She/Her/Hers
mayumiamada.myportfolio.com
mayumi.amada@gmail.com
Sculpture / Installation, Fiber Arts & Textiles, Interdisciplinary
Hybrid mentor (in-person and online)

BIO 

I was born and raised in Japan. To pursue my childhood dream to become an artist, I came to the USA. I received an MFA degree from University of Minnesota in 2006. Since then I have had an active professional career including an MAEP Show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and international residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, NE, Vermont Studio Center, VT, among others. I show my work nationally and internationally with numerous solo and group exhibitions. I received many grants and awards as well.

As an installation artist, I create the atmosphere with lights and shadows that is a soothing, calming, tranquil, pure, beautiful, and spiritual. It is the atmosphere I have immersed and experienced since my childhood in my home country, Japan.

The aesthetic themes I am investigating are the repeated generations, foremothers, mortality, eternity in mortality, and life cycle. I often use the doily form in various settings, sizes, and materials as a vehicle for this investigation.
Water is an important sub theme I work since water is the basis of life on our earth and has its own lifecycle changing its forms. I often use recycled plastic materials such as plastic bottles and grocery bags since they are deeply related to the theme I am working on.

A water theme and recycled materials led me to environmental art and it has become a very important aspect of my work in art. Recently I added a mushroom as her visual theme after reading an article about a mushroom that can digest plastic. Inspired by this amazing news, I created new work with many mushrooms made by croched strips of plastic grocery bags and titled it as “I wish I were THE mushroom”.

Now I am living with spiritual satisfaction and gratitude as a professional artist.”

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY & MENTORSHIP

Sometimes I receive unexpected comments from art experts, artist friends, and viewers of my exhibition. The words give me a different perspective I never thought about and they open my eyes. The words stretch the horizons of my art creations.
These comments from others inspire me and are quite helpful giving me deeper insight into myself and my work. These personal interactions and conversations connect conceptual fragments scattered in my brain. At that moment, I feel the lines that were already in existence but that I couldn’t perceive are revealed. These connections create new conceptual networks and they become the basis of new art creations.

When I was a grad student, I was eager to receive any words and comments from others. The interaction with others helped me find a clue to know more about myself and my work, as well as find my direction as an artist.

As a mentor, I’d like to work together with you to help find your way in your art through conversations. I will find useful words to strengthen your conceptual base and help you develop your art that will lead you in an appropriate direction. I’m an artist working in sculpture and installation, but I’m interested in any medium. Your growth is also my growth. I look forward to working with talented MCAD students.