28. Inaba Chikako 稲葉 周子

Chikako Inaba was born in 1974 in Kanagawa Prefecture. She studied at the prominent Musashino Art University in Tokyo and has her studio in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture. Her greatest inspiration is the curling and wilting leaves of local vegetation such as lotus, hosta and orchid plants with their distinct veins. Her white, ribbed and curved forms look like leaf-like vessels, ready to contain dewdrops or descending raindrops. The leaves are modeled in stoneware with carefully carved fluted "veins," to which a thick opaque white glaze is applied, and although the basic shape of the leaves are as in nature itself, essentially similar, their effect is always different.  Chikako Inaba's beautiful pottery expresses strength and softness through these countless changes of form and contains essential elements of nature's vitality and impermanence.  Chikako Inaba's work is functional, she uses the shape of leaves and the movement of leaf veins as motifs to create everyday utensils like dinnerware, and more sculptural utensils like vases. The strong white lines accentuate the soft dark shadows, enhancing the visual effect, and leaving an impression of delicate strength as also seen in nature.

Chikako Inaba has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in Japan and abroad and has received several awards including the Taiwan International Gold Pot Exhibition Honorable Mention Award (2018).