We were lucky to catch up with Michiko Murakami recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michiko, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I discovered I was good at drawing in Kindergarten. I could really focus and get lost on rendering and coloring. One of my earliest school memories was my Kindergarten teacher kind of freaking out on this wisteria drawing I was making in class. Her reaction was startling, but it was also the first time I really got such direct positive attention from an adult. As I got older, I really didn’t have a good idea of what a professional artist did or how they made money (remember, this was pre-internet) so I focused more on sports and academics in high school. As college came around, I still wanted to do art and since I was extremely idealistic and also incredibly resistant to conforming, that’s what I did.

What really gave me strength and inspiration was my great-uncle, who pursued an art career despite so many obstacles- WWII, poverty, relocation, and being labeled the enemy to name a few. He was able to establish himself in 1950’s Chicago and was called the “secret weapon” in the ad agency he worked at as an illustrator. He worked until his 80’s storyboarding and illustrating in Chicago. He honored his talents and abilities with dedication and focus and I feel very fortunate for having a role model like him in my extended family. It gave me a lot of strength in the many moments I doubted myself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My art practice has evolved into many mediums. Although I mostly work in clay, I also utilize drawing, painting, and video. The sculptural qualities of the work is based on the dramatic landscape of the west -areas that I drove through on my way to grad school. The breathtaking rock formations jutting out into the sky from Nevada through Colorado made its way into my unconscious mind and at some point my hands started making these monolith-like abstractions. Conceptually, I like to focus on the human condition,  the monkey mind, and juxtaposing opposing forces such as reverence and irreverence, fast and slow, high skill and deskilled.

Much of my work is abstract sculpture with semi abstracted images on them but I also make functional objects from time to time. I wish I could say my ultimate goal is to be in a particular show or a particular gallery/museum – that would make my life a lot more focused and clear – but I am seeking to be less goal-oriented. Living that way has caused me so much grief, despair, and stress. Instead, I am trying to live with ease and use my time to focus on mastery. There is so much going on in the world right now and I want to do what I can to support my loved ones, students, colleagues, and community in the most positive way possible. If I can do that through my work, great, but if I do that through other means, that’s great too.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I love that I have “permission” to be an outlier, a non-conformist with the title of “artist”. I think that may have been the underlying factor to why I actually wanted to be one professionally. The becoming of an artist has been an intense journey of self-discovery and coming into myself as a person. I look back and I remember when I was young, I was so shy and insecure, it was hard for me to look people in the eye, speak in front of an audience. I can now say the process itself has been the most rewarding. I realize I am able to say this in hindsight and it took a lot of internal work to get here but I am still hopeful and excited about the future as I strongly feel the best is yet to come.

I was recently in a group show called “Elevate” at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where my work was shown alongside one of my favorite artists – Jun Kaneko.  Receiving these moments of validation is incredibly meaningful and keeps me going when I have moments of self-doubt.

Right now, I am really enjoying teaching art and talking to students about art, craft and their future plans. It’s nice to see students excited about what new skills they have learned and I want to extend all the advice I can so that they can avoid the missteps I made.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That worthiness is dependent upon one’s achievement in life. I think I would have had a better time in life getting to where I am if I just was a lot nicer to myself and if I understood I was already worthy. But then I’d need different parents and a completely different life! The process of getting to this understanding took a lot of internal work (decades) but I don’t think it needs to take this long – I had a lot of complex ptsd to deal with from childhood and I didn’t have many resources growing up. In general though, I think we get really mixed up in life because sometimes parents don’t have the best information, they do their best but still manage to compare you to others, the media tells you you need to look a certain way, have certain material things by a certain age… all these false signifiers just so you can keep up with so and so. So you get there and then what? You’re on top of that mountain by yourself and you feel the same as before, plus no one cares! It’s a devastating place to be. It isn’t about the goal, it isn’t about control, instead, it’s about the process. That is life and that is art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.michikobra.com

Image Credits
Anna Garner