Fumi Amano
Visual Arts: Glasswork
Fumi Amano was born in Aichi, Japan. She learned about glass making as a traditional Japanese craft and worked diligently to master all techniques presented to her.
In 2009, Fumi came to the United States for the first time to take a workshop at Pilchuck Glass school in Washington State. Upon returning to Japan, she continued to exhibit her artwork at APA Gallery in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture. While she was generally satisfied continuing the work that she was doing, overtime she began to gradually question how she used glass in her artwork. She realized that there was much more to glass than simply using it as craft material.
In order to learn more about glass and expand her horizons, she moved to Seattle. She worked in a glass blowing studio in Seattle for about a year before finally moving, in 2015, to Richmond, Virginia to formally study glass art at Virginia Commonwealth University.
During her graduate program at Virginia Commonwealth University, she faced many difficulties as both a foreigner and as a Japanese woman living in the United States. She was frustrated by the failure of the communication and prejudice towards Asian women by people. This frustration ignited in her a passion to make various forms of art, such as sculpture and performance art, to express a feeling she cannot explain in words. Glass is as if there is an invisible filter between people, Fumi says. People can see each other through the glass, but they cannot touch each other directly. Through performance with glass, Fumi is continuously expressing the unsuccessful attempts to develop true bonds that bridge the gap between people.
After she received her Master of Fine Arts degree, she participated in residency programs all over the United States, including the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Anderson Center in Minnesota, and Torpedo Factory Art Center in Virginia. Fumi’s art has received awards and accolades at exhibitions and Fumi has been invited to perform at several art events. In 2018, after her art journey throughout the United States, Fumi returned to settle in Seattle, a place that many well-known glass artists call their home. Now she is pursuing her goal of combining glass art and performance art. With her performance work, she is able to become a sculpture that is directly connected with her audience. Through this she is able to talk with others, beyond, above, and below language’s normal spectrum.
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