BIGG Artist: Yuka Otani
Artist Statement
My work creates a membrane that shifts viewer’s perception in physical and cognitive spaces. Through the lenses of phenomenological and sociological studies, I explore clear materials; primarily glass, water, melted sugar, and light. Those materials are indeterminate and elusive. They are poised for change. My interest for materials that shift from one state to other state comes from my earlier experience with economic bubbles and glass bubbles. I spent my adolescence in Japan in the 1990’s, when the immense Japanese economic bubble burst after the peak of its inflation. What seemed to be stable yesterday is not stable today–this drastic shift in social value system was branded on my memory as a strong feeling of changeability. I have been trained as a glassblower for a long time as one of my artistic practices. My activity in a glass shop was a never-ending succession of making bubbles and breaking them. Eventually, I was determined to utilize the volatility of those physical and social bubbles in my work, rather than being afraid of them. Transparency and fluidity become important keywords in my studio practice. I juggle with vulnerability and unstableness during the creation processes. The transparency of the materials I use manifests presence and absence at the same time. My installations and sculptures change their appearance over the time, emphasizing dynamism of momentum.
Biography
Yuka Otani is a visual artist, glassblower, and an independent curator who received her MFA from RISD in 2008. She directed Performance Night at TAP Room, featuring fifteen experimental art performances by students from various departments at RISD in 2008. She also curated Eidolon–Exploring The Ephemeral at Three Rivers Art Festival Gallery in Pittsburgh in 2007.
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Education
2008 Master of Fine Arts, Concentration: Glass, Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design(RISD) Providence, RI
2000 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Craft Design, Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan
Professional and Teaching Experience
2008 -Present Studio Assistant, Michael Joo Studio, New York, NY
Studio Assistant, Biwa Inc., New York, NY
2008 Instructor, Department of Glass, RISD Providence, RI
Artist Assistant for Nina Sellars, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
2006-2008 Apprentice to Jocelyne Prince, Department of Glass, RISD Providence, RI
Teaching Assistant, Department of Glass, RISD Providence, RI
2007 Teaching Assistant for Jocelyne Prince, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts Deer Isle, ME
2006 Administrative Assistant, Department of Glass, RISD Providence, RI
Artist Assistant for Pavel Mruks, Echigo Tsumari Art Triennal Niigata, Japan
2003-2004 Studio Assistant for Hiroshi Yamano, Ezra Glass Studio Fukui, Japan
2002 and 2004 Drawing and Sculpture Workshop instructor, Fukuno “Ichinosato†Art Festa Fukno, Japan
2000-2003 Receptionist/Curator’s Assistant, Tama Art University Museum Tokyo, Japan
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Irrationally Exuberant, Gallery Catacomb Central Falls, RI
2004 Out of Pod– Adventures of Broad Beans, Morita Bank, Fukui, Japan
Group Exhibitions
2008 OVS No.7, CRG Gallery, New York, NY
Wright Biennial 2008, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Providence Convention Center, Providence, RI
Performance Night, The TAP room (RISD), Providence, RI
Fear/Less, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI
Body/Ritual, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI 2008
2007 Eidolon–Exploring The Ephemeral, Three Rivers Art Festival Gallery Pittsburgh, PA
How Is This Glass?, Hillell Gallery at Brown University, Providence, RI
Rain or Shine, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence. RI
Women Looking East, University of Rhode Island Gallery, Providence, RI 2007
Graduate Department Show, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI
RISD Triennial, Woods Gerry Gallery(RISD) Providence, RI
2006 VERSUS, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI
UMASS Exchange, University of Massachusetts Student Gallery, Amherst, MA
2005 Site/Sight, Westminster Gallery, Providence RI
2004 Arekoreten, Gallery Ichinosato, Toyama, Japan
Awards and Honors
2005-2008 RISD Fellowship
2005-2008 RISD Graduate Assistantship
2007 RISD Friends of Glass Scholarship
RISD-Pilchuck Glass School Partner Scholarship
Haystack Mountain of Crafts Technical Assistantship
2005 Kanazu Forest of Creation Scholarship
Residencies
2008 Chashama North, Pine Plains, NY
Publications
2008 Group Effort –Collaboration As Process and Form, UCLA Art Department, Los Angeles, CA
