Date of Award
6-2014
Document Type
Project
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art
Department
Art
First Reader/Committee Chair
Katherine Gray
Abstract
Artist statement Nao Yamamoto The environment I grew up in allowed me to cultivate an appreciation for both contemporary art and traditional craft, and I still respect the Japanese culture. However, experiencing contemporary art based on a different society and environment changed my perspective and I felt like it took me beyond the narrow culture of Japan. Since I recognized my art as a way to represent myself, or even to have conversations with tnyself, I became devoted to a contemporary art practice. It has been so exciting to see my thoughts made visual and how I've been changed by creating my art. I have long created my pieces based on the simple beauty of glass. I was looking fof a way to emphasize what I see in it. During the glassblowing process, I would . sometimes see the molten glass as a creature that has a consciousness that tries to challenge my skill or mastery. This idea helped me to create a different body of work which represented my experience or relationship with glass sculpture rather than the materiality of glass. Now glass has become not only a material, but also my fickle friend which. reflects my inspiration and concentration. I believe that there is nothing that compares with the beauty of nature. For me it is overwhelming because any life form doesn't think about the meaning of life, but only thinks about surviving. When I am at a beach, in a forest, or in the middle of a desert, the simple, pure, clean force of life in nature inspires me to just live, strongly but simply. I believe we have lost that n~tion in complicated contemporary lives. What I atn trying to do is to reinterpret elements from nature to celebrate the power of life, both in its significance and in its insignificance.
Recommended Citation
Yamamoto, Nao, "You And I" (2014). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 249.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/249