Coral Tea Set
Joan Takayama-Ogawa
Details
Title
Coral Tea Set
Artist/Maker
Joan Takayama-Ogawa
Date
1996
Medium
Glazed earthenware
Dimensions
Contact the museum for more information
Credit
Purchase with funds from Lillian C. Giornelli
Accession #
2023.72
Joan Takayama-Ogawa, a third-generation Japanese American whose family has been working in ceramics for centuries, crafts technically challenging vessels that express her impressions of the environmental, social, and political landscape. In Coral Tea Set, she explores the relationship between memory and the environment. After her father’s death, the artist traveled to Hawaii to dive in the spot that her family had visited for decades, only to find the once abundant coral reef greatly diminished. While paying homage to nature, this work invites us to contemplate the changing ecosystem and our role in its decline.