We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Miku Sekimoto a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Miku thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’m a multimedia artist working in sculpture, painting, and digital drawing. In college I majored in Fine Arts with a focus on sculpture and painting. It was there that I fell in love with the process of casting; body casting is my primary sculpture medium today. After graduation, I learned digital drawing through self-study. During the pandemic lockdown in 2020, I was searching for a creative outlet that would not turn my apartment into a disaster. It took practice to learn to draw on an iPad, but now two years later I have built up a great foundational knowledge.

To speed up my learning process, especially after graduating college, I wish I would have challenged myself more. People learn through trial and error. I initially hesitated because I was afraid of making a big mess. Post graduation was the first time I was working by myself at home, that shift from having readily available guidance and advice from professors and classmates to working much more independently required an adjustment period. Moving past that hesitation was the biggest self-imposed obstacle that got in the way of learning more. Recently, I have become more adept at realizing I can make a previous error into a success. For instance, I had some so-so sculptures from college that I have been able to transform into a new body of work that is currently on view. I have also repainted some drawings and gave them new life. During this process, I found new techniques and learned a lot. If I could advise my former self – I would say to not be afraid of trial and error and to not hesitate to utilize new materials or techniques!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I was born and raised in Japan and came to New York in 2016, both of these homes have had a significant impact on my work. In Japan, I belonged to a dance club and was in charge of costume design. I like working with traditional fabrics from my culture and enjoy the touch and feel of the texture. Recently, I began integrating fabric into my body casting. Since I began experimenting with body casting in college, it has become important for me to capture moments as time passes. I like that I can still incorporate elements of my past into these moments.

New York is in constant motion and in a state of flux. My mission is to “never stop”. Creating is living. I want to always create and grow. I would like people to imagine a story and feel the energy in my work. My work often incorporates glimpses of my own narrative – such as how I use textiles and only use my own body for the body casting – but I want people to find their own stories in it too.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Digital resources. I’m using Photoshop and Procreate for my work now, but early on I barely used them. I edited some pictures of paintings with Photoshop when I was in college, however, it was on a far more simplistic scale. In 2020, when I was working on my senior thesis, the pandemic hit. Students were not allowed to go to the studio at college which means I had no access to my sculptural works-in-progress, and our exhibition was moved online. At that time, I had completed two separate parts of my sculpture, both at 5 feet high, but they were not yet connected. It took some creativity to come up with an idea of how to finish my sculpture without physically being present. I used Photoshop to combine the two existing elements. I was impressed with how real it looked, and nobody believed that the actual sculpture was not finished. This was my first real foray into digital art, and when I discovered that it was possible to fuse two such different mediums. Now, I am constantly trying to discover more ways to incorporate digital resources into my paintings and sculptures.

Contact Info:

• Website: mikus.art.blog/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/miku_s_art?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@miku_s_art?_t=8UTzX7eyVoI&_r=1