Some lucky people are born with an artistic destiny preordained by an auspicious ancestry.  In the case of ceramic artist, Joan Takayama-Ogawa, once this destiny revealed itself, her passion for achieving that destiny was unstoppable. She decided to take a ceramics class, and soon uncovered her family’s connection to clay dating back to the 15th century. Her newly discovered love of ceramic sculpture soon became an obsession, and she left her middle school teaching position to pursue a career in the ceramic arts at the Otis College of Art and Design.

Takayama-Ogawa is an internationally renowned artist who uses ancient Japanese ceramic forms as a guide in creating contemporary pieces with decorating and imagery drawn from an American lifestyle. Currently, she works as a professor of Ceramics, Product Design, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Creative Action at the Otis College of Art and Design.  She has served as a Pasadena Design Commissioner and a member of the American Museum of Ceramic Art Board of Directors.  Her ceramics are included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, DeYoung Museum of Fine Arts, World Ceramic Exposition Foundation in Korea, Leewarden Princesshoff Ceramic Museum in the Netherlands, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The High Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, Brooklyn Art Museum, Stanford Art Museum, Racine Art Museum, Oakland Museum of California, Long Beach Museum of Art, Arizona State University Ceramic Research Center, Utah State Art Museum, and the American Museum of Ceramic Art.

Environmental disasters, social injustices, economic greed, and the art world’s marginalization of clay motivate me as a Sansei (3rd generation) Japanese American, artist, and educator.  My sculpture and vessel-inspired ceramics hold beauty in check with subtle messages of despair.

Inheriting ceramic DNA, I know without a doubt, that clay picked me. We think Dad’s family has worked in clay in Tokoname, Japan since the 15th century.  Dad studied ceramics with his favorite teacher, Glen Lukens, while enrolled in USC’s School of Architecture.  Mom lived her life with style and artistic grace as seen through her beautiful interior designs and food styling.  My husband, Steven Ogawa, supported us, while I retrained and developed as an artist. I am indebted to the late Ralph Bacerra at Otis College of Art and Design, who generously passed ceramic technical knowledge, allowing me to transmit ideas into clay.  When I finish a major piece, I know it comes from my ancestors and role models.

People often ask how I predict issues that initially require an explanation and over time become common knowledge. Fueled by fury and fear, I reach a tipping point.  Only then does commentary fluidly flow from my brain through my fingertips.

Since 1973 when I studied greenhouse gases as a freshman at UCLA, I have been fearful we were slipping into environmental chaos. Today, as global citizens, we must no longer defy nature and expect to win.  We must follow nature’s rules as nature’s invoice is high.

The US equity and real estate markets with absurd highs and deserving lows allow for ironic commentary on American culture.   

Overindulgence leads to decadence, which allows for over-the-top deliberately decorative elements.

If we are to be remembered as a civilized society, it will be the work we leave behind.