Momoko Usami ( she/ her )

Vision and Time are the two unspoken agreements to share the world you live. At the same time, they are very obscure and ambiguous. They are affected by his or her own background, memory, preference, or a feeling, colors, and temperature at the moment. Therefore, images in the real world are always fluid and beguiled; there is no frame and no ending. I attempt to express my interest in how people choose their own view. Real world images are full of temporal beauty and interest.

My work deals with eternal touchable materials such as clay, metal, and resin, or fragile images such as light, shadow and reflection. I use everyday phenomena as some of the important elements because it endows everyone fairly and it makes my work personable. I attempt to grasp a wobble and nonsense in the real world, and to make people uncover fresh views even in the mundane, in their everyday life. My interest in real life makes us think about observing the world carefully.

Momoko Usami received a BFA and MFA from Kyoto City University of Art in Kyoto, Japan. After she completed two years as a resident artist at Lillstreet Art Center in 2009/2010, she built her personal studio in rural Missouri near Kansas City where she teaches small art classes for the community.  Momoko draws inspiration from many things, including Japanese painting from the Edo period, dreams, and daily encounters on the street. Her unique, playful and often interactive ceramic works have been shown in the United States, Canada, and Japan.