As soon as Aya Kinoshita moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2020 she joined MSOP. Having met one of our members on an Italian trip, she was thrilled to become part of our organization. Aya shared with me her very interesting background, how she became interested in mosaics, and details on her latest installation.
Aya was born in Tokyo, Japan and has traveled the world. She has lived, worked and studied in many cities including Melbourne, Paris, Tunis, New York, Copenhagen, and most recently Los Angeles. After graduating from Waseda University, in Tokyo, with a BA in Social Sciences, she enjoyed working with international visual and performing artists. She received an MA in Anthropology from Hunter College, in New York, and continued her studies with Doctoral research at Waseda University in Art Museum Management. In both Tokyo and California, she incorporated art, culture, and language in her teaching while continuing art museum research globally.
Aya relocated to Southern California in 2015 to continue her research in art museum management at California State University. In 2016 she met her neighbor Katherine England, a renowned mosaic artist. Although she had worked in a variety of capacities in the art field, she had never actually made fine art herself. She began taking classes in Katherine’s studio and mosaics soon became her passion. I am amazed at her talent and the enormous body of work she has created and projects she has been involved in, in just five years.
Aya found the mosaic world in California “fresh and liberating”. Through Katherine, Aya became involved in many community projects and team murals. She began assisting her mentor and eventually taught her own classes. She volunteered and later worked at Piece by Piece, supporting lower income and former homeless people through mosaics.
Although Aya had not done a solo public art installation before, she applied to the call for artists from Penn State Health Hampden Medical Center publicized by SAMA. They were looking for multiple large murals to be made for various in spaces their new building, each having a different theme and size.
Aya sent her portfolio to the committee and once accepted was given her theme. She had applied for the 4 feet x 4 feet mural but instead was asked to do a 4 feet x 12 feet piece, which was a greater challenge. Her theme was Meadow, open to her own interpretation.
Aya began researching immediately. She had no knowledge of plants indigenous to the area, and wanted to focus on medicinal plants was for the medical center. She included bluebells and black eyed susans which are flowers grown locally. She wanted everything to have a symbolic meaning, many spiritual, and the overall mural to feel relaxing. For example, the Hummingbird presents lightness, responsiveness, and resilience. In Native American myth, it is a healer. The Butterfly in Christianity symbolizes rebirth. Interestingly, Monarch Butterfly in particular means that you are on the right path! Bees and ants represent teamwork which reminds us of our medical professionals.
The next step was to send drawings to the committee for approval. She submitted two designs in November. The committee liked her free form work they had seen and asked her to make the mural without a background. By December she was given an approval on the second design.
One of her biggest challenges was finding supplies as she was still unfamiliar with the area. Once again, she researched and was able to find what she needed. She needed to be very specific about size, weight and materials. The piece needed to be fire resistant and she worried it would be too heavy if she used the fire retardant MDF boards. She requested that the facility be responsibility for installation since they wanted it to hang directly on the walls.
Aya began work on three separate panels. She used ½” inch wedi board cutting each shape with a jigsaw. She finished the edges with fiber tape and covered the tape with thinset. She attached 45 washers to the pieces so they could be later screwed into the wall. The majority of the forms were stained glass. She also used some ceramic tile and millefiori. The bees and ants were fused in a kiln. Glass sheets were cut with hand tools, nippers and a scorer. She used Welbond to attach most of the tesserae; white thin set was used on slightly translucent glass such as the yellow flowers. She grouted most of the pieces in her studio but will have to add some after the installation.
At the time of the interview, Aya had not yet seen all the panels together. The installation was supposed to be in in May but has been postponed as the building is not finished. She had an open studio for neighbors to view the finished pieces before she delivers them. The pictures shown here are beautiful but I’m sure seeing it up close would be quite a treat. She is hoping that patients viewing the mural who may be facing medical challenges, it will be a source of pleasure, enjoyment, peacefulness, and hope.
