Megumi Naitoh

Megumi Naitoh lives and works in Boston, USA, and Birmingham, UK. She is currently a professor of Art at Emmanuel College in Boston, MA. Megumi is originally from Tokyo, though she was formally trained in ceramics in the United States receiving an M.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2000 and a B.S. in Applied Arts from San Diego State University in 1995. Megumi was a recipient of the Brother Thomas Fellowship in 2013, the NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) Emerging Artist Award in 2007, The Clay Studio Solo Exhibition award in 2005, and the Massachusetts Cultural Grant in 2003. Her works are in the collections of Digital Craft at Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K., Ceramic Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and Gauldagergaard, International, Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, to name a few.

“I remember a photograph of myself wearing a jumpsuit when I was very little. My mother always put me in jumpsuits to play outside because I would be covered with mud at the end of the day. Almost 50 years later, I am still in my jumpsuit, playing with mud. The idea of play is important in my work. I have always been interested in pushing the envelope of what ceramic work can be. Since my primary medium is clay, I developed a specific interest in working with digital media in the late 1990s. I am drawn to the two seemingly separate worlds. How can I blend them, contrast them, let one process follow the other, or create a balance? There are so many possibilities in this dialogue between the basic earthy material, clay, and technology to produce bodies of work. My approach to this has always been to do so with a sense of play.“

Visit Megumi Naitoh’s website and Instagram page.