About
Artist statement
My art is a mirror to reflect myself and the audience, focusing emotions and perceptions as a commonality beyond boundaries. I was previously inspired to depict the emotive state in facial expressions by drawing and painting which strike a chord with the audience. My artworks were mainly portraits, applying images in everyday life to convey human emotion and human interaction to essentially connect people through the artworks.
People sometimes change how they perceive things and life also changes. As happiness accompanies more happiness and sadness makes someone considerate, emotion exists as human commonality. Emotive state evokes something energetic in what attracts more people. I believe such emotional aspects in my artworks enable people to connect with each other. There are many conflicts happening around the world caused by differentiation, such as culture, ethnicity, religion and country. However, I attempt to express emotion as people essentially have as human over the exclusive perspectives. My painting aims to evoke empathy within the audiences, to overlap between the external and inner world and expand the notion of the value.
I am currently dedicating my research on the contemporary painting informed by Pointillism to convey the presence of absence: the Japanese cultural concept of “Ma (間)” which means gap, interval and void between something in time and space. The research explores to convey inner phenomena of a state of mind relating to "Ma", felling emptiness and nothingness.
My artworks are mainly painted by oil on canvas. The images come from daily life and experiences in nature which are moments remaining in my mind. Through the process to paint, I break down the image and make abstract marks to build the figure half-figurative and half-abstract. There are colourful layers on soft backgrounds. It illuminates the image and enables the surface to seem to have movements. The marks also reflect my perceptions and states of mind, and trigger to interact with the viewer. My artworks are imperfectly finished as if they were unfinished to invite the audience's imaginations and perceptions into the creative process.
I consider it as a journey to capture and convey perceptions of emptiness and nothingness with effectively using colour and brush marks. I would like to depict internal mind scapes of "Ma", between fragmented time and space of contemporary life, slow down paces focusing on creativity and connect people through my painting creations.
Biography
EDUCATION
2022- PhD (Contemporary painting, practice-based research) Arts University Bournemouth
2021-2022 MA Painting Arts University Bournemouth
2019-2021 BA Fine Art Arts University Bournemouth
2017-2018 Study Abroad Programme Fine Art Arts University Bournemouth
2007-2008 Study Abroad Programme Geography Loughborough University
AWARDS
2024 The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation The Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme
2023 The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation The Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme
2021 Arts University Bournemouth Vice Chancellor scholarship
2021 Freeland Painting Prize 2021 Arts University Bournemouth nominee
CONFERENCES
2024 Panel discussion, ‘Royal Geographical Society with IBG Annual International Conference 2024’ (Panel)
2024 Presentation, ‘London Arts-Based Research Centre - Sacred Arts: Exploring the Spiritual Dimensions of Artistic Expression and Ritual’ (Speaker)
2024 Presentation, ‘2024 RNUAL Block 2 - Spring Research Symposium’ (Speaker)
2023 Poster presentation, ‘AUB Research Conference 2023’
2023 Presentation, ‘2023 RNUAL Block 3 - Summer Research Symposium’ (Speaker).
RESEARCH GROUP
2023- Drawing research group ‘DRAWING: Transformative Matter - Material Trace’, Arts University Bournemouth.
https://www.drawing-research.com/
SOLO EXHIBITION
2024 'Ma (間), In-between Emptiness and Spirituality', Painting, The Faith and Reflection Centre in Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
2024 'Ma (間), In-between Emptiness', Painting and drawing, The South Houth Gallery and the Northlights Gallery in Arts University Bournemouth, Poole, UK
2019 Kira Kira Ten (Sparkle exhibition), Painting and drawing, horunu, Osaka, Japan
GROUP EXHIBITION
2024 ‘Postgraduate Summer Shows 2024’, Blink, Cling and Surface, AUB Campus Main Gallery, Poole, UK.
2024 ‘AUB International Collective exhibition’, Metaphysical Experience of Part View, AUB Campus Main Gallery, Poole, UK.
