HANAMI at Artomatic 2024

Fifth Floor, Room 5094

Artomatic Artist's Statement

Hanami - cherry blossom viewing

The cherry blossoms and dogwood blossoms on display are part of an ongoing body of work that celebrates the friendship between the United States and Japan. In 1912, over 3,000 blossoming cherry trees were gifted to Washington, DC by the Mayor of Tokyo as a symbol of goodwill and friendship. In return, the U.S. sent flowering dogwoods to Japan. This tradition has continued over the past century, with both new and replacement trees being exchanged in celebration of this bilateral relationship, the deep friendship between our two cultures, and the beauty found in these ephemeral blossoms. On view are over 250 porcelain blossoms and petals that are hand-formed, colored with Mason Stains, and mounted directly into the wall on copper wire.

The rabbits in this room are also a symbol of springtime, but for me they also represent a childhood obsession—an unfulfilled desire to possess and love something cuddly and vulnerable. In clay, the rabbits symbolize all the things I have desired but could not have. As in life, these rabbits can be both magical and destructive, simultaneously embodying dreams and disappointment. The rabbits are hand-built, either from porcelain or white stoneware, and use wax-resist to create the surface design with glazes.

-Laurel Lukaszewski

Artwork on View

  • Welcome to Room 5094!

  • Small white rabbit head with wax-resist surface design

    Seeker of Forgotten Wishes

  • White bunny head with cherry blossoms

    Sakura Sakura

  • Leaping Hare Torso

    Escape 2022

  • Floating (Pink Cherry Blossoms)

  • Dogwood Blossoms of Friendship

  • Wall-mounted Leaping Hare

    Pursuing Dreams (Leaping Hare)

  • Relief Wall Tile Installation with blossoms and rabbits

    Among the Cherry Trees

A note about the materials I use: The work in this exhibit is made either from a cone 6 (2232 F) English porcelain or a white stoneware sculpture clay. The rabbits, cherry blossoms and dogwood blossoms are all hand-built. The pink blossoms are unglazed but have Mason Stains incorporated into the porcelain clay body before firing directly to cone 6. The two large rabbits incorporate a wax-resist technique where the surface design is drawn free-hand in wax on the bisque-fired piece (cone 06/1828F). Once dry, glaze is applied to the piece then refired to vitrification at cone 6/2232F. The wax burns off, but repels the glaze, leaving unglazed surfaces where it was applied.

Hanko/Inkan

What’s up with the red Japanese seal? The seal reads “Ro-reru” which is the spelling of my first name in katakana.

This was my registered signature when I worked in Japan on the southern island of Tanegashima in Kagoshima Prefecture on the Japan Exchange & Teaching (JET) Program. (If you are a young professional, interested in Japanese culture and exchange, I highly recommend looking into the JET Program. You can find more information here: https://jetprogramusa.org.)

Purchasing Artwork: If you are interested in any of the pieces on display at Artomatic, they will be available for purchase after the close of the show from my studio in the Gateway Arts District, Mount Rainier, MD. Questions? Email me at: laurelsl.art (at) gmail.com

Our annual spring open studio will be part of the Gateway Arts District Open Studios, on Saturday, May 11, Noon - 5 pm. This event is free and open to the public, and a great way to see even more art being created in the DC-metro area.