We recently connected with Yuka Ikebuchi and have shared our conversation below.

Yuka, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

Until my youngest child left home for college in 2013, I was busy as a stay at home Mom. Prior to that, my work as an art therapist revolved around people in various needs at hospitals, a nursing home, and a community residential facility.

Both periods of my life were very rewarding and gave me extraordinary experiences. Especially being a mother to tow children was something I would never trade for anything else. After facing a reality of an empty nest, I reevaluated my goals and what I needed and wanted to do.
After spending some years painting on my own, I entered my piece to a jury show at Art Center Sarasota in 2014. I was elated to find out that my painting had made it to the show after the selection. Probably with a beginner’s luck, it was sold! I was awed that the person wanted to pay money to acquire my art work. That was my first income as an artist.

Picking up painting was easy choice. I kept thinking of pursuing art as a hobbyist or a professional artist. I continued entering shows and taking course and workshops and realized that I wanted to pursue the professional pathway. I am not an assertive person and need to work on confidence issues to put my self and my business out in public. I continue working on my craft and taking some small steps to expand my business horizon.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Most days, I spend some hours in a corner of my bedroom, where an easel, drop cloth, paints, and other supplies are set up for studio work. I am surrounded by previously completed works there. They are increasing in numbers and starting to take up more space, although I feel oddly comforted with those paintings despite the clutter.

I enjoy the process of creating each pieces. With some, I see certain directions toward the completion. But most of the time, I have to spend time figuring out problems and finding better approaches. It can be consuming and difficult. I have put aside some pieces not yet completed. Still I enjoy interacting with the images on my own, asking myself this way or that way.

I enjoy picking various topics to paint and move around from subjects to subjects, which gives me freedom to choose how I approach each work. Commission work is different. I still have rather limited experience, but one has to listen closely to client’s visions and desired images. I enjoy the challenge.

One of my commission works was to create painting of this client’s childhood home in Guyana. Unfortunately the home had been torn down and a new home was build on the property. He wanted me to paint the old house where he and his siblings grew up. I had several photos as references. I researched internet and asked him what he remembered most about the house and the neighborhood. The area was right next to a beach and prone to flooding. Back when he was a young boy, people didn’t own automobiles. Instead they would ride bikes and herd goats and farm animals on village roads. I did a small initial painting and completed the final one with his approval. That was one of my most meaningful works I have ever done. As I worked, I kept thinking about how I would approach if I were to paint my childhood home with lots of memories. That will be a big task for me. Painting something that could evoke emotions and memories would be my goal.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Since I came to the US nearly 40 years ago, my life has bee nothing like my parents had a vision in Japan. As an eldest daughter of my family, my parents installed this idea in me that I was to continue family and ancestral traditions as a eldest child. Sadly I was too self involved and eager to have new experiences away from home.

My path to a current life has not been a straight one as I described earlier. Although I took studio classes and workshops, I don’t have a traditional fine art school background. Instead, I went for therapeutic art direction and received MA in art therapy.

I feel that my background and pathways encompassing different cultures, schooling, jobs, and personal life could bring some interesting weft threats to my art. Since I chose acrylic paints as my primary medium, I utilize layers of colors to suit my intended images. Whenever I paint subjects, I try forming the images connecting !the surrounding environment.

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

I am always amazed by therapeutic nature of art making. I would not forget how strongly impacted to see drawings and paintings created by war survivors. Art serves as a tool for communicating non verbally and also as a form of catharsis after recreating the experiences into concrete images.

That pushed me to come to the US and studied the field. Now, I focus on my own creation. My goals is to create artworks, exploring common threads like “connection”, “journey”, “love and joy”, “natural beauty “, “family and friends“, and “culture and traditions“. I hope I can someday present viewers paintings which would evoke some kind of emotional responses and quiet interactions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yuka.gallery/
• Instagram: yukaikebuchi
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/galleryyuka