Joan Takayama-Ogawa: Ceramic Beacon

joan takayama–ogawa CERAMIC BEACON

“A lot is so dark but I hold the darkness 

in check by making beautiful objects” 

JOAN TAKAYAMA–OGAWA

joan 

takayama–ogawa 

CERAMIC 

BEACON 

SEPTEMBER 17–DECEMBER 3, 2022

CONTENTS 

FOREWORD 

How Joan Takayama–Ogawa 

is Changing the World 

CAROL SAUVION 

7 

CURATORIAL ESSAY 

Ceramic Beacon: 

Joan Takayama–Ogawa 

EMILY ZAIDEN 

10 

CONTRIBUTOR ESSAY 

Casting a Light on Change 

JO LAURIA 

33 

ARTIST STATEMENT 

JOAN TAKAYAMA-OGAWA 

52 

ARTIST RÉSUMÉ 

60 

CHECKLIST 

64

6 7 

FOREWORD 

How Joan Takayama–Ogawa 

is Changing the World 

CAROL SAUVION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CRAFT IN AMERICA 

Anger turns into beauty in the sculptures of Joan Takayama-Ogawa. Anger? Does it 

have a place in the arts? Joan thinks it does and sees her ceramic practice as a venue 

to express her ideas about many topics: climate change, violence, school shootings, 

the covid pandemic, women’s roles and rights and the current political climate that 

endangers our democracy. Quite an enormous undertaking, but in Joan’s mind and 

talented hands, all of these issues are boldly considered and artfully presented. Quite 

an accomplishment, but one would expect nothing less from this gifted ceramic artist 

whose roots in clay run deep. Her life and her work exemplify her dedication to her 

dual careers as college professor and artist. 

I first understood Joan Takayama-Ogawa when I saw her interact with the students 

she brings to the Craft in America Center as part of her Made in the usa course at Otis 

College of Art and Design. She was the perfect combination of authority and laissez 

faire, directing her students but also allowing them time and space to make their own 

discoveries. I was immediately impressed by her powerful presence and my admiration 

has grown with time. 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa: Ceramic Beacon, at the Craft in America Center, is a 

journey through thirty years of the artist’s work: ceramic teapots and cupcakes and 

bleached coral and miniature narratives of world events. The gorgeous glazes on perfect 

shapes belie the seriousness of the subject matter. She captures our attention with 

beauty and luster and changes our lives with the impactful results of her dedication to 

(TITLE PAGE, FIG. 17) 

Bleached Coral Chandelier 

2015 

Glazed earthenware, 

aircraft cable, LED lights 

(CONTENTS SPREAD) 

Tea Towers 

1999 

Glazed earthenware 

(ABOVE, FIG. 6) 

Tipping Point Series, SUVs 

2008 


making the world a better place. 

The world is a better place because of Joan Takayama Ogawa. We at Craft in 

America salute her and join her as she changes the world one idea at a time. And 

always there is beauty.

CURATORIAL ESSAY 

10 (PREVIOUS SPREAD) 

(BELOW) 

11 

(LEFT) 

Cup 

Washington As Usual (detail) 

(with brushes made by 

2017 

Ralph Bacerra from 

Glazed earthenware, metal 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa’s hair) 

2000 


Ceramic Beacon: 

Joan Takayama–Ogawa 

(RIGHT, FIG. 22) 

Let Them Eat Trump (detail) 

2017 


EMILY ZAIDEN 

Known for conveying her prophetic take on contemporary life through playful and 

quick-witted narratives in ceramics, this exhibition celebrates the sculptural and 

functional work of Joan Takayama-Ogawa from over the past three decades. Ceramic 

Beacon is the first survey of this respected Pasadena, California born-and-based 

artist’s work thus far. Unequivocally and fearlessly illuminating a vast range of critical 

issues, Takayama-Ogawa makes objects that embody her world view and life 

experience. 

When she decided to take a ceramics class at Otis College of Art and Design in 1986, 

she found her creative home. Her intention was to learn just enough to make coffee cups 

for the staff at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, ca, where she was Academic Dean of 

the middle school. In her words, “I think a gene popped and I knew clay was for me.” One 

introductory course led to three years and a foundation in ceramic fundamentals, along 

with a teaching position in English. She has worked as an artist and professor at Otis 

ever since. 

As a student at Otis, Takamaya-Ogawa studied with renowned artist Ralph Bacerra 

who became her ceramics mentor. With Bacerra, she learned an aesthetic philosophy 

and the technical essentials, from construction methods to firing, and glaze chemistry 

to brushwork. Bacerra passed along a profound understanding of form and ornamentation 

that shaped her practice. She went on to develop a visual language based on color, 

pattern, iconography, humor, despair, and beauty.

12 

13 

ceramic beacon 

zaiden 

Tea was a focus for Takayama-Ogawa from the start due to 

its interwovenness with the history of ceramics. Tea-related 

objects also held personal cultural connotations and signified her 

Japanese-American family roots. As an Asian Studies major who 

spent a year in Japan during college, her heritage is central to her 

identity. She had a take on teaware that was however, distinctively 

her own. She stepped back from functional intentions and 

instead approached teaware as a strictly sculptural launching 

point. By 1990, she had developed her own signature “Ogawa-O” 

teapot (FIG. 1). Shaped like a doughnut, her tilted spin on the 

teapot had a large void at the center. It was a sharp contrast to 

the formality of Japanese ceramic canons. Flouting tradition, she 

began to find her own path. Takayama-Ogawa treated the elegant 

functional object as a surface for her gleaming painted decoration 

in her initial work with metallic glazes. 


