Artists selected for the 2009 BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass are:

Artist Statement
My work creates a membrane that shifts viewer’s perception in physical and cognitive spaces. Through the lenses of phenomenological and sociological studies, I explore clear materials; primarily glass, water, melted sugar, and light. Those materials are indeterminate and elusive. They are poised for change. My interest for materials that shift from one state to other state comes from my earlier experience with economic bubbles and glass bubbles.  I spent my adolescence in Japan in the 1990’s, when the immense Japanese economic bubble burst after the peak of its inflation.  What seemed to be stable yesterday is not stable today–this drastic shift in social value system was branded on my memory as a strong feeling of changeability. I have been trained as a glassblower for a long time as one of my artistic practices.  My activity in a glass shop was a never-ending succession of making bubbles and breaking them.  Eventually, I was determined to utilize the volatility of those physical and social bubbles in my work, rather than being afraid of them. Transparency and fluidity become important keywords in my studio practice.   I juggle with vulnerability and unstableness during the creation processes. The transparency of the materials I use manifests presence and absence at the same time. My installations and sculptures change their appearance over the time, emphasizing dynamism of momentum.

Biography
Yuka Otani is a visual artist, glassblower, and an independent curator who received her MFA from RISD in 2008. She directed Performance Night at TAP Room, featuring fifteen experimental art performances by students from various departments at RISD in 2008. She also curated Eidolon–Exploring The Ephemeral at Three Rivers Art Festival Gallery in Pittsburgh in 2007.

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Education
2008    Master of Fine Arts, Concentration: Glass, Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design(RISD) Providence, RI
2000    Bachelor of Fine Arts, Craft Design, Tama Art University,  Tokyo, Japan

Professional and Teaching Experience
2008 -Present    Studio Assistant, Michael Joo Studio, New York, NY
    Studio Assistant, Biwa Inc., New York, NY  
2008    Instructor, Department of Glass, RISD  Providence, RI
    Artist Assistant for Nina Sellars, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
2006-2008    Apprentice to Jocelyne Prince, Department of Glass, RISD Providence, RI
    Teaching Assistant, Department of Glass, RISD   Providence, RI
2007    Teaching Assistant for Jocelyne Prince, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts  Deer Isle, ME
2006    Administrative Assistant, Department of Glass, RISD  Providence, RI
    Artist Assistant for Pavel Mruks, Echigo Tsumari Art Triennal   Niigata, Japan
2003-2004    Studio Assistant for Hiroshi Yamano, Ezra Glass Studio  Fukui, Japan
2002 and 2004    Drawing and Sculpture Workshop instructor, Fukuno “Ichinosato” Art Festa Fukno, Japan
2000-2003    Receptionist/Curator’s Assistant, Tama Art University Museum  Tokyo, Japan

Solo Exhibitions
2008    Irrationally Exuberant, Gallery Catacomb Central Falls, RI
2004    Out of Pod– Adventures of Broad Beans, Morita Bank, Fukui, Japan

Group Exhibitions
2008    OVS No.7, CRG Gallery, New York, NY
    Wright Biennial 2008, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
    RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Providence Convention Center, Providence, RI
    Performance Night, The TAP room (RISD), Providence, RI
    Fear/Less, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI
    Body/Ritual, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI 2008
2007    Eidolon–Exploring The Ephemeral, Three Rivers Art Festival Gallery Pittsburgh, PA
    How Is This Glass?, Hillell Gallery at Brown University, Providence, RI
    Rain or Shine, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence. RI
    Women Looking East, University of Rhode Island Gallery, Providence, RI 2007
    Graduate Department Show, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI
    RISD Triennial, Woods Gerry Gallery(RISD) Providence, RI
2006    VERSUS, Sol Koffler Gallery (RISD), Providence, RI
    UMASS Exchange, University of Massachusetts Student Gallery, Amherst, MA
2005    Site/Sight, Westminster Gallery, Providence RI
2004    Arekoreten, Gallery Ichinosato, Toyama, Japan

Awards and Honors
2005-2008    RISD Fellowship
2005-2008    RISD Graduate Assistantship
2007    RISD Friends of Glass Scholarship
    RISD-Pilchuck Glass School Partner Scholarship
    Haystack Mountain of Crafts Technical Assistantship
2005    Kanazu Forest of Creation Scholarship

Residencies
2008    Chashama North, Pine Plains, NY

Publications
2008    Group Effort –Collaboration As Process and Form, UCLA Art Department, Los Angeles, CA

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