art.wikisort.org - Artist

Toshiko Takaezu (June 17, 1922 – March 9, 2011)[1] was an American ceramic artist, painter, sculptor, and educator who was known for her rounded, closed forms that viewed ceramics as a fine art and more than a functional vessel. She is of Japanese descent and from Pepeeko, Hawaii.

Toshiko Takaezu
Born	(1922-06-17)June 17, 1922 Pepeekeo, Hawaii, U.S.
Died	March 9, 2011(2011-03-09) (aged 88) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Education	Honolulu Museum of Art School, University of Hawaii, Cranbrook Academy of Art
Occupation	ceramist, painter, sculptor, educator
Known for	pottery

Early life and education

Takaezu was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Pepeekeo, Hawaii, on 17 June 1922.[2] She moved to Honolulu in 1940, where she worked at the Hawaii Potter's Guild creating identical pieces from press molds.[3] While she hated creating hundreds of identical pieces, she appreciated that she could practice glazing.[4]

Takaezu attended Saturday classes at the Honolulu Museum of Art School (1947 to 1949)[5] and attended the University of Hawaii (1948, and 1951)[5] where she studied under Claude Horan. From 1951 to 1954, she continued her studies at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1951), where she met Finnish ceramist Maija Grotell, who became her mentor.[1][6][7] Takaezu earned an award after her first year of study, which acknowledged her as an outstanding student in the clay department.[8]

Career

In 1955, Takaezu traveled to Japan, where she studied Zen Buddhism, tea ceremony,[4] and the techniques of traditional Japanese pottery, which influenced her work.[1] While studying in Japan, she worked with Kaneshige Toyo and visited Shoji Hamada, both influential Japanese potters.[4]

She taught at several universities and art schools: Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin; Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (10 years); Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii; and Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (1967–1992), where she was awarded an honorary doctorate.[5][9]

She retired in 1992 to become a studio artist, living and working in the Quakertown section of Franklin Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, about 30 miles northwest of Princeton. In addition to her studio in New Jersey, she made many of her larger sculptures at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Takaezu made functional wheel-thrown vessels early in her career. Later she switched to abstract sculptures with freely applied poured and painted glazes. In the early 1970s, when she didn't have access to a kiln, she painted on canvas.[10]

Work

Takaezu treated life with a sense of wholesomeness and oneness with nature; everything she did was to improve and discover herself. She believed that ceramics involved self-revelation, once commenting, "In my life I see no difference between making pots, cooking and growing vegetables... there is need for me to work in clay... it gives me answers for my life." When she developed her signature “closed form” after sealing her pots, she found her identity as an artist. The ceramic forms resembled human hearts and torsos, closed cylindrical forms, and huge spheres she called “moons.” Before closing the forms, she dropped a bead of clay wrapped in paper inside, so that the pieces would rattle when moved.

She was once asked by Chobyo Yara what the most important part of her ceramic pieces is. She replied that, it is the hollow space of air within, because it cannot be seen but is still part of the pot. She relates this to the idea that what's inside a person is the most important.[11]

• 
  Shiro Momo (White Peach), porcelain, Toshiko Takaezu (1992) Hawaii State Art Museum
• 
  Garden Piece, stoneware, Toshiko Takaezu, (1973) Hawaii State Art Museum
• 
  Moon, stoneware, Toshiko Takaezu (1980s), Honolulu Museum of Art
• 
  Ceramic Forest - Three Trees, stoneware, Toshiko Takaezu (1975–1980), Honolulu Museum of Art

Death and legacy

Takaezu died on March 9, 2011 in Honolulu,[12] following a stroke she suffered in May 2010.[2] The Toshiko Takaezu Foundation was established in 2015 to support and promote her legacy.

Exhibitions

• 1955: University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
• 1959, 1961: Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
• 1961: Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee
• 1965: Gallery 100, Princeton, New Jersey
• 1971: Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Oregon
• 1975, 1985: Florida Junior College, Jacksonville, Florida
• 1987: Hale Pulamamau, Kuakini Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii
• 1989: Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey
• 1989: University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, Connecticut
• 2006: Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, New Jersey[13]

She has also been in several group exhibitions throughout the United States and internationally in countries including Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Japan, and Switzerland.[5]

Honors and awards

Takaezu won many honors and awards for her work:[5]

• 1952: McInerny Foundation grant
• 1964: Tiffany Foundation grant
• 1980: National Endowment for the Arts fellowship
• 1983: Dickinson College Arts Award[14]
• 1987: Living Treasure Award (Honolulu, HI)

Collections

Takaezu's work may be found in private and corporate permanent collections, as well as several public collections across the United States:[5]

Takaezu's work may also be found in the National Museum in Bangkok, Thailand.[5]

Notes

Further reading

• Clarke, Joan and Diane Dods, Artists/Hawaii, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1996, 98-103.
• Department of Education, State of Hawaii, Artists of Hawaii, Honolulu, Department of Education, State of Hawaii, 1985, pp. 55–60.
• Haar, Francis and Murray Turnbull, Artists of Hawaii, Volume Two, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1977, 79–84.
• Nemmers, Peyton, Steuber. "In Memory of Toshiko Takaezu: Artist, Mentor, Friend" Ceramic Arts and Technical, vol 87. 2012.
• Honolulu Academy of Arts, Toshiko Takaezu, Honolulu, HI, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1993.
• Honolulu Museum of Art, Spalding House Self-guided Tour, Sculpture Garden, 2014, pp. 5 & 18
• International Art Society of Hawai'i, Kuilima Kākou, Hawai’i-Japan Joint Exhibition, Honolulu, International Art Society of Hawai'i, 2004, p. 45
• Morse, Marcia, Legacy: Facets of Island Modernism, Honolulu, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2001, ISBN 978-0-937426-48-7, pp. 24, 82-87
• Morse, Marcia and Allison Wong, 10 Years: The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 2006, ISBN 1888254076, p. 111
• Takaezu, Toshiko, Portfolio in Bamboo Ridge: Journal of Hawai'i Literature and Arts, Spring, 1996, 26–30.
• Takaezu, Toshiko, Toshiko Takaezu, Four decades, Montclair, N.J., Montclair Art Museum, 1989.
• Woolfolk, Ann, "Toshiko Takaezu," Princeton Alumni Weekly, Vol. 83(5), 6 October 1982, pp. 31–33.
• Yake, J. Stanley, Toshiko Takaezu, The earth in bloom, Albany, NY, MEAM Pub. Co., 2005.
• Yoshihara, Lisa A., Collective Visions, 1967-1997, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1997, 61.

External links

• Toshiko Takaezu Foundation
• Toshiko Takaezu group on Facebook
• Essay about Takaezu by Tony Ferguson
• Grounds for Sculpture
• Chautauqua Institution
• ArtCyclopedia
• Public television documentary featuring Toshiko Takaezu, 1993
• Oral history interview with Toshiko Takaezu, 2003 June 16, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

На других языках

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- [en] Toshiko Takaezu

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[fr] Toshiko Takaezu

Toshiko Takaezu (17 juin 1922 - 9 mars 2011) était une artiste et peintre céramiste américaine[1].

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