Madhatter’s Teapot #1 

1990 



Sea Urchin Tea Set 

1992 


1991 was the first significant turning point in her artistic development 

after her father passed away. The natural world and its 

fragility were a pre-existing concern dating back to her college 

years in geography at ucla. With the loss of her father, this apprehension 

began to move towards the forefront in her outlook. The 

same year, she went to the same dive spot in Hawaii where she had 

always visited. For the first time, she noticed the coral was suffering. 

Human-induced environmental disaster became a topic she 

could not ignore, long before it became mainstream conversation. 

She tapped the textures, patterns, and colors of underwater life for 

some of her sculptural tea sets that paid homage to nature (FIG. 2). 

She began absorbing her outlook, fears, and proactive personality 

in the objects from that time on.

14 

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Coral Tea Set 

1996 


(RIGHT) 

Madhatter’s Teapot #2 

1996 


15 

ceramic beacon

16 

17 


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With more than a decade of technical expertise under her 

belt, by the late 1990s, she started to tell stories more overtly and 

convey messages through her pieces. She challenged herself to 

become fluent in using clay as commentary. She continued to reinvent 

functional ceramic forms by imbuing them with her ideas 

and formally approaching them from new directions. Narrative 

and political expression became her core goal at the turn of the 

21st century. She created pieces that warned about the powerful 

forces pushing society and our ecosystems to the edge. Viewing 

the stock market bubble as it was about to burst, Takayama- 

Ogawa re-envisioned the iconic tea vessel from a contemporary 

lens. She built a precious, Fabergé-like 2-Lippo Mania Teapot and 

layered in an allusion to the tulip craze of the Dutch Golden Age 

(FIG. 3). The piece was a playful summation of the indulgent whims 

of market capitalism, a topic she regularly revisits. 

(FIG. 3) 

2-Lippo Mania Teapot: 

Dot Com Stock 

Market Bust 

2000 

Glazed earthenware

18 

zaiden 

(FIG. 4) 

America’s Crude 

Awakening 

2000–2021 


19 


Continually contemplating the ceramic 

vessel as metaphor, Takayama-Ogawa 

recognized how American dependencies on 

oil were causing massive systemic problems 

that spilled over into various sectors. She 

had previously crafted precarious towers 

of tea cups, saucers, and teapots to reflect 

her views on gender role inequalities. For 

America’s Crude Awakening, she stacked 

up a pile of ceramic cars and perched a 

pitcher on top of them (FIG. 4). Playing with 

gravity, she sculpted unsettling, imbalanced 

forms that represented global instabilities. 

This structural approach is one that she has 

repeatedly employed over time. 

9/11 was a pivotal moment for the artist. Takayama-Ogawa 

learned what had happened as she was about to fly from lax to 

Chicago for the sofa art and design fair. Her first reaction was an 

immediate sense of doom over who would be targeted for the 

attack. She jumped into creative action by deciding to make sure 

that people would remember how Japanese Americans, including 

her own family members, were treated during wwii. The incarceration 

had destroyed the Takayama side of her family. Like 

many others, her relatives lost everything they had achieved as a 

result of the forced relocation. Her hope was that history would 

not repeat and that people of any cultural background would not 

endure what had happened half a century prior.

20 

zaiden 

(LEFT, FIG. 5) 

Racial Profiling: 

Japanese American Relocation Camps 

2001–2002 

Glazed earthenware, wood, 

metal, fiber 

21 


(BELOW, FIG. 6) 

Tipping Point Series, SUVs (detail) 

2008 


(SEE ALSO PAGE 6) 

Takayama-Ogawa created one of her only mixed-media pieces 

to document what her family experienced during that dark time. 

A miniature wooden sarcophagus holding her grandfather’s 

identification tag sits atop a black ceramic box, surrounded by 

gold barbed wire. She transcribed President Ford’s “American 

Promise” apology and hand wrote the names of her extended 

family along with sides of the base to document their experiences 

and create a modern relic (FIG. 5). 

In the following years, commentary became her primary 

focus and she sculpted more figuratively. 

Tea and tableware remained central in her 

art and she found an even stronger voice 

by working on a smaller, diminutive scale. 

Always attentive to detail, Takayama-Ogawa 

started making vignettes with miniatures 

that were loaded with social critique. In 2008, 

Takayama-Ogawa started addressing the 

signs of the recession’s onset, the collapse 

of financial institutions, and the real estate 

market crash. Lilliputian banks, oil rigs, cars, 

planes, and houses became narrative symbols 

in her pieces. Takayama-Ogawa flipped the 

idea of a storm in a teacup with her Tipping 

Point Series, seeing that something unprecedented 

was taking place (FIG. 6, SEE ALSO PAGE 6). 

She watched how the country tried to contain 

the economic disaster.

22 

zaiden 

(FIG. 7) 

Miso Deflated 

2010 


wood, ceramic decals 

23 


For Miso Deflated, another teetering construction, 

she incorporated her ideas about 

the subprime lending disaster and deflation 

with a jocular nod to her cultural identity. 

Originally, and always, an English teacher, she 

has a way with words, a love of puns, and a 

knack for catchy, perfectly succinct descriptions 

of the world as we know it. Ultimately 

through the piece, Takayama-Ogawa questioned 

the pursuit of the American dream and 

presented it as a naive, sinking hope that was 

utterly unachievable for most (FIG. 7). 

From soup to sushi and pastries, 

Takayama-Ogawa mimics food to represent 

her criticism of the establishment. Her 

trompe-l’œil pieces extend California’s Funk 

tradition to contemporary culture. Ceramics 

have always intersected with food and she 

brings a cheeky twist to this symbiotic relationship. 

Food is a way that Takayama-Ogawa 

makes her messages most palatable to her 

viewer. Ceramic sushi signifies overfished and polluted waters, 

while cloyingly decadent treats are the ultimate embodiments 

of American excess, privilege, superficiality, and indulgence. 

