Kae Sasaki
May 10 - June 22, 2025
Reception: Saturday, May 24 from 2-4pm
RSVP here (not required, but appreciated!)
Craft Ontario Gallery, 1106 Queen Street West, Toronto
‘Traces’ is a solo exhibition of beadwork sculptures by Winnipeg-based artist Kae Sasaki that explores memory, materiality, and cultural resonance. Made with reclaimed vintage Japanese beads — materials imbued with both personal and historical significance — these works transform everyday objects into luminous, intricate forms that invite reflection.
Beads themselves are traces. They carry histories of global trade, craft traditions, and cultural exchange. In Kae’s work, they also speak to memory, labour, and care. Through the slow, meditative process of beading, the artist reimagines the ordinary as something lasting and precious.
‘Untitled (Tagliatelle)’ evokes the rhythm of pasta-making while raising questions about waste and sustainability. ‘Untitled (Toilet Paper #2)’ and ‘Untitled (Paper Towel)’ elevate disposable items into delicate sculptural forms, asking us to reconsider what we discard and what we choose to preserve.
In ‘Untitled (Pop Filter)’, a salvaged microphone screen seems to hold the echo of a breath—reminding us of voice, performance, and presence. A broken globe in ‘Untitled (Floor Globe)’ becomes a fragmented map of memory and loss. A cracked, stringless instrument in ‘Untitled (Menzenhauer Zither)’ is covered in beads, paying tribute to the music it once held and the hands that once played it.
Together, these beadwork sculptures offer a quiet, powerful meditation on the overlooked. They speak to the enduring significance of small things — how humble materials and forgotten objects can carry deep emotional weight, and how art can be a form of listening, remembrance, and repair.
Kae Sasaki is a visual artist and Japanese-born settler living and working on Treaty One Territory, known as Winnipeg, Manitoba. Raised in Fukui, Japan, with time spent in El Paso, Texas, she later studied German literature at Rikkyo University in Tokyo before relocating to Canada. After earning a BFA from the University of Manitoba in 2012, Kae taught drawing and established a full-time studio practice.
Kae’s primary artistic practice is representational painting, for which she has won several awards and competitions. Her art practice has been generously supported by grants and her work can be found in private, public, and corporate collections in Canada and the US. She has been shortlisted for the Kingston Prize, the Salt Spring National Art Prize and Jackson's Open Painting Prize for her painting.
While painting remains her main medium, Kae began beading in 2019. She uses reclaimed vintage Japanese beads that are harvested from damaged vintage beaded bags and employs traditional Japanese beading techniques.
kaesasaki.com
Kae Sasaki acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council.
