Momoko Ikarashi　五十嵐桃子

Ikarashi is a glass artist who is recognized for her distinct and unparalleled style of production. Glass production can broadly be classified into two main methods –“glassblowing,” a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe, and “kiln work” that entails melting powdered or sheet glass and molding them into various shapes using plaster molds. While most artists usually concentrate on either of these techniques, or employ different techniques depending on the work, Ikarashi is a unique artist who creates single works through using both of these techniques in combination. Ikarashi’s artistic expressions that bring together various techniques part by part are truly eclectic and diverse, from a square box-shaped object in which gradations of red, yellow, and black melt into translucent glass reminiscent of rock sugar, to an arched object that appears like an iceberg enclosing crystalline blue-green tones within opalescence. Also comprising her oeuvre are curiously fascinating works in objects are adorned with a mesh-like object made by linking together a series of small ring-shaped pieces of glass.

While coming into contact with various materials during her time at university, Ikarashi learned that glass has a short history compared to other crafts, and was a material still replete with the potential to do new things. She had decided to pursue glassmaking not only due to simply expressing an interest in it, but also because she had been attracted by the scope to explore new and unprecedented means of expression. Ikarashi, who by nature liked to explore and experiment, engaged in repeated studies on how to create new appearances and impressions using glass by changing its shape as well as the temperature and time of firing. Ikarashi describes her works as being conceived by adapting the expressions born through these experiments to respective forms and colors. Ikarashi could also be considered a distinct artist in terms of the process she employs, whereby she devise the design of her works from the nature and expressions of the material, rather than by means of their use and application, or according to the forms she wishes to create.

Ikarashi's works, which consist of geometric shapes such as circles, squares, and ovals, are mostly art pieces with no designated purpose. She often derives the inspiration for her work from scenery, like the colors of the sky that she observes within her everyday life, as well as the cold winter air and pristinely white snowy landscapes of her hometown of Niigata. The overall theme of Ikarashi’s practice is to give form to the intangible, such as the beautiful scenes she encountered in her life and the emotions experienced in these moments. She herself expresses a desire to continue creating things that are unique and one of a kind, as she tires and grows bored of making the same thing. Through her ideas that keep springing forth, and the combination of expressions, colors, and shapes of the materials that are infinitely born, Ikarashi indeed presents us with new and refreshing possibilities of glass.