ART LIVES TORIDE Where Art Is Born

Atelier Kura members (from left to right: Atsushi Niizuma, Shinya Morioka, Naoyuki Fukaya)

Naoyuki Fukaya

I usually make all of my sculptures and three-dimensional works in stone. The method of production does not use any machine tools, but only hand tools.
I have loved creating and drawing since I was a child, so it was a natural progression for me to enter this world. At first, however, I had no idea that I would make sculptures out of stone. But as I went through different types of materials at the school workshop, such as wood, iron, clay, and stone, I had a feeling that I would probably continue to use stone for a long time. Because I was able to make stone sculptures more easily than other materials.

“The Circulation of the Earth, Horn.”

I love the beauty of form created by the natural world. Flowers, grass, water, sea, wind, sky, clouds, they are all alive and moving, and one fragment of their movement is what we actually see, but I like terrain the most out of all.
I have always loved model train dioramas since I was a child, and I like the feeling of having a bird’s eye view of the world from above. The terrain rises, is exposed to wind and rain, and takes shape, and I really wanted to create the beauty of that time of erosion. I like steep and inaccessible mountains such as the Alps and the Himalayas, because their sharp peaks caused by violent orogenic and erosive movements are attractive to me both as a sculptor and a maker.

In the case of stone, you can’t add to it. We only have to keep removing it, so we have to correct it as we chip away. Every process is painful. Accidents and things that don’t stand still hit us every day. Compared to other materials, it is a tough material, but perhaps that is its charm.

Usually, I create stone works of flora and fauna on commission in addition to mountains. I intend to continue creating works of mountains and landscapes as my life work.
I would like to continue our involvement so that my works can be found in public places where everyone can touch and see them. I hope that stone sculptures will become a part of our daily lives.

 

Shinya Morioka

I use stones to make sculptures, mosaic murals, contemporary jewelry, and especially rings. In Toride City, my graduation work for the master program was selected for the Toride Mayor’s Prize, and the work is now displayed in front of Togashira station.

The 8th Toride Mayor’s Award for “The King and HH Hi” Courtesy of Toride City Culture and Arts Division
Atelier Kura had three founding members, and I was one of them. So it has been 20 years now. I came to the Toride for graduate school and lived there as well. Before I graduated, I looked for a studio and visited various places, but the city office came to me with an offer from the agricultural cooperative to rent this stone warehouse to an artist, and I was able to rent this place.
When I just entered the university, I was just hoping to get a three-dimensional job.
I got to know stone through lectures. I decided to become an artist when I was in college, because it was the only way to continue carving stones as I like, rather than to get a job. It is probably tough, but if you ask me if it is tough, I would say I am rather happy to do what I want freely.

“Professionals”

I made a full-size baseball bat, ball and glove. It has been almost 5 years since I finished this, but back in that time, I was very into making everyday life objects into stones. So with a bat, ball, and glove from my high school years, I tried.
In creating works with stones, it is important to keep the motif close to the real thing, but it is not good if the stone does not look like a stone after all. I have to keep their stone-like appearance otherwise I feel bad for the stones. So I used the stone as it is, and combined all the colors.
What I would like to create in the future is a garden. I like Karesansui (dry landscape garden), so I would like to create one in my own way. I also want to make a stone house and clothes. There are so many things I want to make.

 

Atushi Niizuma

Using stone as a material, I sculpt figures of people living in the modern age, consumables and daily necessities of life.

“The Play of the Day.”

During my first training at the university, I was exposed to a variety of materials other than stone, such as plastic, wood sculpture, and metal. I could easily connect the materials with the image of expression when I first came into contact with other materials. However, stone was the only material that I was not familiar with, and I didn’t know whether it would be interesting or not to make it. After working with marble there, I thought that I might be able to see something if I continue this a little longer until my graduation project, and here I am. Compared to other materials, it is often more difficult, but that and other aspects are still very interesting.

“The Square Sea”

I am conscious of the fact that when I create portraits, the poses are a little stressed and closed off, but at the same time they are open, as if they have been liberated. For the past several years, I have been trying to create an expression in which I can show both the occluded and the liberated in one form. The human body is a difficult object to form consistently, but I feel that it is the motif that gives me the most pleasure to spend time thinking about and creating it. Depending on the inspiration for the work, I sometimes paint over the stone.
Originally, my parents lived in Abiko, and I went to high school in Toride City, so I have always been around Toride City. With vast nature like a riverbed, it is a good place to concentrate on creation and live without any inconvenience.
Including my technical practice, I have mainly worked on figurative expression, so I would like to create abstract works in the future. I would also like to work with materials other than stone, if it suits my image. It would be good if we could choose something as natural as possible, something that is exciting to create, without being too much in one mold. And if we continue to do so, we will be able to think about and see things that we have not thought of yet. So I would like to continue creating as long as I have this mentality.

Atelier Kura exterior