Emi Ozawa
Born1962 (age 61–62)
Tokyo, Japan
EducationJoshibi University of Art and Design,
Tokyo University of the Arts,
University of the Arts
Alma materRhode Island School of Design

Emi Ozawa (born 1962) is a Japanese-born American visual artist, sculptor, and furniture designer. She is known for her woodworking that is also interactive sculpture, which she started creating in the early 1980s.[1] Originally from Tokyo, Ozawa lives and works in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[2]

Biography

Emi Ozawa was born in 1962 in Tokyo, Japan.[3] Her father was an accountant and her mother was a stay-at-home mother; they encouraged her at a young age to pursue art.[3]

Ozawa attended Joshibi University of Art and Design, followed by study in 1985 at the Tokyo University of the Arts.[3] After two years she transferred as an exchange student to the University of the Arts in Philadelphia to study woodworking.[3] She later earned an MFA degree in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design. She had studied furniture design under Michael Hurwitz [Wikidata], Alphonse Mattia and Rosanne Somerson.[3]

Ozawa creates painted wood wall sculptures that optically shift when viewed from different perspectives.[4] These wall paintings are constructed from many pieces of wood that are screwed together to construct a multi-dimensional surface.[5] Color is strategically arranged to create compositions that shift when viewed from different perspectives.[6] Her sophisticated surface application and meticulous design reveal an emphasis on craftsmanship.[7] Her work is associated with constructivism and minimalism.

References

  1. ^ Fitzgerald, Oscar (2021-02-01). Little Book of Wooden Boxes: Wooden Boxes Created by the Masters. Fox Chapel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60765-648-7.
  2. ^ "Serious Play in Albuquerque". Eventful - Albuquerque. 2011. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2017.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e Fitzgerald, Oscar P. (2009-10-01). New Masters of the Wooden Box: Expanding the Boundaries of Box Making. Fox Chapel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60765-034-8.
  4. ^ Pulkka, Wesley (18 February 2018). "Art review: Exhibit by Albuquerque artist Emi Ozawa playful, superb". Albuquerque Journal. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  5. ^ "Richard Whitten and Emi Ozawa work featured at Dedee Shattuck Gallery". The Herald News, Fall River, MA. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  6. ^ Pulkka, Wesley (3 May 2015). "Local art show includes pinhole photos by former UNM professor". Albuquerque Journal. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  7. ^ Baldon, Russell. "Next". Furniture Studio: The Heart of the Functional Arts.
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