Takayama-Ogawa’s take on desserts is an ongoing series of 

tongue-in-cheek work about overconsumption, political corruption, 

bureaucratic inefficiencies, and entitlement. She uses cake 

decorating tools to frost them with slip (FIG. 8).

24 

zaiden 


Made in Pasadena, 

Fruitcake, Fruit Flies 

2008 


metal, plastic flies 

25 



Shallow Planter, Fertility Pot 

2022 

Unglazed terracotta, 

tree stump 

Beyond her metaphorical interest in representations of food, 

in her newer projects, she also explores how we directly engage 

with what we eat. Seeing both the environmental and economic 

need to drastically alter agriculture and food systems, she became 

deeply motivated to develop a design solution that would allow 

for growing efficiently and in small spaces. Planters are her 

most recent functional ceramics pursuit. As an avid gardener, 

Takayama-Ogawa turned her own front yard into a vegetable 

garden years prior, inviting her neighbors into the yard as a 

communal spot. She began experimenting with the potential of 

sewer pipe clay, which she slump 

molded into minimalist, modernist 

planters of various sizes 

and shapes (FIG. 9). These pots 

are shaped to take into account 

California’s water restrictions 

and the necessity for using 

water efficiently, and for growing 

drought-tolerant plants. Putting 

ideas into concrete action, she is 

a believer that individual, small 

efforts can lead the way.

26 

zaiden 

(FIG. 10) 

America’s Schoolhouse 

Shooting Gallery 

2022 


27 


Takayama-Ogawa’s ceramics visually articulate the knowledge 

she seeks to impart. An educator to her core, her pieces are 

manifestations of her beliefs and they inform. Takayama-Ogawa 

sheds light on critical topics and she is also a guiding light for her 

Otis College of Art and Design students. She revived the ceramics 

program at Otis in 2011, continuing the legacy of her mentor 

Bacerra. She has tirelessly fostered it since then. By linking her 

Otis student assignments directly to the content in her social 

advocacy studio work, she maintains a connection for fully integrating 

teaching into her practice. 

Takayama-Ogawa tackles the key issues that define our 

contemporary society, from the political, to the historical, social, 

and environmental. She is an outspoken powerhouse who is 

ahead of the curve. She aims to highlight the “crimes of human 

making.” Channeling fury into artistic power, she creates works 

that respond to the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. 

America’s Schoolhouse Shooting Gallery (FIG. 10), came as 

a result of hitting her tipping point with the tragedy in Uvalde, 

Texas. Reviewing the statistics of gun violence pushed her to the 

brink. Knowing she needed to express her anger and sadness, she 

ordered an AR15 candy mold and got to work. Ironically, it took 

longer for the mold to arrive than it takes to go out and buy a real 

firearm. Aimed upon platforms that are shaped like the u.s., black 

and gold rifles surround medallion-targets in the form of typical 

symbols of elementary school.

28 

SOURCES 

29 

zaiden 

Artist Statement, 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa, 2022, 

Pasadena Art Alliance 


Interviews in person, 

via phone and via Zoom with 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa 

from 2019–2022 

By captivating the viewer with elaborate detail, her work 

initiates a conversation. Her toylike reinventions of the figurine 

and game board are intimate and irresistible sculptural satires. 

Takayama-Ogawa encourages the viewer to look and learn, to 

evaluate, and hopefully, to act and speak out to make change happen. 

She draws the viewer into her intricate sculptures because 

they are a pleasure to behold. They lure the child in us all to play, 

and then to look deeper, serving as reminders that we all play a 

part in the issues that she depicts. These pieces also raise the 

question of whose turn it is to make the moves and who comes 

out the winner in all of these situations. 

By confronting the harsh realities of our world constructively, 

Takayama-Ogawa gives shape to the shortcomings and downfalls 

of society through her artworks. She moves quickly and when an 

issue strikes to her core, she acts by hitting the clay. Her hands are 

an outlet for her outrage. She foresees our socio-political, economic, 

and environmental mistakes and depicts them in clay. Her 

eloquent and imaginative works provide commiseration, and they 

educate. She sculpts to shed light on some of the most critical 

threats we face. 

Keiko Fukazawa and 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa: 

A Confluence of American 

and Japanese Cultures, 

Elaine Levin, Ceramics Monthly, 

December 1994, 

p. 49-53 

Recollecting the Past: 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa’s 

Wit and Whimsy, 

Judy Seckler, Ceramics Monthly, 

February 2005, p. 37-41 

(FOLLOWING SPREAD) 

(LEFT) 

Japanese American 

Teabag (detail) 

2003 



Sex and the City 

Teabag (detail) 

2001 

Glazed earthenware

CONTRIBUTOR ESSAY 

32 (TOP LEFT) 

33 

Takayama-Ogawa's 

father at USC 

(TOP RIGHT) 

The family business 

(BOTTOM) 

Family members at the 

Pasadena Japanese 

Community Center 

Casting a Light 

on Change 

JO LAURIA 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa has been on a thirty-year quest to express visual literacy in 

her ceramic art practice. Her Japanese ancestral heritage can be traced back to the 

fifteenth century in the pottery town of Tokoname, one of the six most important 

kiln sites for pottery production in ancient Japan. Although her family has lived in 

America for three generations, clay remains an essential aspect of their life. Her father 

developed a passion for working with clay when, as an architecture student at the 

University of Southern California, his major required a ceramics class to enhance hand 

skills. The acclaimed master ceramist Glen Lukens taught the course; the two men 

established a lifelong friendship. This same passion lay dormant in Takayama-Ogawa 

until she decided on a three-year intensive study (1986–89) with renowned ceramic 

artist Ralph Bacerra—professor and head of the ceramics studio at Otis College of Art 

and Design, Los Angeles. Through strategic assignments, Bacerra taught students 

traditional craftsmanship skills, reinforced material exploration, and instructed them 

in design principles while encouraging personal style development. This experience 

launched Takayama-Ogawa in a new direction: having begun her teaching career at 

Otis in Liberal Arts and as an educator of English literacy, she shifted to creating fluency 

in the singular language of clay, building a vocabulary that references archetypal 

ceramic forms cross-pollinated with contemporary cultural imagery and commentary.

