Hi! I had an interview with Girl Club Asia this year and I wanted to put the link to share http://girlsclub.asia/meet-the-artist/aya-kakeda/
I really liked their questions, made me think about why I do what I do and how being in certain cities change the way I work. Also fun to look back and think about how Japanese culture influenced my art..
I also recommend to check out Girls Club Asia website, they feature many talented Asian Female Artists. Thank you Girls Club Asia!
-Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hello. My name is Aya. I grew up in downtown Tokyo, moved around a bit and now live and work in New York. I am a freelance illustrator and an educator. My art revolves around an imaginary island call Totai island which I created as a child. I am rediscovering and expanding the idea as an adult, this world is always changing and it’s parallel to the one we are living in. Folk tales from different cultures and current events are big influence on my work. I like using variety of mediums such as paint, ceramic, embroidery, and printmaking.
-Describe the city you’re living in and what it’s like to live there.
Currently I am living between 3 cities. My base is in New York which I love because of the creative community. I spend 3 days a week in Baltimore where I am a full time professor at Maryland Institute College of Art. And my home town Tokyo I spend most of my summer and get a lot of inspiration for my art.
-What is the best and worst thing about living in your city?
New York and Tokyo are very creative and artsy cities. I feel lucky to have both cities in my life since they both have different approach and influences on art.
Best thing about New York is that it’s a multi cultural city with a bit of chaos. There is a constant high energy and for me this is a creation spot where I’m constantly creating art. Worst would be that it’s a fast pace city and can be stressful and I have problem managing time to rest.
Tokyo is a rejuvenate city for me. Even though it has stereotype of large crowded city, I can always find a quite spots. Being in a quiet street or resting at small shrine with trees I can really feel the connection to the earth. There are always festivals and events that remind you of the season you are living in. I see this in other Asian cities as well but even in big cities I can feel the connection to the nature and spirit. Art wise, Tokyo has very interesting selections of exhibits from Manga to underground culture as well as big classical master and contemporary art. When I’m in Tokyo I go to a lot of shows. I also read a lot of books here. The worst thing about Tokyo is that I observe more here but create less which often time frustrating.
Baltimore is new for me. I just started full time professor position last year. The best thing about Baltimore for me is the community at the college. I have wonderful students and colleagues I enjoy being there exchanging ideas, sharing influences and talking about art. Downside is that it’s a still new place for me I don’t feel as connected as New York or Tokyo yet.
-Give us 3 words that describe what it’s like to be a creative in your city.
New York : energetic, resourceful, activated
Baltimore: exchange, learning, academic
Japan: Spiritual, cultural, exploration
-How did you start your career in art?
My first illustration job was from The New Yorker Magazine, I met the art director during my master study at School of Visual Arts. After that I slowly started to get more editorial illustration jobs. My first illustration portfolio was about my imaginary island Totai Island that I created as a 5 years old. I wanted to rediscover it as an adult. I started drawing some environments and characters who lives in the island. I created 15 silkscreen prints as a series and that became my first portfolio to carry around the city to show to art directors. This imaginary island became the core of my art making and it still is the center of my creation. While starting the illustration career I joined Artist Collective Flux Factory and started exhibiting my work at their gallery. It was a learning period. I was able to experiment with many different mediums and expand my work out side of canvas. As a collective we did a lot of events and shows building installations and building “experiences” for the audiences. As a starting artist it was very helpful to have other artists around, exchanging ideas and collaborating with each other and above all being in healthy support system.
Starting out my interest was everywhere. I was into illustration, fine art, performance, product design, comics, and so on. I have had other artist advice me to concentrate in one thing so you will succeed in the area faster which there is a truth to it, but with my personality it was difficult. I am glad now though that I experimented a lot and try doing anything I was interested in. I think everyone glows in different way and it’s ok.
-Were the people around you supportive of your decision on working as a creative?
Yes. Since there was no artists in my family, it was harder for them to understand what exactly I wanted to do, but they were always very supportive.
Also artist community in NY, Baltimore, and Tokyo has been extremely kind and supportive which I feel very lucky. I think the worst enemy is myself, doubting my skills or telling me that I’m not good enough. I still struggle, but I try to turn this into an energy to keep going, encourage myself to be a better artist.
-What are some goals and ambitions you have for your future work?
This year is my incubating year. The past decade I was creating constantly and pushing myself extra hard that I really wanted to take some time to look back and think so I can move on to the new decade of art making. I’m collecting all the characters that I created in the past and putting into one book, finishing all my unfinished projects, gathering drawer of my past influences and updating. It is a bigger process than I thought but exciting. So my future ambition would be collecting my old self and recreating myself to something new, which I think is a huge challenge!
-If you could collaborate with any person in the world who would it be?
One of my dream is to design costumes and do background design for theater, opera, or dance.
So I would love to collaborate with theater director or a writer.
-How would you describe the women around you?
Strong, sensitive, talented, thoughtful, emotional, smart and kind. All kinds and all good.
-Were there any local female creative that you looked up to when you were growing up? If none, please tell us why.
I didn’t have a local artist to look up to when I was growing up.
But I read a lot of Manga from female manga artists. My favorite was Sakura momoko, Chie Shinohara, Yukari Ichijo, Syungiku Uchida, and Rumiko Takahashi. Even though she is not Japanese, Niki de Saint Phalle was a big influence to me. There use to be her museum, Niki Museum in Nasu, Japan where I often visited with my grandparents during summer. Wild colors and shapes of her sculptures were shocking to me and it gave me a great impact. Her art was powerful and it was about the thought of celebrating being female. When I saw her work I thought art can be more free, vibrant and fun.
-Are there any challenging aspects of being a female in your industry?
I think in the illustration field in US I don’t feel much of a difference being female or male. This might be irrelevant but personally I struggle every month with heavy PMS, 3 days out of one month I have a hard time to think or sometimes physically work. The freelance lifestyle makes it easier for me to plan ahead and work around it but I often think about how much time I lose because of this. I was doing a silly math, average women has 450 period in their entire times, that means these 3 days a month can add up to 1350 of working days, that’s 3.75 years! Since it’s not considered sickness or not everyone struggles with this I usually just keep it to myself but this question made me think about this.
-Do you have any advice to young women who are aspiring to work in your field?
I always tell my students to keep doing what they like which I know it’s a very general advice. But keep doing thing is not so easy, you need to be patient and you need to trust yourself. Let’s be the artists last standing, let’s be the artists who create till they are very old. Art making can be lonely, being by your self for long hours. Finding a right artist community to get support system is really important and it will help you. Everyone can find the place to fit in, maybe it might not be in your city or country but right now the world is closer with internet and you might find your self in surprising places.
