Beca Blake and sculptor Wataru Sugiyama share exhibition at Liberty Arts in Yreka
By Art Van Kraft for Ashland.news
Ashland-area artists are featured in a two-person show at the Liberty Arts gallery in Yreka, California. Ashland sculptor Wataru Sugiyama and artist Beca Blake are presenting recent and past work at the downtown gallery in a combined effort to express the theme “Between Cultures.”
The show runs through June 19. Blake said an artist’s talk is set for 3 p.m. June 11. Liberty Arts is at 108 W. Miner St., Yreka.
The title of the exhibition was chosen to represent the two artists’ different life experiences.
“The gallery invited me, and one reason I accepted was the abundance of children that pass by the windows on this street. I like kids and I’ve been teaching art at summer camp at SOU for 30 years. I think this show is very good for the times,” Sugiyama said.
“We have a bloody war in the world and this could be a message for us to try and bring peace back to our Mother Earth. I have over 20 pieces in the show from my private collection,” he added.
Japanese roots
Sugiyama’s artist origins go back to SOU. He started working with clay in a ceramics class at Southern Oregon University. He had previously been an engineer in Japan.
Sugiyama arrived in Ashland in 1986 from Tokyo, where he was born. Plans to earn a master’s degree in Ashland changed suddenly when he discovered art, or more specifically, ceramics. His ceramics class gave him a new way to communicate.
“I learned to tell stories where I didn’t know the language, but spoke from the heart,” he said. After completing his original degree, Sugiyama went on to achieve a master’s degree in fine art.
When the invitation to join the Liberty Arts show came up, Sugiyama said he thought of his friend Beca Blake.
Blake said she had already started a new body of work, when Sugiyama agreed to include her in the show.
“I’m truly honored to show this new body of work with Wataru at Liberty Arts gallery, where I have been a contributing gallery member since 2023. Though it’s based in California, the gallery serves as an incredible contemporary arts resource for Southern Oregon artists,” she said.
Cross-cultural commonality
“Wataru is the kindest and most joyful person I have met in the 14 years I’ve lived here raising my family. He aims for his work to bring joy and wonder to all ages, especially the youth,” Blake said. “His values of caring for future generations align strongly with mine and the values of my Hawaiian family members. We share that cross-cultural value in common.”
“We decided together to call the exhibition “Between Cultures” as Wataru’s work expresses his Japanese heritage and culture and because we sometimes work in similar ways, incorporating animistic imagery and autobiographical topics,” Blake said.
The title of Blake’s new series of work is “Living Between Cultures.”
“It’s interesting to explore the spaces between cultures that hold different values, histories and worldviews,” she said.
Two family strands
The autobiographical work features Blake’s Hawaiian family members, whom she said are descendants of royal lineage.
“They are fighting to save their ancestral lands and burial grounds. The gallery exhibition works include pieces made by Hawaiian family members Misty and Brandon. And I consulted with them about selecting materials and messaging for the Hawaiian portion of the art making,” she said.
Blake said she is simultaneously exploring her own ancestral heritage and connection to her London-based Blake ancestry through her contributions to the William Blake Institute in Ashland.
“The Blakes of London have a strong history of honoring other cultures. William Blake the printmaker, artist and poet, was a very radical outspoken abolitionist,” she said.
The show in Yreka has not been without financial success. One visitor bought a small sculpture that he saw in the window display.
Kendall Hannon is a Siskiyou County Superior Court judge who’s been on the bench in Yreka for six months. He purchased one of Sugiyama’s sculptures because it struck a familiar note.
“I have a 6-year-old who loves turtles, and we also have a swing in our backyard that we endlessly go back and forth on, so I think this sculpture will make a great addition to the house,” Hannon said.
For more information, contact the gallery at libertyartsyreka.org.
Art Van Kraft is an artist living in Ashland and a former broadcast journalist and news director of a Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate. Email him at [email protected].
