Life is different now. 

Warmer ocean temperatures prompted bleaching events of the world’s coral reef communities. Healthy colorful coral have changed into weakened ghostly white coral, susceptible to disease and death.  These coral bleaching events are visual cues of thermal stress caused by global warming, serving as the “canary in the coal mine” and warning us of serious environmental consequences.

These abstract figurative sculptures powered with outdoor energy efficient LED lights, are a call for the reversal of global warming.   3 dimensional wall sculptures remind us that beneath the deep blue sea a world of environmental change is occurring.  We are all accessories and responsible for this environmental crime.   

The world cannot wait decades for cutting edge researchers, corporations, government, and institutions to implement change.  We must bring clean energy solutions out to market sooner.

We must adapt for environmental change. We must create new tools that keep the problem from getting worse.  According to Bill and Melinda Gates Notes, five enterprising ideas are in the works.  

1. Grid Storage Technology could allow us to store energy when it is dark or raining.

2. Liquid Fuels could run by solar power to fuel transportation vehicles.

3. Mini Grids could fuel neighborhoods and villages without tapping into the central grid.

4. Alternative carbon-neutral building materials could replace concrete or steel, reducing greenhouse gases.

5. Geothermal power could be tapped from beneath the earth to reduce our addiction to oil and coal.

I am optimistic. Disruptive environmental approaches, separate from political noise, will create a future for humankind.

Joan Takayama-Ogawa, 2018

Artist Bio

Commentary on environmental disaster, social injustice, economic greed, and the art world's marginalization of clay motivate Joan Takayama-Ogawa, a sansei (3rd generation) Japanese American, artist, and educator. Her sculpture and vessel-inspired ceramics depict her concerns by holding beauty in check with subtle messages of despair. Her university education in ecosystems, ethnic studies, and Japanese ceramic family inform much of her ceramics.

When she began her clay career over thirty years ago, the field was male-dominated. Still, she exhibited with prestigious galleries such as Garth Clark, Dorothy Weiss, Ferrin, and the American Hand, Themes+Projects, and Craft in America galleries. By linking her Otis College of Art and Design student assignments directly to the content in her studio work, she maintained continuity and a creative zone between educating students and making ceramics for the public.

In September 2022, the Craft in America Center in Los Angeles, California, will mount her first survey spanning 30 years of confrontational ceramics, highlighting absurdity in American culture. Visitors will see glaze chemistry deployed in unabashedly colorful theatrical glazes, contrasting with the environmental crime of haunting bleached coral reefs in fifty shades of white glazes.

Recently hitting her stride in social commentary, she reached a critical juncture in her career when teaching about the destruction of the planet’s ecosystems.

Today American ceramics are having a moment in fine arts, especially at Themes+Projects Gallery in San Francisco. Joan Takayama-Ogawa is enjoying this moment, evolving into a self-appointed environmental and ceramic evangelist.

Nominee for the USA Artists Fellowship.