PALM SPRINGS CA — September 12, 2013 – COLLIDING WORLDS, an ART DOCUMENTARY in a 30-minute format, brings A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOHN TOKI — ARTIST-AUTHOR-EDUCATOR
John Toki was born in the San Francisco Bay Area to parents who endured the Internment Camps of World War II. His parents instilled in John a love for the rich Japanese tradition of ceramics. John took that to heart and embarked on a career in clay.
For over 35 years John Toki has worked in clay for over 35 years. He is an respected and award winning artist; a lecturer and professor; an inventor of kilns and other innovations in the ceramics field; co-author of several notable books on ceramic sculpture; the president and owner of Leslie Ceramic Supply Company in Berkeley, which his parents founded fifty years ago; and he a mentor and role model to many within and outside the ceramic sphere.
Toki speaks about the satisfaction of working with clay: "It can be used for large-scale works, as well as more intimate pieces, with equal success. You can apply color by painting, glazing or mixing it into the clay. It's a quiet activity that you can manipulate with only your hands, you don't need tools really. You can use it for representational works, as well as abstraction. And I really like the physical presence of clay."
While John is no strange to scale, it is his large-scale sculptures in clay and porcelain that show most clearly his artistic and technical skills. Sculpture reaching dazzling heights remain a timeless tribute to John's muses: nature (mountains, water, snow, sky) The pieces often hint to archaeological elements but are clearly contemporary in have a their technical complexity and resulting visual appeal.
John Toki continues to dazzle and amaze all who see his work. A living treasure, John's work has been shown in the US, the Netherlands and Japan. He has completed public commissions and installations in Richmond, Berkeley, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, and Cincinnati.