In keeping with the quaint perception that anyone working like Moje must be on drugs, I need to mention this work. Yoko Yagi is a Japanese artist whose work is on view at the Portland Japanese Garden until June 30.
Yoko Yagi “Taga Sode III”, 2008. Blown and coldworked murrine glass. 6.5 ” x 8″ x 8″
This small and stunning exhibition opened in the garden’s Pavilion gallery yesterday with talks by both Yagi and Masami Koda, two of the less established, but most interesting, artists in the show.
Inspired ten years ago by seeing the work of Klaus Moje, Yagi works in kiln-glass methods not dissimilar to those of her mentor. In a good year, she can make about twelve pieces in her painstaking murrine process. Drugs? No, just persistence, and an eye for exceptional quality. Yagi’s work, like the rest of the show reflects what PJG Curator Diane Durston refers to as a “sensibility that is both international and yet distinctly Japanese.”
Whether you’re coming to the GAS conference or not, don’t miss this show, this place, these artists.
I know. I’m nagging.
