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Yayoi Kusama

Inspiration: Yayoi Kusama

Born: March 22, 1929; Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan

She now lives voluntarily in a psychiatric asylum in Tokyo, which has been her home since 1977.

Nationality: Japanese

Art Movement: Feminist Art, Outsider art (Art brut), Pop Art

Class: Professor Katie Frank's Spring 2019 Ceramics Class created two Yayoi inspired totem poles and a mushroom garden

Students:

    Yumi Audy

    Bertha Cabrera

    Jeng Yu Chang

    Megan Gardner

    Dan He

    Hina Jamal

    Mishal Jamal

    Justin James

    Sorraya Jehle

    Wen Jiang

    Monika Mehta

    Shalini Mehta

    Nadia Nasiri

    Nhien Nguyen

    Daisy Odell

    Kyra Sycip

    Tanya Tafolla

    Li Ling Wei

    Eugene Yoon

Description: Students painted and sculpted clay to wrap around two lamp posts embracing the energy, color and patterning of Yayoi Kusama's work in addition they painted a picnic table with her signature dots.

Students studied the artwork as well as articles, documentaries, and exhibitions of Yayoi Kusama's work. We were all fascinated with childhood, her time in Japan as well as New York and the way she managed her mental health by voluntarily living in a psychiatric asylum in Tokyo. Technically the students were encouraged to take advantage of what clay can do by exploring form, surface and color. They wanted to embrace Kusama's color and obsessive patterning.

Understanding Kusama's Work, Tanya Tafolla

  • We learned about factors which influenced Yayoi Kusama's out of the box style such as her turbulent childhood in Japan and going against the grain as a female modern artist in New York. The pressure may have been too much for the young artist to bear, as she ended up moving back to Tokyo in the 90's to check into a psychiatric institute where she continued creating art work. In order to fully understand Kusama's work we studied articles, documentaries, and her exhibitions. We were encouraged to push the boundaries of what clay can do by experimenting with color, surface, and form in order to embrace Kusama's colorful and obsessive patterning. Tanya Tafolla

Creating the Artwork, Yumi Andy

  • I threw 16 tentacles on the wheel at once. It's possible to easily change the shape of thrown pieces when they've become leather hard. I twisted them, bent them and attached them onto the slab. I also made two Kusama figures because the display I saw in 2016 at Louis Vuitton which was a collaboration with Kusama had her figure within the tentacles. Drawing all the lines and circles is a therapeutic thing for Kusama, but it was totally the opposite for me. The glazing part was so hard that it drove me crazy. Yumi Audy

My Thoughts About My Work, Sorraya Jehle

  • Yayoi Kusama is an avant-garde artist. She is well known for her use of dense patterns of polka dots and nets, as well as her intense, large-scale environments. I was very excited to build my cylinders with the idea of incorporating the dots as pumpkins and cones along with them. I wanted to give my cylinders as much dimension as it was possible. Seeing my art on the pole, made me feel very proud of my work. This task was one of my favorite projects. I wouldn't have done anything different but perhaps made another one. Sorraya Jehle

Yayoi Kusama's Upbringing and Hallucinations, Katie Frank

  • Yayoi Kusama's upbringing and hallucinations: Yayoi Kusama was born in Japan in 1929 and she was not encouraged to be an artist. As a matter of fact, her mother would tear up her drawings. She endured a lot of stress during WWII and had to work in a parachute factory for 12 hours a day but she continued to draw and focus on her art. At 10 years old she was having hallucinations. She was experiencing self-obliterations and she was seeing dots and auras all over and that heavily influenced the work she made. Even today at 93 years old she checks herself into a mental institution at night by choice and at day she works feverishly in her art studio. Katie Frank

Learn more about Yayio Kusama.

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