63. Hattori Makiko 服部 真紀子

Hattori Makiko was born in Mie prefecture in 1984. She initially studied fine arts at the Aiche Univerity of Education, but eventually chose ceramics as a field of study. She was attracted by the special possibilities of clay as a means of expression and already during her studies she worked on beautiful ceramic objects with calm monochromatic colors with a soft and even sensual look. With her work derived from study projects, she quickly found success and already in 2006, before she even graduated, she won the Kyoto Governor Award, at the exhibition of the 40th Annual Women's Association of Ceramic Art at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art. Her work is therefore intriguing, soft and rusative and at the same time dynamic and of great vitality. To achieve that effect, she uses a technique that she would continue to perfect and still applies. Her objects, executed in white or black Seto clay, can be round or oval, spherical or slightly flattened, with or without a spherical twist but are always covered inside and out with thousands of little ruffles, little bundles made of tiny little strips of clay. Seen from a distance, the sculptures appear to be covered with a downy coat. It is only when you get closer that you see that the surface is covered with these thousands of wafer-thin 1 x 3 cm pieces of earth, folded and glued together, which were placed on the body with incredible patience and meticulous technique. To fully appreciate the complexity of her technique and aesthetic, she leaves her sculptures unglazed. Hattori Makiko's sculptures are very labor-intensive and time-consuming, and she therefore makes no more than ten works a year. She is a successful ceramist who has won several awards and participated in numerous exhibitions. Her work can be found at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Gardiner Museum in Toronto, the Minneapolis Institutes of Arts, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among others.