34 

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(FIG. 11) 

Chrysanthemum 

(Covered Container) 

1992 


35 

casting a light on change 

Now in her third decade as a professional studio ceramist, 

Takayama-Ogawa has developed a body of work based on explorations 

of traditional functional pottery shapes, including plates, 

bowls, containers, and teapots. This inventory of utilitarian forms is 

complemented by other pieces that are wholly sculptural interpretations, 

many of which engage her Japanese lineage. Her first series 

of covered containers and teapots, from 1992 to 2000, are testaments 

to her application of Bacerra’s design mantra, “surface follows 

form” (FIG. 11-13). On these wheel-thrown and altered vessels, she 

has devised original decoration techniques. Her two-dimensional 

patterns based on geometry and botanicals encircle the functional 

wares and activate the eye over their volumetric contours. In hindsight, 

Takayama-Ogawa views these early vessels as challenges to 

achieving proficiency in materials and methods, explicitly mastering 

low-fire clay bodies and surface applications of underglazes, overglazes 

(China paint), and metallic lusters, fundamentals she learned 

and refined while under Bacerra’s tutelage. 

The “teapot towers” stand out in this series as her most complicated 

pieces: highly theatrical and playful. They revel in their contradiction 

of functionality; as assembled serviceable wares associated 

with the tea ritual, they transform into sculptural stacks that mock 

purpose. Takayama-Ogawa’s objective was to render these towers 

“deliberately decorative,” an overt gesture to tease the eye. In addition 

to the layers of surface decoration, she added a layer of subtle commentary: 

teapots, cups, and saucers are the most enduring symbols of 

hospitality and domesticity. The structured towers recall the activity 

of stacking dishes in the kitchen sink, a domestic task traditionally 

allocated to women. Thus began Takayama-Ogawa’s leap into feminist 

territory.

36 

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Cranes 


1992 



Cacti from Saturn 


1992 


37 

casting a light on change

38 

39 


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Commentary on gender politics, sexuality and inequality 

is a thread that ties together the pieces in the next series, the 

Teabags, 2001 to 2003 (FIG. 14). This whimsical series of teapots 

transformed into women’s handbags (to scale) suggests the heavy 

burdens of women in a male-dominated society. Golden tubes of 

red lipstick, hair combs, the ubiquitous purse pen, and festoons 

of lush and colorful flowers, some with elongated stamens, adorn 

and erupt from the gilded surfaces of these extravagant accessories. 

The lustrous exaggerated purse handles, terminating in a 

twisted knot, convey a sense of crippling: women are measured 

against rigid societal standards of beauty and subjected to erotic 

fetishization. Fashionable, luxury-brand handbags have become 

de rigueur at high-style social events; thus, the Teabags also symbolize 

the embrace of overindulgence and conspicuous consumption 

inherent in their ownership. This theme is amplified by four 

teapots/teabags, individually titled after the four main characters 

of the popular television drama Sex in the City (FIG. 15). Each exaggerated 

Teabag features flamboyant floral motifs, luscious bright 

and glossy glazes, and gold lusters that are seductive and vulgar in 

equal measure. 


Rosemary’s 

Teabag 

2001 



Sex and the City 

Teabag 

2001 

Glazed earthenware

40 

lauria 

(FIG. 16) 

Plate Tectonics: 


Dinnerware 

1992 


wood 

41 


In successive series, Takayama- 

Ogawa broadens her incisive, critical 

perspective to comment on global 

issues: the climate crisis, the economic 

impact of national and state politics and 

policies, the addiction to fossil fuels, and 

the vulnerability of America’s healthcare 

system. Upon close inspection, one 

discovers that Takayama-Ogawa had 

foregrounded the perils of climate change in her work thirty years 

ago, beginning with the wall sculpture Plate Tectonics: Japanese 

American Dinnerware, 1992 (FIG. 16). Six interlocking geometric 

Japanese bento boxes—for food presentation—appear to pull apart 

from the central island that simulates a colorful coral reef. The 

shifting plates floating adrift in the pristine blue Hawaiian waters 

forewarn seismic disaster and reef destruction. 

The more recent sculptures on the theme of climate change, 

Bleached Coral Chandeliers, 2015 (FIG. 17), Kauai Black Coral, 

2018–2022 (FIG. 18), and Reflections on Climate Change, 2022 (FIG. 

19), are witnesses to the fulfillment of Takayama-Ogawa’s prediction. 

These sculptures address the eco-impact of global climate 

change, specifically the threat to oceans and marine life due to 

the rising water temperature. One early casualty has been the 

bleaching of coral and the dying of coral reefs, phenomena that 

Takayama-Ogawa observed decades ago while swimming off the 

shores of Hawaii. Her stark white ceramic chandelier, carved with 

irregular surfaces and piercings, denotes the damaging effects of 

global warming on the coral species (FIG. 17). The increased water

42 

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temperature causes the vibrant coral to expel the colorful symbiotic 

algae in its tissues and turn completely white. Similarly, 

warmer waters and toxins cause the coral reef in the waters surrounding 

Kauai to turn black. 

