Akio Takamori

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Akio Takamori
Photograph of Akio Takamori.jpg
Born(1950-10-11)October 11, 1950
Nobeoka, Japan
DiedJanuary 11, 2017(2017-01-11) (aged 66)
NationalityJapanese-American
EducationMusashino Art University, Kansas City Art Institute, Alfred University
Known forCeramic sculpture
Website akiotakamori.com

Akio Takamori (1950 – 2017) was a Japanese-American ceramic sculptor and educator. Takamori often incorporated human forms into his creations. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Takamori was born in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan on October 11, 1950. [2] [3] His childhood home had his father's attached medical clinic which was to be later a one of several sources for his inspiration. [4] In Japan, Takamori attended Musashino Art University. [5] In 1974, he moved to the United States and attended the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) where he studied with ceramist Ken Ferguson who encouraged him to work figuratively. [6] Takamori received an MFA in 1978 from Alfred University in New York. [7] He subsequently had artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, the European Ceramic Workcentre in the Netherlands, and the Kecskemét International Ceramic Studios in Hungary. [6]

Career

He moved to Vashon Island in 1988 and set up a studio with a salt kiln and lived there until 1994. [8] While there, in 1993, Takamori began his teaching career at the University of Washington where he taught until he retired in 2014 as professor emeritus. [9] [10]

Takamori died on January 11, 2017, in Seattle, Washington [2] [3] of pancreatic cancer. [4]

Select shows and collections

His work is in the collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art, [11] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, [12] the Museum of Arts and Design, [13] the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, [14] the Victoria and Albert Museum, [15] His work, Alice with Rose, was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign. [16] [17]

In 2000, the Racine Art Museum held a retrospective of his work. [7] In 2022, the Vashon Center for the Arts held a retrospective of his work curated by his wife Vicky and the James Harris Gallery. [8] In 2024, the Keramikmuseum Westerwald in Höhr-Grenzhausen held an exhibition entitled "Akio Takamori: Consideration" in which his drawings, ceramic figurative work of couples, as well as his karako were shown. [6]

Awards and honors

In 2001, Takamori received a Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award. [18] In 2006, Takamori became a Fellow of the American Craft Council. [10] The same year he was awarded a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. [19]

References

  1. ↑ "Akio Takamori". Craft in America. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Akio Takamori". Portland Art Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Akio Takamori |". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Vashon Center for the Arts to exhibit Akio Takamori's work". Northwest Asian Weekly. 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2025-03-02.
  5. 1 2 3 "Akio Takamori: Consideration at Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen". Ceramics Now. 2024-01-30. Retrieved 2025-03-02.
  6. 1 2 "Akio Takamori". Racine Art Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  7. 1 2 "Akio Takamori : Time". Vashon Center for the Arts. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  8. ↑ "Beloved Seattle ceramic artist Akio Takamori, 'a very gentle soul,' dies at 66". The Seattle Times. 15 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  9. 1 2 "Remembering: Akio Takamori". American Craft Council. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  10. ↑ "Akio Takamori - Classic Goddess". CMOA Collection. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "Akio Takamori". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  12. ↑ "Akio Takamori". Museum of Arts and Design. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  13. ↑ "Works – Akio Takamori". The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  14. ↑ "Two Women | Takamori, Akio". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  15. ↑ Savig, Mary; Atkinson, Nora; Montiel, Anya (2022). This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 228–238. ISBN   9781913875268.
  16. ↑ "Alice with Rose, from the series Alice/Venus". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  17. ↑ "Takamori". The Marks Project. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  18. ↑ "Akio Takamori". Joan Mitchell Foundation. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
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