Toshiko Takaezu: Gifts from Toshiko

Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011) is an artist best known for innovative ceramic closed forms and expressive glaze applications. Inspired by the rhythms of the natural world—especially in her home state of Hawai’i—Takaezu considered her ceramics as just one part of a holistic art practice, which included weaving, painting, gardening, and teaching.

Takaezu taught ceramics at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Princeton University, among other institutions, and in 1970 she began teaching in Skidmore College’s Summer Six studio art program. After her retirement from formal teaching in the early 1990s, Takaezu maintained a close relationship with Skidmore; with the help of student apprentices and using the college’s oversize kilns, Takaezu made the largest, most ambitious works of her career.