49. Aya Murata  村田彩

Aya Murata was born in Kyoto in 1979 and studied at Kyoto College of Art, Department of Ceramics and Kyoto Prefectural Ceramics Technical College. She is deeply fascinated by the beauty and vitality of nature, and she transformed this love of nature into her work characterized by complex plant-like forms and bright colors, with every detail carefully and meticulously created.  Aya Murata uses the "Nerikomi" technique, patterns created by placing strips of colored clay on top of each other and kneading them, after which she transforms the clay into tentacle-like organic shapes that resemble flowers, plants and corals. According to Aya Murata, the products of nature are so beautiful and moving that in her mind they are woven into a fantasy world in which they are autonomous with human traits such as self-awareness and emotions such as "lust," "envy" and "aspiration." The plants in her work thus transcend the world of the plant kingdom, they are no longer plants but part of all life in the universe. In the words of Aya Murata, "I am constantly looking for ways to inject life into my creations; visualizing my plants, down to each of their cells , is my trick to give life and soul to my works." It shows great skill to create such delicate forms with ceramics, and it is known to have taken her several years to master this technique. Her work is highly regarded, and numerous key galleries and museums have featured Aya Murata's work in the past. She has also won numerous awards including the Kobe Biennale for Contemporary Ceramics in 2007 and the Kyoto Handicraft Biennale, in 2012.  Her work is in the collection of the Arctic Ceramic Center in Finland, the Tainan National University of the Art in Taiwan and the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, among others.