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

Motoko, 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 would say that the word, “professional-artist” entered my mind a moment in 2012 while arriving on a flight at the George Bush Intercontinental airport (IAH) with a suitcase and my life-savings in hand.

I quickly realized what a big challenge/decision I had made to leave my home country Japan to study art, giving up many things there including my long professional career in the Tokyo business world. Of course, I have had many dreams to be an artist since my childhood. I drew on all the glass windows in my parents’ house with oil pastels at the age of 6. My mother would become devastated and had to clean up my mess on the windows. I also followed in my father’s footsteps, who was a Honda design engineer, drafting a new CIVIC car model at his desk. I was a kid that once I had a pen with a drawing pad, I couldn’t hear or focus on anything else. But I haven’t forgotten all the good life memories and now pursue a second career in the art world. My memory goes back to 2010 when my mother suddenly passed away, something clicked in my head. Life is short! I don’t want to regret anything by not accepting the challenge. That was neither an easy nor an instant decision but there I found myself that day at IAH seeking to make my dream come true and follow my passion for art. I held some doubts whether or not I could make it.

Finally, being accepted into graduate school at Houston Baptist University (currently, Houston Christian University, HCU), in pursuit of an MFA (Master of Fine Art) in 2019, reassured my commitment to being a professional artist.

Motoko, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a Houston-based visual artist, being Artist in Residence/Office Manager at Art Museum TX after earning the MFA. My artworks are currently displayed in the Art Museum TX in Sugar Land, the Carolyn Garcia Gallery in Houston and the Ground Zero 360’s 9/11 memorial exhibit in New York.

I have learned many things in Houston in preparation of becoming an artist. That was a long journey of study, practice, reading, writing and learning so that my art can embrace and reflect a deep understanding of fine arts. I received an MFA in studio art at HCU in 2021 after graduating from Glassell School of Art with my teaching certificate in painting and Houston Community College with an AA in studio art.

Above all, I experienced much luck and good fortune with wonderful people who encouraged me to pursue my dreams and be creative. After grad school, one of my respectful friends, the Director of the Art Museum TX, has supported my art. Much appreciation also goes to the mentorship, guidance and technique development provided by all of my art professors in the past years but in particular, Professors/Artists, Michael Roque Collins and Arthur Turner in Houston. Of course, so many of my friends and colleagues that I have met in Houston have provided significant support and encouragement.

My art is who I am. In this point of view, my life in Japan – a sociology degree from the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo and a career in the financial sector, made it possible for me to observe people and to work with discipline, “doing my best”. I have applied that same work ethic to my life as an artist. In my private life, I used to travel abroad and enjoy outdoor sports such as snow-skiing in the Japanese mountain areas. The beauty and mysticism of nature has always inspired my creativity since then.

Therefore, the core of my art is an abstract landscape in a variety of artistic processes both in two-dimensional and three-dimensional art forms. I combine conventional mediums with non-traditional techniques. Receiving honors and recognition at the local and international level, I deploy the unique approach to my painting (oil painting and watercolor) which synchronizes with my 3-D works (mixed-media glass sculpture). My art theme, “space–time continuum” explores nature with an oculus motif that fascinates viewers. The circular shapes, “oculi”, inspired me in an old temple in Japan. They represent a portal that enables my spirit to travel beyond time and place. My art reflects moments of human life along with nature. We all have tendencies to perceive visual information according to what we want to see, based on our own life experiences. The challenge is to share “a moment” reflected as fractions of my memories with the viewer but also, and more importantly, that they too may explore and find their own narratives within my abstract landscapes. It gives me great satisfaction when the viewers take a moment to release their mind from the somewhat hectic pace of every-day life. In that way, I hope to involve and engage the audience in my artwork as a viewer.

I have been trying to do my best with all my heart in creating and studying art because “Life is short”. Whenever I get an opportunity to do commissioned work, I spend a lot of time getting to know the client and his/her taste so that I can create the best piece for each one of my individual clients.

Being an artist always brings a fulfillment of gratitude to the customers, audience, and people that encourage and inspire creativity.

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

Being an artist is commitment. It’s time consuming to complete each work while I feel like my artworks are my “children”. So, sometimes, when I sell them, it’s hard to let them go. Even though it’s a commissioned work and supposed to go to the client’s hand, I miss it. But, the most rewarding aspect of creating art is to feel that I’m involved in the special occasions of a client’s life through my work’s depiction.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

To be honest, buying, commissioning and supporting the art naturally helps an artist. But art is not always affordable for everyone. So, I would say, “Please support artists by visiting art exhibitions to see original art and its artist in person. If you find a favorite one, talk and engage directly with the artist. For instance, a young couple contacted me a few years ago because they wished to have one of my paintings for their new house. It was beyond their budget, but they came to see me to tell how much they liked it. Eventually, they ended up ordering a smaller, more affordable version of my original work.

Talking to customers is really helpful for artists to motivate their creativity. Nevertheless, artists always look for opportunities to show their works and to communicate with their audience in society. So, your involvement in the art exhibitions and engaging and communicating with artists can help support us.

I believe that providing artists more opportunities to show their work and more places to talk about their art creates supportive environments for artists and their important role in society.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://motokoyasue.wixsite.com/myart
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motokogloriayasue/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/motoko-yasue-artist/
• Other: https://www.saatchiart.com/GloriaMotokoYasue

Image Credits
Motoko Yasue