Toshio Rokusawa

2000 Kamiyama Artist in Residence Participant
In Kamiyama from October 3 to November 13, 2000

Born in 1950, in Tottori prefecture, Japan. B. Eng. (Electrical Engineering), Ocaka University. Woodwork artist. Resides in Nose-cho, Osaka, Japan. Retired from electronics company at which he had worked for five years after injuring himself. Worked as a mathematics teacher at a public high school. Became interested in organic farming and began agricultural activities at his houase in Tanba (Osaka). He discovered the pleasure of working in wood when he made a house for chickens and established his own woodworking studio called Toge. With the making of works that give life to the essence of the wood as his motto, he has been selected in the past four Asahi Contemporary Craft Exhibitions. This year, he was awarded the Grand Prix at the same show. At Kamiyama, after making a close investigation of the local materials, he constructed a screen made by joining thin strips of timber together, a set of lamps hollowed out of logs, and an outdoor bench.
(→ Toshio Rokusawa website)

Toshio Rokusawa 2000

A range of blue mountains expresses his first impression of Kamiyama. The "Screen" is made of many pieces of Japanese cypress colored in indigo and chained with strings. When the screen sways in the wind, it harmonizes and contrasts with the real blue mountains behind, like a huge picture. His other works are "Festival", a set of lamps made of hollowed-out cypress logs, and "Triangle Bench like a Mountain", and outdoor bench made of crossed cedar logs.

Toshio Rokusawa “Screen ‘To God's Mountain’ A range of blue mountains” 2000