Akio Takamori

Biography to Display:

1950Born Nobeoka, Japan

2017 Died Seattle, Washington

EDUCATION

1971Musashino Art College, Kodaira, Japan

1976BFA Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Kansas

1978MFA New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1993Faculty, Ceramics Department, University of Washington School of Art, Seattle, Washington

APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

UnknownApprenticed with a master folk potter, Koishiwara, Kyushu, Japan

BIOGRAPHY

Akio Takamori who is known for his coil-built figurative sculptures in which the narrative painting defines the form. The use of figurative, narrative surfaces is also carried through to his wheel thrown vessels. His work is often autobiographical, drawing on his life in Japan, his family, as well as mythological themes.

Takamori’s three-dimensional works explore the interplay between sculpture and painting. His surface drawings of male and female figures, often in sexual positions, swirl around the outside and the inside of his vessels. He has also created a large body of work on paper.

In 2001 Takamori was the first place recipient of the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award.

He emigrated to the United States in 1994 to study with Ken Ferguson.

An interview with Akio Takamori conducted March 20 and 21, 2009 by Mija Riedel, for the Archives of American Art’s Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-akio-takamori-15660.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Public Collections to Display:

Alfred Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona

Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana

Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida

Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho

Hallmark Art Collection, Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri

Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas

Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington

The Kinsey Institute, Bloomington, Indiana

Kruithuis Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY

National Museum of History, Taipei, Republic of China

Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisconsin

rosenfieldcollection.com

Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan

Spencer Museum of Art, Laurence, Kansas

Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Republic of China

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography to Display:

Clark, Garth. American Ceramics 1876 to the Present. New York, NY: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1987.

Dietz, Ulysses Grant. Great Pots Contemporary Ceramics From Function to Fantasy. Madison, WI, Guild Publishing, 2003.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics from Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 1988.

Takamori, Akio. Akio Takamori: Ceramic Sculpture. New York, NY: Garth Clark Gallery, 2000.

_______, Akio, et al. Between Clouds of Memory Akio Takamori, a Mid-career Survey. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2005.

Tourtillott, Suzanne J. Figure in Clay: Contemporary Sculpting Techniques by Master Artists. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing, 2005.

Veronika, Alice Gunter. 500 Figures in Clay: Ceramic Artists Celebrate the Human Form. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing, 2004.

Typical Marks