Session V : Design and Environment

This paper focuses on the effect of sound in the ceramic works of Toshiko Takaezu (高江洲 敏子,1922–2011) who is a Nisei American contemporary ceramic artist. Subsequently, the paper　attempts to suggest new evaluations of Toshiko Takaezu. She is credited with being a part of the　modern ceramic movement inspired by abstract expressionism in the postwar United States. The　main characteristics of her ceramic works are their form and glaze; however, the sound element is　an accessory feature that has received only incidental attention. Her art tends to be valued in terms　of blending the East and West, which is related to the mysteries of the East, in another words,　orientalism. In this paper, the author suggests new evaluations of Takaezu’s art, not as a blending of　the East and West, by examining the sound elements in her ceramics from phenomenological,　historical,　and aesthetic perspectives. This paper is divided into three sections. The first section　introduces Toshiko Takaezu’s evaluations in the U.S. In the second section the author describes the　sound elements of ‘closed forms’ that are the signature forms of her ceramic works, and then　examines their sound effects from the viewer’s experience perspective, artistic trends, and the order　of five senses. In the third section, the　author suggests new historical and aesthetic evaluations of　Takaezu’s art. There are three points of the new evaluations: Firstly, she was ahead of artistic trends.　Secondly, her art offered the delight of ‘game-like play.’ Thirdly, she challenged the traditional　hierarchies of the five senses.