UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON MAGAZINE

THERMAL CREATURES

Saya Moriyasu, ’91, imagines magical mineral spirits in paper and clay.

BY SHIN YU PAI | MARCH 15, 2024

“…Saya Moriyasu’s new show conjures the anthropomorphic spirits that frequent Hayao Miyazaki’s bathhouse in the Japanese animated film “Spirited Away” and the cute, grumpy children of Yoshitomo Nara’s paintings. Her new exhibition at the J. Rinehart Gallery, “Ozekitachi 尾石達- Stone Tails,” is inspired by the artist’s experiences at the mineral hot springs in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, while at an artist’s residency program at Mission Street Arts.

Moved by the mountain surroundings, Moriyasu initially created a series on paper in sumi ink and walnut ink drawings. When she returned to her home studio in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle, she began sculpting the three-dimensional clay figures that populate her new exhibition. Based on Japanese Shinto spirits, or kami, the creatures of Moriyasu’s imagination emerge from the mud of mineral baths in various forms. Evoking minerals through the materiality of the clay, some pieces are painted over to expose crusted layers of color and glaze that sparkle like geodes and suggest something mysterious cracked open. “Some are really crude,” she says. “Are those arms or ears? They’re just evolving. Others are more evolved. Some have emerged…”



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