spring and sculpture studio update

Happy Spring everyone!Brought in some flowers from the front yard now spring is in my Dining room.

<<Sculpture studio update>> I'm now in the glazing stage. Those are in the kiln now, hope the colors will come out right! I had some "ugly color disappointment" today with some of the sculptures... so I'm crossing my fingers for those ones.  Glazing is so hard! Also some "Successful ones" came out today as well. Although those pieces are black/white so it was very easy for me to guess what it will look like after baking I was surprise how glossy the black came out though, a good surprise.  horrray!

sculpture wednesday

Slowly I'm building up my ceramic figures, they are before the bisk fire so they look gray. I decided to name my figure after my friends :-)From the left (girl with a bird on her head) Kimiko, middle (Elephant girl) Eun-ha, and the right (girl with a goldfish in the stomach) Fumiha. I can't wait to have a whole family of friends~ And I can't wait to start painting them!

Sculpture Studio

Here are some photos from my ceramic studio.Slowly but surely something is coming out from my brain ---> hands ---> Plaster casts ---> clay. I was creating different vases with faces, and the other day I realized. Oh!!! all my vases at home have faces!!! It was nice to know I was getting inspiration from some objects around my house and my everyday life! Here is some photo of my vases at home. And! For this Valentine's day Eun-ha gave me one of her art ceramic piece.  I always wanted to own her piece so I was so happy. And guess what?! it was a vase with face, too!!! You can see Eun-ha's art work here --->http://www.eun-ha.com She is a true inspiration to me and a great friend.  She is one of the reason that I started doing ceramic. Here is Eun-ha's Vase and a visiting artist cat Nemo.

Book is out! Collaboration with Mr. X Stitch

Hello! I should first introduce Mr.Stitch. He has a fantastic website which introduce Artists who uses embroidery & Needle point as their medium. ---> http://www.mrxstitch.com/ He was mentioning about making a book out of this website for a couple of years and now it's finally out! Beautiful design and paper. (Love how the new book smells) I'm very honored to be in this book. Thank you Mr. Stitch and congratulations!!! You can pick up the copy from book store or on line: US: http://www.amazon.com/PUSH-Stitchery-Artists-Boundaries-Stitched/dp/1600597874 UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/PUSH-Stitchery-Jamie-Chalmers/dp/1600597874

Here is the Book review---> Announcing PUSH, a new series devoted to indie-crafters and artists pushing the boundaries of traditional crafting mediums! Curated by Jamie Chalmers--aka Mr. X Stitch, a leading figure in the “new embroidery movement”--PUSH Stitchery profiles the cutting-edge creative work of 30 top stitching artists from around the world. Each designer is showcased with six to eight pages of gallery-style imagery. A fascinating question-and-answer section, along with bios, make this innovative and inspirational book a must-have for anyone interested in blurring the lines between craft and art.

Yeeeey!!!!

Book Reading at Park Slope Brooklyn

2 Thursday ago Sara, Nora and I had a little book reading at Community Book Store in Brooklyn.  It's a very cozy and friendly book store where they always have some nice book evens. And their selection of children books and other art books are fantastic. (here is their link --->http://www.cbjupiterbooks.com/)Nora was presenting her new book "My Cold Went On Vacation" And Sara was presenting her new book "Bake Sale" They are both fantastic books you should check them out! And I was reading my first children book which I illustrated " The Hole in the Middle" Here are some photos from the event! By the way I'm wearing a T-shirt and an overall pants which I use to wear in high school. Kind of made me calm like a lucky charm.  It use to make people think I look like Chucky from Child's Play. hahaha now I guess I look adult enough that nobody think so... I hope...

"the Hole in the Middle" Book + Toy release party x Dunny Series 2011 Release Party

Hello Hello!I'm putting up some photos of the night when we had our book "The Hole in The Middle" and it's main character Morgan's limited Toy release party.

For 2 hours Paul and I signed all 200 of the limited Book x Toy figures :-) This is Abby Ranger form Disney Hyperion Book, she is the Editor of this book!!! She is fantastic! And Dunny Series 2011 release party was happening at this SOHO Kidrobot shop in same night! Here is my Laika Dunny. hehe so small in this photo. It was my first time actually meeting my Laika this night! I was super excited. I love the transparent helmet. They did such a great job making this! thank you! My dear dear Friends were there to support! thank you guys for coming. Thank you Paul, Thank you Abby, Thank you KRNY stuff, and thank you everybody for coming to celebrate this book, this means a lot to me!

