H20 – Preview: Miki Iwasaki

On May 6, 2011, H20: The Art of Conservation, at the Water Conservation Garden, San Diego, CA, will open to the public. Green Public Art reviewed over 1100 artists portfolios before inviting 14 San Diego artists to participate in the exhibition which offers San Diego homeowners an artistic alternative to incorporate water conservation into their own garden spaces. Green Public Art awarded each artist a mini-grant to develop their site-specific sculptures. In the weeks leading up to the exhibition opening the artist’s concepts will be revealed on this site. Questions? Contact Rebecca Ansert, Curator, Green Public Art at rebecca@greenpublicart.com.

CONCEPT: Beached Icebergs had a profound effect on me when I had the opportunity to walk next to, under, over, touch, and even taste the amazing objects in nature. It is my belief that the spaces carved into these massive structures and the texture, light, and spatial conditions that they hold can have profound beauty intelligible by anyone from any place. This project is a way to apply the emulation of these spaces into a discovery of conditions by manipulating man made materials by its geometry and fabrication technique. For the installation, I will be folding single stainless steel metal sheets (4’x8’) into 2’x3’x4’ objects through digital modeling and computer controlled fabrication techniques. The geometry of the panels and sequence of folding will be carefully choreographed to allow each object to be water-jet cut out of a single sheet of material, then folded to create a variety of spatial conditions. Although the outcome will not nearly be as powerful as the inspiration, hopefully new experiences and discoveries will be revealed.

ABOUT: Miki Iwasaki began drawing and painting with his mother when he was a small child in Southern California. Miki’s creative endeavors grew and multiplied, from organized art lessons to building tree houses in his parents’ backyard and skateboard ramps in their garage. His curiosity in making and building things eventually led him to pursue a career in architecture, and attend California State Polytechnic University in Pomona California. Miki studied for a year at the Kyushu Institute of Design in Fukuoka, Japan and received his Masters in Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His architectural experience includes work in New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego firms, and spans a variety of project types including high-end residential, office, restaurant, retail, and gallery work. Throughout his academic and early professional years, Miki remained dedicated to his own art projects and furniture design, working late nights and weekends to develop and test his latest ideas. Miki’s interests and skills constantly expand as he pushes himself to explore new materials and methods.