Artist Talk: Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Sculpting Climate Change

Join ceramicist Joan Takayama-Ogawa for a virtual discussion of her environmentally engaged work. Takayama-Ogawa is an accomplished sansei (third generation ceramic artist), whose recent body of work addresses the damaging effects of climate change, including the dramatic decay of our coral reefs.

This talk is presented in conjunction with the Craft in America Center exhibition, Making Waves: Ocean Ecology and Craft, on view through August 21, 2021.

This event was live streamed on February 5, 2021.

About the artist:

Joan Takayama-Ogawa is an accomplished sansei, or third-generation ceramic artist. Building on her family’s rich creative history, she studied under the renowned Ralph Bacerra and went on to develop work that used ancient Japanese ceramic forms as a guide in creating contemporary pieces that utilize decoration and imagery of an American lifestyle.  She continues to push the boundaries of ceramics by integrating clay with digital and rapid prototyping technologies. She served as a Pasadena Design Commissioner and on the Board of Directors, American Museum of Ceramic Art. Takayama-Ogawa has published over 30 books and magazines, and in 2004 she was Otis Teacher of the Year and Commencement Speaker. 

Her ceramics are in the permanent collections of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, deYoung Museum Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco, World Ceramic Exposition Foundation, Icheon, South Korea, Princessehof Leewarden Nationaal Keramiek Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California, Long Beach Museum of Art, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Racine Art Museum, George Ohr Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana, Hallmark Collection, and Celestial Seasoning Tea Company.

This project is supported by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, www.culturela.org.

Additional support for the Craft in America Center is provided by the California Arts Council, a state agency (learn more at www.arts.ca.gov) and the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture (www.lacountyarts.org).

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