I find inspiration for my Japanese glass art from many different sources. For example, it will soon be Tanabata, the Star Festival, a festival of star-crossed lovers. The story is of Orihime and Hikoboshi, represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively, who are separated by the Milky Way, and they are only allowed to reunite once every year on the 7th day of the 7th month. It is a day of people making wishes they hope will come true all across Japan. Many people write down wishes for the upcoming year on small strips of paper and attach them to a sasa, or bamboo branch. As adults, during this hectic days of late spring and looking ahead to summer, it is not a national holiday and we may forget about it, but many schools across the prefecture allow their students to write down their wishes and express themselves.
I was born in Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture, so I have never forgotten this day because Tanabata is the same day as the Murakami Grand Festival, but I feel that it always rains during the Murakami Grand Festival, but even the rain is a blessing for plants and flowers. And for some people, rain equals joy because they do not have to water their plants and can spend time doing other things like create pieces of glass art which is what I enjoy doing whenever I have any time. Looking at a variety of plants, I get an image of the kind of vase that would be suitable to hold the many different varieties of flowers. My vision sometimes necessitates creativity as in keeping plants with a high center of gravity from falling over. I want to make sure that vine-type plants will look good in the glass art vase. I also consider questions of the glass art aesthetic, a more Western or Japanese style? During this period of inspiration, I created several vases with subtle differences．
The Japanese glass art pieces are going to be part of an exhibition that I am sharing with Yuji Yamada starting July 4th continuing until July 15th. The owner of the gallery connected the two artists, seeing catalysts of creativity from two ostensibly unconnected spheres of artistic expression. My impression of Yuji Yamada is that he’s a polite and gentlemanly person, and that is reflected in his art - stylish and smart. In short, he is cool and his art is expression of it.
As we were discussing the direction of the upcoming exhibition, we decided that we would like to bring to fruition the creative element the gallery owner said he recognized in our works, so we decided we would undertake something we never had in our solo exhibitions. From this idea, the theme "New Perspective" was born, a new point of view, something akin to the ‘Beginner’s mindset’ that my visual artist colleague, Blain Harasymiw uses in his life and photography.
My works will be mainly in transparent colors, with a series of works using subdued foil, simple vessels in summery colors, and flower vases. The Murakami Grand Festival is one of the three major festivals in Niigata, and is a highlight of the festival with its gorgeous beauty that stimulates the viewer, such as the 19-carriage procession of oshagiri (portable shrines). It is designated as a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset, and is a festival with tradition and culture that has continued since the 10th year of the Kan’ei era, 1634.
Cafe Gallery Yamaboshi is a gallery with a cafe in Akiba-ku, Niigata City (there is a map below). The exhibited works change every 10 days.