[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1467526764552{background-image: url(http:\/\/lhproject.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/resident-backround-2.jpg?id=321) !important;}”][vc_column][vc_btn title=”Artist Website” color=”black” size=”lg” align=”center” link=”url:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.esthershimazu.com%2F||target:%20_blank”][vc_custom_heading text=”Artist Statement” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center|color:%230a0a0a” google_fonts=”font_family:Droid%20Serif%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700%2C700italic|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal” css=”.vc_custom_1495825177218{background-color: rgba(102,37,0,0.75) !important;*background-color: rgb(102,37,0) !important;}”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1503021709750{background-color: rgba(0,0,0,0.76) !important;*background-color: rgb(0,0,0) !important;}”]My work brings together a nerdy love of clay, a structural engineer father, a mother with good stories, several entertaining siblings and growing up third generation Japanese American in warm, multicultural Hawaii.\u00a0 The figures are constructed voluminous and hollow following age-old building methods: pinch, coil and slab with a lot of tweaking, paddling, pushing and cutting as needed. They are as individual and alive as I can make them in collaboration with the clay.\u00a0 Surface finishing mostly involves scraping, smoothing and sanding with touches of glaze and underglaze color and a light airbrushing of ceramic color to finish. \u00a0I want them durable and true to their pottery roots — unencumbered by hairdos or fashion.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text]\n