You can see more photo at http://kronikle.kidrobot.com/wrap-up-ds2011-trading-parties/

Dunny Series 2011 collaboration with KidRobot!

Yeey my new Dunny toy is coming out from KidRobot on 23rd and now the design is revealed on their website!http://kronikle.kidrobot.com/ds2011-daily-dunny-countdown-aya-kakeda/

I was watching a full moon last night and feeling nostalgic. And it's the perfect timing to reveal this Laika dunny since I design this after Laika the Space Dog who first went to the space in 1957. (and never came back.. :-( ) I salute you Laika. you are always in my mind with a beautiful full moon~!

KidRobot x Urban Outfitters Sketch Event photos!

I was at Urban Outfitters in Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn last night to do a Sketch Event for KidRobot.Here are some photos! The Sketch Event started with this super cute little girl :-) She posed for me so I can draw her.My dearest girl friends, thank you so much for hanging out with me! This family made it to both Manhattan and Brooklyn Sketch Event! Thank you so much for driving out to Brooklyn! They own a vinyl Toy store in NJ, check out their website! http://www.suburbanvinyl.com/  they have a Jeremiah Ketner's exhibition up now!This event was truly FUN! Thank you so much for having me, The stuff at the Urban Outfitters in Atlantic Ave were so nice. I will go back to shop there, see you~

Children book "The Hole in the Middle"

Oh Weeeee~! I just got an advanced copy of my children book "The Hole in the Middle" which I collaborated with the talented Paul Budnutz who is not only a great writer he is also a kidrobot founder/designer/filmmaker!!! (paul's website)

We worked really hard and Disney Hyperion Book did such an amazing job designing and printing the book. I loved the satin smooth cover!

The book will come out on June 7.  Advanced orders are available on Amazon.

I'm really excited. If you have small children, or friends who does, please get a copy and support us! (this is actually great for adult,too)   ;-)

Star Wars Galaxy 6 Trading Card

The Whole seriesFront image, all signed! "Star Wars Galaxy 6 Trading Card" was released last Wednesday by Toops. I did the Artist edition chase cards for them.  So if you buy one box, you randomly get 1 artist original art work! ohhh I'm curious who is going to get mine~

 

 

The Poster Cause Project

hello, my 2 prints will be sold through The Poster Cause Project starting midnight Dec 14th.Profits are going to the charities around the world.  so it's for a good cause. If you you are looking for Christmas Presents, this will be great website to check out. They have incredible line ups of different artists! You can use a coupon code "AYA" when you check out, then you get some discount.  :-) http://www.thepostercauseproject.com/2010/12/two-aya-kakeda-prints-available-12-14-10/

Sketch book from Roger la Borde

Sample of my sketchbook has arrived!!!I'm very excited about this. inside covers are all tea cup characters, nice and funny, seems like millions of tea cups looking right at you! inside is all white, what should I draw in it??? Like the cards they will start selling them in UK and over the internet next year. Here are their site:http://www.rogerlaborde.com/

Card from Roger la Borde

These are the collaboration I did with an English card company Roger la Borde.They just sent me some samples!  I love them!!! They will start selling them in UK and over the internet next year. (which reminds me, next year is only 3weeks away!) Here are their site:http://www.rogerlaborde.com/

New York Comic-Con Signing at Kidrobot booth

Hello, Yesterday I experienced my very first Comic-Con.  It was overwhelming!Such a huge space and so many interesting people. ( I heard the San Diego one is 3 times bigger... wow!)

I met many nice people at the booth, meeting Chuckboy and Pon for the first time was very exciting, and the kidrobot stuff are always so nice!

And BIG Thanks to the people who came by at the booth yesterday, so nice to meet you!

Here are some pictures from the signing :-)

NYCC tomorrow :-)

Hello!  I'm signing the new 2-tone Dunny at New York Comic Con tomorrow. Will happen at Kid Robot Booth from 3pm to 5pm. Hope to see you!!!