Sculptor to give slide presentation, workshop in October

Well-known Japanese-American sculptor Yoshitomo Saito will visit the Idaho State University art and architecture department in October and give a slide presentation on his work on Oct. 17 and a copper-casting workshop on Oct. 19.

Saito's presentations are sponsored by the ISU Cultural Affairs Council, ISU Department of Art and Architecture and the Connie Smith Bowen Arts Series. ISU art professor Douglas Warnock and his advanced sculpture students are hosting Saito.

Saito's slide presentation will be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, in Room 401 of the ISU Fine Arts Building. It is open to the ISU community and general public.

The copper-casting workshop will begin at 8 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, in the ISU Fine Art Foundry, ISU Building 28, located on South Fifth Avenue across from the Subway Sandwich Shop. It is open to observation by the ISU community and general public.

Saito makes contemplative bronze sculptures of prosaic objects such as household pillows and, recently, canvas paintings. He has designed and developed a new series of his work titled "Pocatello Canvas," as his focus for the work he will be doing during the copper-casting workshop. Of these new pieces, one will be cast in silicon bronze and 22 will be cast in a new material for Saito, recycled straight copper, which Warnock specializes in.

Saito received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1987 and has extensively lectured and taught while maintaining an active exhibition schedule. He has recently relocated to Denver, Colo., where he lives and works. Saito was the recipient of a Visual Artist Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994. Saito's works are in numerous important public collections, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Hawaii State Foundation of Cultures and Arts.

He has been quoted as saying, "Casting bronze involves pantomime, poetry and lies; it reminds me of Marcel Marceau: quiet, yet expressive. It can mimic another object so well that without saying a word, it speaks a certain truth in its task. But, at the same time, an object is transformed when it is cast in bronze; it becomes something else entirely, often more true to the original than the original."

For more information on Saito, visit www.hainesgallery.com.

For more information on his upcoming visit to ISU, his slide show and copper-casting workshop, contact Warnock at (208) 282-2446 or warndoug@isu.edu.