an intense expression of the human form have made Takamori one of the most exciting and imaginative artists to emerge from American ceramics.
”Through each of his creative evolutions, Takamori has challenged our interpretation of his work,“ said Peter Held, curator of the Ceramics Research Center. ”Assessing Takamori’s remarkable career, we witness an unfurling worldview, an artist flexing time and space to reconstitute an identity caught between clouds of memory.“
To coincide with the exhibition, the CRC published ”Between Clouds of Memory“ to present multiple perspectives on Takamori’s career. The richly illustrated book includes commentary from Garth Clark, noted historian and art dealer. He reflects on his relationship with the artist; the exhibition curator Peter Held; Edward Lebow, award-winning author; and Toyojiro Hida, a prominent Japanese curator, writer and critic. The book retails for $35 and will be available in The Art Gym.
Traveling Exhibition
Between Clouds of Memory opened at the Arizona State Museum of Art. It will travel to three venues: Marylhurst University’s Art Gym to coincide with the 40th Annual National Conference of the National Council on Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) in Portland, Oregon, March 7 - May 3, 2006; the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington, June 10-October 2, 2006; and the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin, October 29, 2006 – March 18, 2007.