Interview with Misa Toyosawa 2021

We spoke to Mr. Toyosawa, whose solo exhibition opens on August 6!

■”Nostalgia: The City, the Water Tower, and the Kokeshi Dolls.”

I have not been able to go back to my hometown for more than a year and a half, and I often feel nostalgic. In this exhibition, I expressed the scenery in my memories and the scenery I see now, superimposed on the ephemeral nature of glass.

■The Sky and the Kokeshi Dolls, The Water Tower

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The Sky and the Kokeshi Dolls – Wind
The motif is “Kokeshi”, a local toy of my hometown. The body and head are a building, and the face is the sky. The image is as if the doll is praying with its eyes closed.

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“Water Tower 02”
Water towers are facilities that supply water to apartment complexes and other housing complexes. Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, these towers are no longer serving their purpose, and they are disappearing as buildings are rebuilt. I created this work by overlaying the ephemeral image of glass on the fact that these towers, which seem to watch over the city, are disappearing one after another.

■Production Process

(1) First, make a shape with clay, etc.
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(2)Take silicon and make a concave mold
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(3) Pour the wax and make the same shape as the prototype.
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(4) Prepare details of shapes, apply metal foil, and engrave.
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(5) Pour refractory plaster and make a mold
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(6) Heat the entire mold with steam to melt the wax.

Dry the mold (⑦)
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(viii) Packing glass
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(9) Heat the glass in an electric furnace up to 800 degrees Celsius to melt the glass.

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(10) Take time to cool down and break the mold.
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(11) Finishing by shaving and polishing the finished glass
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■New trial
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Copper used to be used as the metal foil, but silver foil is now used as well. It is interesting because the reaction with the glass produces unpredictable colors. This is the first time I’ve added a face to a piece. I feel that an element of self-portrait has come out.

■The advantages and challenges of wall-hung works

I also created a wall-hanging work, hoping to expand the world view of the three-dimensional work. With a three-dimensional work, you don’t create the surrounding situation, but with a wall-hanging work, you can express the distant view, so I think it expands the image even more. I think it is also easier to display glass works when they can be hung on the wall.

Using glass gives a sense of transparency, but it has a weight and thickness that paints do not have, and there are also restrictions imposed by the technique, so it is difficult to achieve what I want. Considering the safety of hanging the work on the wall, the ideal way of displaying the work is difficult, and this is something I would like to continue to work on in the future. While I find the unique expression of the liquid solidifying to form the shape of the wall-hanging work interesting, it requires some ingenuity to secure the glass so that it doesn’t fall out. I’m trying to find a way to do this without compromising the way it looks as much as possible.

■Charm of Glass

The charm of glass is the diversity of its expression. When melted at high temperature, it becomes fluid like syrup, and the surface that was exposed to the air when it melted has a beautiful luster, while the surface that was exposed to the mold has a soft texture like frosted glass. Also, when metal is added, the color changes in various ways. The expression of glass that changes depending on the state of light has an unpredictable charm.

■One last thing.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. I hope my work will be of some help to you.

Thank you, Dr. Toyosawa! The solo exhibition will be held from Friday, August 6 to Sunday, August 15. Please take this opportunity to visit us!

Misa Toyosawa: Nostalgia -The town, the water tower and the kokeshi dolls
Friday, August 6 – Sunday, August 15
venue:Gallery Seek
Writers:Misa Toyosawa
Artist Visits: August 7 (Sat) & 14 (Sat), 13:00-17:00 each day

Misa Toyosawa is a glass craft artist who expresses her feelings and imaginary worlds that arise from her contemporary life by combining them with the fascination of the glass material. Glass shows various expressions depending on the production process. When melted at high temperature, it becomes fluid like syrup, and the surface that was exposed to the air during melting becomes beautifully shiny, while the surface that was in contact with the mold becomes soft like frosted glass. When copper is added, the color changes to red or blue. In this solo exhibition, Toyosawa will introduce new works with a motif of kokeshi dolls, a craft from his hometown in Tohoku, in addition to his previous series, while drawing out the charm of such versatile glass. In recent years, we have been unable to return to our hometowns and often feel a sense of nostalgia. The motif of this work is a craftwork from his hometown, and the work expresses the scenery in his memories and the scenery he sees now, superimposed on the ephemeral nature of glass, is deeply moving. We hope you will take this opportunity to view these works.

関連アーティスト

Misa Toyosawa

Misa Toyosawa

I would like to express what I feel in my modern life and the imaginary world that is born from it, while crossing them with the charm of the glass material. Glass shows various expressions depending on the production process. When melted at high temperatures, it becomes fluid like syrup, and the surface that was exposed to the air when it melted has a beautiful luster, while the surface that was in contact with the mold has a soft texture like frosted glass. Also, when copper is added, the color changes to red or blue. While drawing out the charm of the various kinds of glass, I aim to create works that will make the viewer’s imagination grow.