Shingu Sayaka (born 1979) is a contemporary ceramic artist based in Osaka, Japan. After having graduated from the Osaka University of Arts in 2003, she joined an apprenticeship program at the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shiga, Japan, where she was deeply moved by the work of contemporary artist, Sugiura Yasuyoshi. Her work is celebrated for its naturalistic forms, particularly for her ceramic sculptures of cut flowers, which are constructed from mixed clay with slip and glaze using intricate hand building and glazing methods that embody great care and restraint in her craft.

Shingu takes on floral motifs as a metaphor for impermanence, ephemerality, and fleeting beauty. She takes on a quintessentially Japanese aesthetic tradition which celebrates the ephemeral, and has quoted a celebrated verse by the 9th century female poet Ono no Komachi as a distillation of many of her themes:

花の色はうつりにけりないたづらにわが身世にふるながめせしまに

The flowers have withered / Their color faded away / While I spend my days in idle sorrow / As the rains of my past life fall.

- From the anthology of Waka poems, Hyakunin Isshu (百人一首)

Shingu’s sculptures showcase intricate, delicate craftsmanship, entirely hand-built from clay. At first glance, it's hard to believe the pieces are made of ceramic, as they evoke the realism of a cut flower, invoking the image of morning dew on silvery glazes on the petals, as well as the tiny pistils of a flower in bloom. Her works evoke a dual sense of impermanence: while ceramic, by nature, is fragile and brittle, the flower it portrays remains eternally pristine, never wilting like a real blossom.

Her work has received significant attention and awards, including selection for the 42nd Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition and exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Kyoto Arts and Crafts Biennale (The Museum of Kyoto), The Portland Art Museum, and more.

Artist CV

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014 Solo Exhibition: EN Tou ReZ ,Kobe

2015 Solo Exhibition: Tosei Gallery, Osaka

Solo Exhibition: Utsuwa Note, Saitama

Group Exhibition ART OSAKA

2016 Solo Exhibition: Gallery Labo, Ehime '18 '19

2017 Solo Exhibition: Tsubonakai, Tokyo

2017 Group Exhibition: Yakata Yusai, Tokyo

2018 Solo Exhibition: Nihonbashi Takashimaya Craft Salon, Tokyo

2019 Group Exhibition Setouchi Municipal Museum of Art, Okayama

Group Exhibition: Kenninji Temple Tacchu Ryosokuin (両足院), Kyoto

2020 Solo Exhibition: Tsubonakai, Tokyo

2021 Solo Exhibition: Gallery Labo, Ehime, Japan

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

1979 Born in Osaka

2001 Graduated from Osaka University of Arts

2003 Studied at The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park

2004 Asahi Ceramic Art Exhibition (07)

2008 Kyoto Arts and Crafts Biennale (The Museum of Kyoto)

2010 Solo Show at Galleria Ceramica, Tokyo

2012 Paramita Museum Ceramic Art Grand Prize Exhibition (Paramita Museum, Mie)

2013　ART OSAKA 2013

　　　 Group Show “LA CERAMIQUE JAPONAISE” in Paris

2014　Group show in Takashimaya Department Store

Saihodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Premonition of Beauty at Takashimaya, Tokyo, Japan

Gallery Suchi・Gravity, Tokyo Japan

Solo exhibition at Antore, Kobe, Japan

2015 ART OSAKA

Gallery Suchi・Gravity, Tokyo, Japan

Solo exhibition at Gallery Utsuwakan, Kyoto, Japan

Solo exhibition at Gallery To-sei, Osaka, Japan

Solo exhibition at Utsuwa Note, Saitama, Japan

2016 Saihodo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Solo exhibition at Gallery Labo, Ehime, Japan

2017 Gallery Yuusai, Tokyo, Japan

Solo exhibition at Gallery Kochukyo, Tokyo, Japan

Solo exhibition at Gallery Utsuwa Kan, Kyoto, Japan

2018 Solo exhibition at Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo

2019 Pulsation Sayaka Shingu Exhibition