Perhaps the most arresting of the bleached coral pieces is 

Reflections on Climate Change which incorporates a found mirror 

and calculated dabs of blue glaze and gold luster applied to the 

ceramic houses being toppled and washed away in flood waters 

(FIG. 19). Exploiting the mirror as the central component is a clever 

device. It reflects the image of all who gaze upon it, suggesting a 

shared responsibility for the crisis. The climate-themed sculptures 

are intended as a clarion call to action. Takayama-Ogawa 

is lighting the way with the chandelier’s leds, spotlighting the 

endangered natural coral and its struggle to survive. 


Kauai’s Black Coral (Tiles) 

2018–2022 



Reflections on 

Climate Change 

2022 


repurposed mirror

44 

lauria 

(FIG. 20) 

California’s Role 

2010 


45 


Understanding the power 

of humor, Takayama-Ogawa 

engages in serious fun in the 

following series of pieces 

focusing on food as a platform 

for socio-political commentary. For example, in California’s 

Role, 2010 (FIG. 20), ceramic sushi rolls—mimicking the famous 

Japanese delicacies—are positioned on top of a dimensional 

silhouette of California. One sushi roll is laden with an oil derrick, 

another supports collapsing buildings, while others are draped 

with financial papers and discarded dollar signs. These bite-sized 

morsels of raw fish, replete with plastic flies, indicate the rotting of 

California’s economy caused by the 2008-2009 subprime mortgage 

bust that foreclosed many residents’ futures. Additionally, 

the oil derrick warns against over-drilling provoked by the dependency 

on fossil fuels. It is a cautionary tale for the Pacific Rim: the 

impact of excessive on-land and off-shore drilling could prompt 

the sinking of the Golden State into holes of its own making.

46 

47 


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The 2017 series of ceramic cakes on dessert plates serves witty 

and biting statements of dysfunction and dystopia (FIG. 21). A chocolate 

cake overrun by snails decries the slow and partisan politics 

of Washington d.c.; white floury cakes covered in rich swaths of 

frosting—one titled Let Them Eat Trump—speak of America’s 

addiction to sugar and its political equivalent of consuming sugary 

and vapid philosophies of patriotism (FIG. 22). 

Hope for a Cure Cupcakes, The Pandemic of 2020 (FIG. 23), is 

the most current series of thematic food groups to emerge from 

Takayama-Ogawa’s studio. Perhaps more literal than previous 

works, this series is characterized by its straightforward iconography, 

references to current events, and inclusion of the non-ceramic 

element of plastic syringe pens. Each cupcake showcases a 

different phase of the pandemic: the search for a vaccine; the systemic 

inequities of America’s healthcare system; sickness, death, 

and overcrowded cemeteries; forced closure due to the virus; and 

alternatively, the “Great Reopening.” Deploying a dessert tied to 

celebratory events—cupcakes—to reflect the disastrous impacts of 

the pandemic sets up a palpable tension provoking the viewer to 

assess America’s flawed healthcare policies. 


Washington As Usual 

2017 



Let Them Eat Trump 

2017 

Glazed earthenware, metal

48 

49 

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Hope for a Cure Cupcakes: 

The Pandemic of 2020, 

2020 


plastic syringe pen 

(ABOVE, LEFT) 


Healthcare Professionals, 

2020 



(ABOVE, RIGHT) 

America’s Healthcare 

Professionals’ Cake 

2021–22 



Taken as a whole, this thirty-year survey of Takayama- 

Ogawa’s ceramic practice demonstrates that the artist has fully 

engaged with clay’s materiality while pulling all the available 

levers to expand the presence of the objects: technical mastery 

of the medium is complemented by an infusion of meaningful content 

and contextualization completing the viewer’s visual experience. 

As a full-time professor at Otis and a consummate teacher, 

Takayama-Ogawa endeavors to influence her students through 

the ceramics she makes and exhibits. By creating powerful 

objects that communicate complex cultural experiences, promote 

sustainability, and support a more connected relationship with 

nature and humanity, Takayama-Ogawa is illuminating a path of 

responsible stewardship for the next generation of ceramic artists.

50 

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(LEFT, ABOVE) 


Pandemic Response Team 

2020 



(LEFT, BELOW) 


Stimulus Package 

2020 


(BELOW) 


America’s Great Reopening 

2021–2022 



51 

casting a light on change

ARTIST STATEMENT 

52 Japanese American 

53 

Teabag 

2003 


JOAN TAKAYAMA–OGAWA SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 

Environmental disasters, social injustices, economic greed, and the art world’s marginalization 

of clay motivate me as a sansei (third generation) Japanese American, artist, 

and educator. My sculpture and vessel-inspired ceramics hold beauty in check with 

subtle messages of despair. 

Inheriting ceramic dna, I know without a doubt, clay picked me. My father’s family 

has worked in clay in Tokoname, Japan since the 15 th century. Dad studied ceramics 

with his favorite teacher, Glen Lukens, while enrolled in usc’s School of Architecture. 

Mom lived her life with style and artistic grace seen through her beautiful interior 

designs and food styling. For a decade, my husband Steven Ogawa, supported us 

financially while I retrained and developed as an artist. I am indebted to the late Ralph 

Bacerra at Otis College of Art and Design, who generously passed ceramic technical 

knowledge, allowing me to unabashedly transmit ideas into clay. When I finish a major 

piece such as the ones you see in this Craft in America Center thirty-year survey, I 

wonder who made those pieces, knowing it comes from my ancestors and role models 

and not from myself. 

People often ask how I predict issues that initially require an explanation and over 

time become common knowledge. Fueled by fury and fear, I reach a tipping point. Only 

then, does commentary fluidly flow from my brain through my fingertips. 

