Featured Artist: Chiho Tokita

Toronto-based ceramic artist Chiho Tokita has exhibited her work in Canada and the United States. Tokita was born in Japan, grew up in New York City, and now resides in Toronto. Prior to being a potter, she was a psychotherapist and worked for several years at a community mental health center. She has degrees in religion from Wesleyan University and Harvard Divinity School, and in clinical social work from the University of Chicago.

Chiho Tokita is a recipient of Toronto Arts Council and Ontario Arts Council grants, and the 35^th Anniversary Award from Craft Ontario. Her work was most recently exhibited in the Housewarming show at the Craft Ontario gallery. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

“My ceramic practice explores the space between functional ceramics and sculpture, borrowing the vocabulary from one to speak the language of the other. I am interested in sculptural forms that speak the language of vessels and vessels re-interpreted as sculptural forms.”

Intimations is inspired by Lao Tzu’s thoughts on usefulness in which he points out that the useful part of a vessel is not the outer form but the empty space inside. The works from Intimations series are thought of as line drawings delineating that invisible place of containment.

Ikebana Abstracting re-interprets the Japanese art of arranging flowers as an assemblage of forms and material. The wheel-formed vase is juxtaposed with the abstracted flower made from collage-like forms.