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Aya Iwata

Jeweller
Published: 09.08.2022

Bio

I am a Japanese silversmith working with the technique of Cloisonne and Pate de Verre. My pieces are characterized by a sophisticated combination of materials: fine silver, enamel, and glass. I have finely tuned my technique and has offered me abundant knowledge teaching my skills in the field of metal craft. My works are truly rich in poetry, and often evoke a feeling of pleasure in their artistic sensibility.

Statement

Over the last 25 years, I have worked with gold and silver by hand. I am fascinated by the qualities of these materials and by the technical processes involved in working with them. I find these materials are amazingly soft when I work with them. I enjoy how delicate and warm these metals are. My main interest has been in searching for new imageries of the metals by using enameling. Enamels give metals a distinctive transparent shimmer. Enameling enhances the poetic expressions of my work. I will continue to enjoy working on metals with enamels.
 
The techniques and materials that I use allow me to give expression to the inspiration that I get from watching the sky and the ever-changing clouds. I love the softness of fine silver, the color transparency, the texture of enamel, and the joy I get from working with these materials. Clouds are ever-changing.  They are always drawing something different in the sky.

When I look up to the canvas of the sky it reflects the feelings I have within me. There is a pure white cloud calmly floating in the blue sky. One is dynamically torn by winds, one is beautifully dyed by the drawing light, and one appears threatening and forebodes that storm is coming. Each of them has a unique form, rhythm, color, and harmony. It is like creation.  Images that clouds draw on the sky canvas are also the pictures in my mind.

My inspiration often comes from Christianity because I’m a dedicated Christian. I seek the themes such as love, faith, and truth and materialize them into my creation. Images that I see in the clouds seem to be a message from God to me. That is purely inspirational. I build them one after another. I never believe death is the end, another life will go on from there Kumonoie.

Events      View / hide events

2022:
Exhibition  21 May 2022 - 07 Nov 2022  Impertinente2022. International exhibition of enamel on metal.
Impertinente is a multi-site cultural and artistic event, with a unifying spirit, dedicated to a rare skill, enamel on metal.
Exhibition  21 May 2022 - 07 Nov 2022  International exhibition of enamel on metal.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges, 1 place de l’Évêché - 87000 LIMOGES
Exhibition  21 May 2022 - 07 Nov 2022  International exhibition of enamel on metal.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges. 1 place de l’Évêché - 87000 Limoges, France.
Jessica Calderwood (United States),  Helen Carnac (United Kingdom), Gabriella Gabrini (Italy), Christine Graf (Germany), Aurélie Guillaume (Canada),  Aya Iwata (Japan), Johannes Postlmayr (Austria),  Jessica Turrell (UK), Ching Chih Wu (Taiwan).
Exhibition  21 May 2022 - 07 Nov 2022  Conversation: International Exhibition of Enamel on Metal.
2021:
Exhibition  16 Mar 2021 - 27 Mar 2021  Kumonoie - House in the Clouds by Aya Iwata.