Since 1973 when I studied greenhouse gasses as a freshman at ucla, I have been 

fearful we were slipping into environmental chaos. Today, as global citizens, we must 

no longer defy nature and expect to win. We must follow nature’s rules, as nature’s 

invoice is high. 

The u.s. equity and real estate markets with their absurd highs and deserving lows 

allow for ironic commentary on American culture. 

Overindulgence and overt opulence lead to decadence that allows for over-the-top 

deliberately decorative elements. 

The art world’s discriminatory attitudes towards clay are fading. Craft in America’s 

Executive Director Carol Sauvion continues to produce sublime pbs episodes resulting 

in the word “craft” becoming acceptable. My hope is for viewers to see possibilities in 

clay expressed with freedom and without censure, and commentary without boundaries. 

We must change our behavior. For if we are to be remembered as a civilized society, 

it will be the work we leave behind. To future generations, we entrust our lives.

54 (BELOW) 

Asian Persuasion Kitsch 

2006 


55 

(RIGHT) 

Mimbres Bowl—Sushi 

2019 

Glazed earthenware

56 

zaiden 

Ark of Paradise 

Noah’s Wife’s Teabag 

2002 


mixed media, beads 

57 

zaiden

58 (LEFT) 

Trump Trash 

2017 


59 

(BELOW) 

Bulls Make Money, 

Bears Make Money, 

Pigs Get Slaughtered 

2008 

Glazed earthenware

60 

ARTIST RÉSUMÉ 

2003, 1994 

Glading McBean and Co. 

Purchase & Merit Awards 

Lincoln, CA 

2020–2021 

Democracy 

Craft in America Center 

Los Angeles, CA 

2013 

Orange County Sheriff Department 

Officer Memorial, Tustin, CA 

61 

JOAN TAKAYAMA–OGAWA 

BORN 1955 PASADENA, CALIFORNIA LIVES AND WORKS IN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 

2001–2006 

Design Commissioner 

Pasadena, CA 

L.A. Made 

Department of Cultural Affairs 

LAX Southwest Terminal 


2012 

Feast of Beads 

Facere Art Jewelry Gallery, NCECA 

Conference, Seattle, WA 

EDUCATION 

1985–1989 

Otis College of Art and Design 

Ceramics 


1978–1979 

Stanford University 

Palo Alto, CA 

Master of Arts Education 

1973–1978 

University of California, Los Angeles 

Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies 

and Geography 

1975–1976 

International Christian University 

Tokyo, Japan 

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS 

Smithsonian Institution 

Renwick Gallery, Washington D.C. 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art 


de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums 

San Francisco, CA 

Long Beach Museum of Art 

Long Beach, CA 

Oakland Museum of California 

Oakland, CA 

American Museum of Ceramic Art 

Pomona, CA 

World Ceramic Exposition Foundation 

Icheon, South Korea 

Keramiekmuseum Princessehof 

Leeuwarden, Netherlands 

Newark Art Museum 

Newark, NY 

Racine Art Museum 

Racine, WI 

Stanford University Cantor Art Center 

Stanford, CA 

AWARDS | RESIDENCIES | 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE 

2020, 2006 

Faculty Development & 

Technology Grants 


2017 

73 Scripps Annual Artist Curator 

Scripps College, Claremont, CA 

2016, 2014 

NCECA Speaker 

Milwaukee and Kansas City 

2010 

Ceramic Coordinator 

Boardman Family Foundation 

2009–2018 

Board of Directors 


2007 

Center for Cultural Innovation, 

Investing in Artists Grant 

1993 

Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian 

Institute, Workshop and 

Lecture Series 

Washington D.C. 

1991 

Juror’s Award 

Tempe Arts Council 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

2019, 2018 

Themes and Projects Gallery 


2017 


Pomona, CA 

1998, 1993 

The American Hand Plus 

Washington D.C. 

SELECTED GROUP 

EXHIBITIONS 

2022 

Breaking Ground: Women in 

California Clay 


Pomona, CA 

Someone’s Cup of Tea: Contemporary 

Teapots from RAM’s Collection 

Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI 

2016 

Function, Form, and Fantasy: 

Ceramics from the Dr. Robert and 

Deanna Harris Burger Collection 

Flint Art Institute, Flint, MI 

2015 

10 th Anniversary 


Pomona, CA 

Small Treasures 

Long Beach Museum of Art 

Long Beach, CA 

In Time for Tea: Contemporary 

Ceramic Teapots from the Racine Art 

Museum’s Collection 

Madison-Dane County Regional 

Airport, Madison, WI 

Crossroads in Clay at Chouinard and 

Otis: the Ralph Bacerra Years 

Vincent Price Museum 

East Los Angeles Community College 


2014 

White Gold: The Appeal of Lustre 

Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI 

2011 

Ink and Clay Competition 

California State University 

Pomona, CA 

Post Digital Ceramics 


Pomona, CA 

2010 

Nisei Week, Featured Artist 


Design Process, Mentors 

and NexGen Makers 

OBJCT Gallery, Claremont, CA 

2009 

Fork it Spoon it 

Baltimore Clayworks 

Baltimore, MD 

2007 

The Diane and Sandy Besser 

Collection: A Gift to the Fine Arts 

Museum of San Francisco 

de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA 

Voices from the Pacific Rim 

University of Judaism 


Utah State University 

Logan, UT 

Hallmark Collection 

Kansas City, KS 

Celestial Seasonings Tea Company 

Boulder, CO 

George Ohr Museum 

Biloxi, MS 

2005 

Artist in Residence 

Watershed, ME 

2004 

Teacher of the Year & 

Commencement Speaker 


Sculpture in the Garden 

Sam Maloof Foundation 

Loma Vista, CA 

Clay Provocateurs 

Pence Gallery, Davis, CA

62 

artist résumé 

2006 

Ferrin Gallery at SOFA 

Chicago, IL 

(participated since 1989) 

