ESTHER SHIMAZU Poindexter the Ratdog, 2007 Stoneware and porcelain 15 x 7 x 19 inches Retail Value: $5,000

Born in 1957, Shimazu grew up in a large, noisy, artful family and first fell in love with clay in a kindergarten class. As a youngster, she learned basic pottery techniques in ceramic classes and at the neighborhood recreation center. She soon moved on from vessels to animal figures. In college she found no one working figuratively—it was either wheel-throwing or abstract sculpture. At the University of Massachusetts, she found the freedom to follow her own instincts and there began to put together human figures—hollow, fat, naked, and matter-of-fact Asian, the signature format she follows to this day. She received her B.F.A. in 1980 and her M.F.A. in 1982 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Represented by the John Natsoulis Gallery in Davis, California, Shimazu’s work may be found in many private and corporate collections. She is a 1995 recipient of the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts’ Individual Artist Fellowship Award.

Much of the subtle sophistication of Shimazu's figures lies in the careful rendering and positioning of their hands and feet. Small and delicate, they contrast with and counterbalance the voluminous body and large head. The artist’s sources of reference and inspiration range from tiny prehistoric fertility goddesses, to Chinese tomb armies, California Funk, Hindu sculpture, Polynesian dance, and beyond.

To form her sculptures, Shimazu starts with an image or gesture that is odd, funny, or technically challenging. Fashioning the body parts separately, she then tailors and joins them to create hollow figures with thin, even walls. As an added technical challenge, Shimazu uses no armature or interior support. Before a piece fully dries, it is reworked, cut, paddled, stretched, refitted, scraped and carved until the artist is satisfied. After a thorough drying, the piece is bisque-fired, sanded and colored minimally with rubbed-in, painted and sprayed ceramic stains, underglazes and glazes. After the final firing the piece is given a final sanding.