Name David Kuraoka | ||
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Education San Jose State University | ||
David kuraoka tom lieber opening reception july 11 2015
David Kuraoka (born 1946) is an American ceramic artist. He was born in Lihue, Hawaii and grew up in Kauai. He received a BA from San José State University (San Jose, California) in 1970 and an MA from the same institution in 1971. Kuraoka is retired as professor of art and head of the ceramics department of San Francisco State University and maintains studios in both San Francisco and Kauai, Hawaii. At the age of 35 he was named a Living Treasures of Hawai'i.
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'David Kuraoka said in an artist's statement, "My work is abstract, and my style is simple, clean and crisp." He is best known for large ceramic pieces that are first thrown on a wheel, then further shaped by hand, burnished, covered with rock salt and copper carbonate, and fired in an open pit. He also makes more traditionally shaped ceramics with grayish-green celadon glaze and has begun having some of his organically shaped ceramic pieces cast in bronze, which are patinated to resemble his ceramics. Hanakapi'ai 3, in the collection of the Hawaii State Art Museum, is an example of his bronze sculptures. The College of San Mateo (San Mateo County, California), Honolulu Museum of Art, the Hawaii State Art Museum, the Kauai Museum (Lihue, Hawaii), the Rotterdam Modern Museum of Art, the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, Utah State University, and the White House Art Collection (Washington, D. C.) are among the public collections holding work by David Kuraoka. His pit fired ceramic, Kumulipo from 1997, is installed on a wall of the Hawaii Convention Center.