2023 'Listening to Paint', Ripples, Colour Voice, Komorebi and Drawing outside in Eggardon2 August 2023, Goat and Tricycle, Bournemouth, UK
2023 'Head, Heart and Hand', Haze -Kasumi-, The Avenue, Bournemouth, UK
2023 'Everything in Its Wrong Place', Projections, The Avenue, Bournemouth, UK
2023 ‘Museum Late: Dangerous Women’, Edges, Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth, UK
2023 ‘AUB MA Painting Exhibition: Wake Up to AUB - The Painted Language’, Edges, The Avenue, Bournemouth, UK
2022 ‘MA Painting Graduation Show’, Morning, Sunshine and Flow, Lighthouse, Poole, UK
https://graduateschool.aub.ac.uk/summer-shows/2022/ma-painting/sayoko-takahata
2022 ‘Painting’, Nowhere but Anywhere, XOXO, Bournemouth, UK
https://mailchi.mp/ec45418dff99/pop-up-exhibition-xoxo-bournemouth-9023537
2021 ‘Making A Scene’, Reflection, Nostalgia, Dawn and Phenomena, Goat and Tricycle, Bournemouth, UK
2021 ‘BA Fine Art Graduation Show’, Joy, Breath and Nostalgia, Arts University Bournemouth, Poole, UK
https://aub.ac.uk/summer-shows/2021/fine-art/sayoko-takahata
https://360.aub.ac.uk/F1VdlyV8nr/33791433p&21.9h&71.74t
2020 ‘BNSS (Bournemouth Natural Science Society) Art Exhibition: Contemporary Artifact’, Vibrancy, Bournemouth Natural Science Society, UK
https://www.practiceincontext.org/
2019 ‘Postcards exhibition - infinity starting from small pictures’, Printed postcards, Horunu, Osaka, Japan
2018 ‘AUB End of 1st Year Show: Dragged by Orange’, Memories of Friends, Arts University Bournemouth, UK
2016-2018 ART School + Yokohama student exhibition. No,3-5, Painting, Yokohama, Japan
2015 ‘‘Ashita wo mekuru’ (Turning over tomorrow on the calendar today), Photo calendar, Photo gallery Ittosya, Osaka, Japan
2014-2015 ART School + Yokohama student exhibition. No,1-2, Painting, Yokohama, Japan
ART RESIDENCIES
2023 AUB MA Painting Art Residency 2023, North Eggardon Carthouse, Dorset, UK
2022 Summer Art Residency, North Eggardon Carthouse, Dorset, UK
2022 AUB MA Painting Art Residency 2022, North Eggardon Carthouse, Dorset, UK
RELEVANT EXPERIENCES
2024 Workshop conductor, Large-Scale Japanese Calligraphy Workshop, ‘Brush and Breath: A Journey into Mindful Japanese Calligraphy’, Portland Community Venue, Portland, UK
▪Shared the Japanese calligraphy writing and ink-painting with a local community.
▪Led a brush making and large-scale calligraphy practices, interacting with a meditative yoga session.
2024 Presenter in my solo exhibition ‘Ma (間), In-between Emptiness’, The South House Gallery Arts University Bournemouth, Poole, UK
▪Talked about my doctoral research and discussing around the research topic with postgraduate students.
2024 Workshop leader 'The Space between' collaborating with AUB Access and Participation team, The Faith and Reflection Centre in Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
▪Introduced the Japanese cultural concept of “Ma” and conducted an art session.
2023 Workshop leader 'Art and Spirituality – The presence of absence', Bournemouth University Faith & Reflection Centre, Poole, UK
▪Shared the Japanese cultural concept of “Ma” and Japanese historical paintings in the workshop.
2023 Event curator of the exhibition, The Avenue, Bournemouth, UK
▪Event curation for the painting group exhibition - ‘The Painted Language’.
2019 Art teacher, horunu,Osaka, Japan
▪Art teacher for a workshop on water colour painting for children aged 5-12.
▪Painting tutor for a workshop on oil and acrylic colour painting for adults.
2018 Event curator, Photo gallery -Ittosya-, Osaka, Japan
▪Event curation and art installation for the photo exhibition –‘Ashita wo mekuru’ (turning over tomorrow on calendar today).
2018 Gallery assistant, Kawata gallery, Kobe, Japan
2017 Gallery assistant, Yokohama Triennale 2017, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan
2016-2017 Artist assistant, back to Nature, Toyko, Japan
▪Assisted the artist, Sonoko Shimazaki to make her sculptures in an open studio, `Atelier en゜`, once a month through the year.
▪Guided the visitors to participate in the making process with the artist.