
Satomi Kawai
Satomi was born in Wakayama, Japan.
She practiced traditional Japanese culture, including flower arrangement, tea ceremony and calligraphy. Also, Satomi’s grandmother encouraged her to develop her artistic skills since she was a little girl. With this back ground, Satomi moved to the USA in 1999. She studied metalsmithing and jewelry design at The University of Iowa, and earned Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Metal Arts in 2006. Since then, Satomi has been working as a studio artist in Iowa City, Iowa, which is in the middle of the continent in a nature rich environment.
Satomi explores the nature and life in her contemporary jewelry arts. She always feels a strong tie to the nature. She has her own adjustment system to new environments with her creativity in the form of art jewelry, printmaking, and drawing. For making jewelry pieces, she employs natural materials which she feels close to her, such as wood, paper, animal bones, copper and sterling silver.
Satomi is fascinated by the mysteries and wonders of the nature and life, and how a matter changes in different circumstances. Substances inside and outside of the body consist of solid and fluid, and something in between. Also, substances transform as a solid becomes fluid, and fluid becomes gas. Over time, matter changes color, pattern, shape/form, and other assets. This macro process in an external environment –nature– is reflected by the micro environment in our own bodies, including cell activities. By exploring the internal environment, she focuses her observations to many layers of personal femininity, including the physical, emotional, and psychological quality of being a woman.
Printmaking and drawing are ways to express Satomi’s concepts. They allow her to experiment with layering as she builds imagery. Printmaking, drawing, and the combination of layering, intrinsic to its practice, are the best way for her to express her own complex system of womanhood. In addition, this is a way to interpret changes in surface patterns, textures, and shapes she sees in the nature.
Satomi says, “My home is my body. My body is connected to the nature. As I observe life and nature, I see moments I want to capture in my art. These moments become jewelry pieces, and they can be shared when the jewelry pieces are worn. Ultimately the wearer is reconnected to the nature.”