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While this artist is a native of Japan, Tosh Uchima, has lived in places such as Hawaii, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and California.
With very limited artistic background and no academic skills with art, his past experience as a tour conductor served as an eye opener to his artistic abilities. During his work as a tour conductor, he traveled to many museums in Europe, Asia, Middle East, and US on a daily basis before immigrated to US.
He has very many actual visual encounters with the world's prestigious masterpieces. He had visited world renowned places from the Smithonian museum in Washington to Prado museum in Madrid. He had also seen many paintings and sculptures from Remington to Picaso.
While he had very stimulating experiences with real art, he had no interest in an artistic activity until he had an accident in Hawaii.
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The accident led him to his rehabilitation, which led him to encounter clay as a part of a therapy. Though physical therapy was not to his liking, he showed interest in clay molding. He had a few compression fractures on his vertebras and an ankle fracture.
Even after he was released from therapy, he could not stop thinking of the touch or feel of clay.
He was not sure why he had those feelings for clay as he did not even have in mind of what he wanted to make. One day. he found an art supplier in Honolulu where he could get basic information on how to make a clay figurine then he went home with a bit chunk of clay with a bigger smile on his face. His artistic career had started from there. |
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His medium is water based white clay. He tried terracotta, or even tried to make a bronze, but he did not like the feel of it at all. The water based white clay has a texture that makes you feel warm and a sense of comfort when yo touched it. It is a fragile medium, and you can make only one piece at time, and no duplicate.
This medium is not for a mass production which is why he uses it. He likes to make each of his pieces unique and individual.. He expecially enjoys making figurines of cowboys, samurai, and horses.
The size varies from a very small size of approximately 5 inches high, 10 inches long, and 4 inches wide to a big size of over 1 foot high, 15 inches long, and 6 inches wide.
He wants to capture a particular moment in time to portray that each figure, cowboy or samurai, once alive. This effort that he makes brings life into each artwork, creating a sense of each figure's own story as they are touched and seen.
He always intends to create figurines as dramatic and realistic as possible. |
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He has a wife and 3 children, lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. His hobby is riding a motorcycle and watching movies. |
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