Artists
Maile Yawata
Artist Bio
Maile Yawata is a multi-media artist and educator of Hawai‘i who now works primarily with ceramic sculpture and photography. The sculptures are figurative and often use portraiture. Her photographs elaborate on the narrative through the use of dioramas as background where figures interact and by showing sequential actions.
She has completed several large-scale public art commissions through city, state, and Department of Education grants and received many awards of excellence in juried exhibitions. She was one of seven artists selected for the Honolulu Museum of Arts biennial “Artists of Hawai‘i 2015” exhibition. Her work is in the collections of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu Printmakers, and private collections.
Yawata produced an edition of 75 ‘gift prints’ for the Honolulu Printmakers in 2009 with the assistance of David Smith, master lithographer. She participated in a printmaking residency with artists from other countries, which culminated in a print installation show at Horace Mann School in the Bronx, New York.
Artist Statement
I work in a process-oriented way and often begin by developing characters, which usually emerge as Asian or local, animal, vegetable, or a combination. They may resemble me, friends, strangers, but are all figments of my imagination. They morph into cartoon-like characters: edgy, marginalized, problematic or everyday folk. I photograph them to conjure and capture different emotions: worry, fear, toughness, thoughtfulness, peace, etc. The photos become something I can then manipulate further to coax out an emerging story. This process can be shaky as things only seem to come together at the end. The story may reflect somewhat ambiguously on contemporary local culture or socio-political issues.
Click to enlarge.
Takuans
Takuan (detail)