Yixing Effect 

Holter Museum of Art 

Helena, MT 

Life Insight: The Human Experience 

Kentucky Museum of Art and Design 

Louisville, KY 

10 th Invitational Teapot Show 

Craft Alliance 

St. Louis, MO 

2005 

Delightful Teapot 

3 rd World Ceramic Biennale 2005 

Icheon, South Korea 

Homage to Ralph Bacerra 

Garth Clark Gallery 

New York, NY 

2004 

Sidney Myer Fund International 

Ceramic Competition 

Shepparton Gallery 

Shepparton, Victoria, Australia 

Deliciously Decadent 

Princessehof Leeuwarden Museum 

Leeuwarden, Netherlands 

Out of Hand 

Contemporary Craft 

Pittsburgh, PA 

2003 

The Artful Teapot, 

the Kamm Collection 

COPIA: The American Center for 

Wine, Food and the Arts 

Napa, CA 

Traveled to: Montgomery Museum 

of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; The 

George R Gardiner Museum of 

Ceramic Art, Toronto, CA; Long Beach 

Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Mint 

Museum, Charlotte, NC 

Crafts National 

Lancaster Museum of Art 

Lancaster, PA 

The Show 

New Mexico Museum of Fine Art 

Santa Fe, NM 

Autobiography Show and Short 

Stories: Narrative Ceramic Art 

Ferrin Gallery 

Lenox, NY 

2002 

Arkansas Center for the Arts 

Little Rock, AR 

2001 

International Teapot 

Invitational Sybaris Gallery 

Royal Oak, MI 

Teapots Transformed 

Clay Art Center 

Portchester, NY 

2000 

Color and Fire 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art 


East or West, Tea is Best 

San Francisco Airport Museums 

San Francisco International Airport, 

CA 

1999 

A Loose Interpretation 

Celestial Seasonings 

Boulder, CO 

1998 

Pittsburgh Collects Clay 

Carnegie Museum of Art 

Pittsburgh, PA 

1997 

Color and Lowfire Processes 

Color and Image 

Northern Arizona 

University Art Museum 

Flagstaff, AZ 

L’Chaim: Kiddush Cup 

Invitational 

Jewish Museum 


Teapots 

Dorothy Weiss Gallery at SOFA 

Chicago, IL 

Teapots 

Craft Alliance 

St. Louis, MO 

Clay Show and Cup as a Metaphor: 

Works in Clay 

Sybaris Gallery 

Royal Oak, MI 

Night of 101 Cups 

Ceramics Arts Foundation 

New York, NY 

1994 

Teapot Invitational 

and Clay Selections 

Dorothy Weiss Gallery 


(participated since 1990) 

Extravagant Teapots 

Nancy Margolis Gallery 

New York, NY 

The World of Cups 

Pasadena Armory Center for the Arts 

Pasadena, CA 

I’m a Little Teapot 

Islip Art Museum 

East Islip, NY 

1993 

Tea Party 

American Craft Museum 

New York, NY 

The Otis Connection 

LewAllen Gallery 

Santa Fe, NM 

1992 

Transformed in Clay 

Pasadena Armory of the Arts 

Pasadena, CA 

1990–1991 

The Gold Show and Rituals of Tea 

Garth Clark Gallery 


1990 

Monarch Tile Competition 

San Angelo Museum of Fine Art 

San Angelo, TX 

1989 

Ceramics Now 

Downey Museum of Art 

Downey, CA 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 

Breaking Ground: Women in 

California Clay 

American Museum of 

Ceramic Art, 2022 

Function, Form, and Fantasy: 

Ceramics from the Dr. Robert and 

Deanna Harris Burger Collection, 

Tracee J. Glabb and Janet Koplos, 

Flint Institute of Arts, 2016 

Masters: Earthenware Major 

Works by Leading Artists, Matthias 

Ostermann, Lark Books, 2010 

Ceramics Today, Jeffrey B. Snyder, 

Schiffer Publishing, 2010 

Recollecting the Past Joan 

Takayama-Ogawa’s Wit and Whimsy, 

Judy Seckler, Ceramics Monthly, 

February 2005 

The Ceramic Surface, Matthias 

Ostermann, A & C Black Publishers 

Ltd., 2002 

The Artful Teapot, Garth Clark, 

Thames and Hudson, 2001 

Color and Fire Defining Moments 

in Studio Ceramics 1950–2000, 

Jo Lauria, Rizzoli, 2000 

Teapots Transformed, Leslie Ferrin, 

GUILD.com, 2000 

Contemporary Ceramics, Susan 

Peterson, Watson-Guptill, 2000 

Tea Time, Judy Seckler, Pasadena 

Weekly, July 15, 1999 

Working with Clay, Susan Peterson, 

Overlook Books, 1998 

The Clay Lover’s Guide to Making 

Molds, Peirce Clayton, Lark Books, 

1998 

Handbuilt Ceramics, Kathy Triplett, 

Lark Books, 1997 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Portfolio, 

American Craft Magazine, April/May 

1996 

Keiko Fukazawa and Joan Takayama- 

Ogawa: A Confluence of American 

and Japanese Cultures, Elaine Levin, 

Ceramics Monthly, December 1994 

The Ubiquitous Teapot, Joyce 

Lovelace, American Craft Magazine, 

April/May 1994 

The Tea Book, Sara Perry, 

Chronicle Books, 1993 

The Craft and Art of Clay, Susan 

Peterson, Prentice Hall, 1992 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa: Japanese 

Inspired, American-Fired, Hiroko 

Watabe, Pronto, May 1990 

63 

artist résumé 

Political Clay 

The Clay Studio 

Philadelphia, PA

64 

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST 

2-Lippo Mania Teapot: Dot 

Com Stock Market Bust, 

2000 


7.5 × 5 × 4 in. 

