Description

This is a deep terracotta bowl decorated in a whimsical black and cream pattern that reminds us of something Joan Miró would have put on pottery. You have to look inside each Nakamura piece because there is always a surprise in there, and this one is no exception. This and two other pieces in our collection come from the estate of noted art collectors Arthur and Lillian Weiss of Little Deer Isle, Maine.

Details

• Don Nakamura (American, c. 1956- )
• Glazed terracotta
• Signed on bottom
  
• 11 1/5" diameter, 5 1/2" height 
  
• Excellent condition

About the Artist

Don Nakamura is a ceramic artist who was born in Honolulu around 1956. He started out wanting to be an elementary school teacher, and earned a degree in early education from the University of Hawaii in 1977. Somewhere along the way he had a change of heart and relocated to the mainland to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1986. Over his decades long career he has been awarded national recognition in the form of awards, fellowships, teaching positions and artist residencies. Based in Philadelphia, he has participated in countless solo and group shows nationwide. Edith Newhall, Contributing Art Writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer described his work as “big, gregarious ceramic sculptures, which employ …graceful curvy lines and referential shapes.” They are whimsical and colorful, abstract and literal, surprising and joyful. Everything one would expect from an artist whose first career choice was to be a teacher of young children.