Fujikasa Satoko 藤笠 砂都子 b. 1980

Born Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

FUJIKASA SATOKO is one of the most exciting clay artists of her generation to emerge on the international contemporary art scene. Inspired by the natural world, her works embody the freedom and energy reminiscent of drifting clouds or swirling winds. Recently, she has discovered nature's turbulent aspects of wind and water, such as forceful gales churning a stormy sea. She creates her fluid and dynamic sculptures from the coarse and pliable clay of Shigaraki. They are hand built by slowly melding slender coils of clay, requiring many months to complete a single work. Due to the extraordinary thinness of the upper areas of the sculptures' walls, some as thin as three millimeters, controlling the drying time is the most difficult aspect of her technique. Though rooted in the Japanese ceramic tradition via her training and materials, Fujikasa creates evocative, abstract forms of pure motion that situates her undeniably in the realm of contemporary sculpture.

Despite her relative youth, she has received extraordinary international attention and acclaim. In 2010, she won the Grand Prize at Genzaikei no tōgei: Hagi taishōten (Present Ceramics: Hagi Grand Prize Exhibition), which resulted in a solo exhibition at Hagi Uragami Museum in Yamaguchi the following year. She won the 26th Takashimaya Art Award from the Takashimaya Cultural Foundation in 2016.