Akio Takamori , Vase

Written by NEHMA's Intern Nick Danielson

March 13, 2015

Takamori’s Vase from 2001 is a premier ceramic vessel in NEHMA’s permanent collection. Here viewers can see Takamori’s proficiency using the potter’s wheel, showing a visual fullness promoted by soft throwing lines and contours. Takamori’s technical finesse and emotional sensibility can be seen though whimsical facial expressions, a juxtaposition of plants and heads, and his use of contrasting color. Takamori’s use of functional pottery as a vehicle to enhance and communicate the human figure was only one division of his evolving interpretations of the human form.

Regarding his work, Takamori states, 'For me the vessel form has become very important to me. It provided me with a good deal of surface to paint on, also it is a dimensional form that has an inside and outside. For me the vessel has become the shape of the human body. I have learned much from historical ceramic figures in China, Japan and the Mediterranean. They all hold so many human stories behind them . . . Physicality exists on the other side of spirituality and intelligence. Physicality could be an entrance to instinct and intuition, where we might find something beyond spirituality and intelligence.'

Akio Takamori (b.1950) was born and raised in Nobeoka, Miyazaki, Japan. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute (1976), his MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University (1978), and his work has been exhibiting in the United States, Europe, and Asia since the mid 1980s. Takamori currently resides in Seattle where he is a Professor in the School of Art at the University of Washington.