Collection of the artist 

Japanese American Teabag, 

2003 


12 × 8 × 4 in. 


65 

Madhatter’s Teapot #1, 1990 


10 × 11 × 4.5 in. 

Collection of 

Kamm Teapot Foundation 

Plate Tectonics: 


Dinnerware, 1992 

Glazed earthenware, wood 

42 × 68 × 9 in. 


America’s Crude Awakening, 

2000–2021 


13 × 18 × 18 in. 


Asian Persuasion Kitsch, 

2007 


3.5 × 9 × 9 in. 


Cacti from Saturn 

(Covered Container), 1992 


7.5 × 11 × 11 in. 

Collection of 

Freya and Mark Ivener 

Madhatter’s Teapot #2, 1996 


9 × 8 × 3.5 in. 


Racial Profiling: Japanese 

American Relocation Camps, 

2001–2002 


wood, metal, fiber 

6 × 8 × 8 in. 


Made in Pasadena, 

Fruitcake, Fruit Flies, 2008 


metal, plastic flies 

6.5 × 8 × 10 in. 

Collection of Tony and 

Marianne Hudz 

Chrysanthemum 



11 × 12 × 12 in. 

Collection of Freya Ivener 

Coral Tea Set, 1996 


5.5 × 17 × 13 in. 


Rosemary’s Teabag, 

2001 


10 × 9 × 6 in. 


Bulls Make Money, 

Bears Make Money, 

Pigs Get Slaughtered, 

2008 


8 × 9 × 9 in. 


Cranes 



4.5 × 13 × 13 in. 


Tea Towers, 1999 


21 × 14 × 10.5 in. 

16 × 10× 8 in. 

14 × 11× 8 in. 

Collection of 

Elaine Tajima 

Sex and the City Teabag, 

2001 


17 × 9 × 5 in. 


Tipping Point Series, 

SUVs, 2008 


5 × 8 × 8 in. 


Sea Urchin Tea Set, 1992 


7 × 10.5 × 6 in. (with platter) 

Collection of Ken Deavers, 

American Hand Plus 

Cup 

(with brushes made by 

Ralph Bacerra from 

Joan Takayama-Ogawa’s hair), 

2000 


3.5 × 3 × 3 in. cup 


Ark of Paradise, 

Noah’s Wife’s Teabag, 2002 


mixed media, beads 

17 × 25 × 8 in. 

Collection of Kamm 

Teapot Foundation 

Miso Deflated, 2010 


wood, ceramic decals 

12 × 10 × 10 in. 

Collection of 

Francine Tolkin Cooper

66 

exhibition checklist 

California’s Role, 2010 


3 × 9 × 12 in. 

Collection of 

Carol Halperin 

Mimbres Bowl, 2019 


3 × 14 × 14 in. 



America’s Great Reopening, 

2021–2022 



8 × 11 × 7 in. 


67 

exhibition checklist 

Bleached Coral 

Chandelier, 2015 



42 × 15 × 15 in. 



Health Care Professionals, 

2020 



7 × 6 × 3.5 in. 

Collection of Connie McCreight 

Reflections on 

Climate Change, 2022 


repurposed mirror 

36 × 45 × 5 in. (as installed) 


Trump Trash, 2017 


4 x 8 x 8 in. 



Stimulus Package, 2020 


5 × 7 × 3.5 in. 3 pcs. 

Collection of Carol Halperin 

Tall Planters; Shallow 

Planter, Fertility Pot, 2022 

Unglazed terracotta, 

tree stump 

Tall (20 × 15 × 15 in.) 

Shallow ( 7 . 5 × 19 × 19 in.) 

Fertility (9 × 6 in.) 


Washington As Usual, 2017 


6 × 14 × 12 in. 

Collection of 

Connie McCreight 


The Pandemic of 2020, 2020 



5 × 3.5 × 3.5 in. 

Collection of 


Let Them Eat Trump, 2017 


11 × 10 × 10 in. 

Collection of 



Pandemic Response Team, 

2020 



5 × 7 × 3.5 in. 


America’s Schoolhouse 

Shooting Gallery, 2022 


7.5 × 23 × 15 in. (as installed) 


Kauai’s Black Coral (Tiles), 

2018–2022 


19.5 × 23.5 × 2.5 in. 

Collection of 


America’s Healthcare 

Professionals’ Cake, 2021 



8 × 7 × 4.5 in. 

Collection of the artist

68 

(COVER) 

Mimbres Bowl (detail), 2019 


3 × 14 × 14 in. 


(BACKCOVER) 

Bleached Coral 

Chandelier, 2015 



42 × 15 × 15 in. 


This catalogue is published in conjunction 

with Joan Takayama–Ogawa: 

Ceramic Beacon, an exhibition on view 

at the Craft in America Center 

September 17–December 3, 2022 

www.craftinamerica.org 

2022 Craft in America, Inc. 

EDITED BY: Emily Zaiden 

DESIGNED BY: Amy M c Farland 

cleanslatedesign.org 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Madison Metro 

ISBN: 978-1-7923-9391-4 

We are grateful for the support 

of special funders for this exhibition: 

Nobuko Aoto, John and Liz Kida, and 

Jan and Lisa Takata. 

The Craft in America Center is 

supported, in part, by the Los Angeles 

County Board of Supervisors 

through the Los Angeles County 

Department of Arts and Culture. 

www.lacountyarts.org

Joan Takayama-Ogawa: Ceramic Beacon

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