Biography

Yoko Yagi became intrigued with kilnformed glass after seeing the work of Klaus Moje. She attended a workshop with Moje in 1998, and later served as his interpreter and assistant in Japan. Obsessed with creating pattern, she began working with murrine, a traditional Venetian glassmaking technique based on cross-sectioned slices of intricately patterned thin glass rods. Yagi creates finely crafted, three-dimensional works inspired by the two-dimensional patterns seen in traditional textiles, knits baskets and kumihimo, the Japanese craft of making braided cords. She currently teaches and exhibits internationally. Her work is exhibited in major galleries in the United States and Japan, and is collected worldwide.

Artist Statement

Since I was a child, I have been fascinated with patterned objects made out of thin, woven strips of material; such as baskets out of willow or cloth from thread. I use strips of glass to achieve a similar effect. When strips are stacked and stretched into murrini that are then fused, I can create intricate and complicated, yet personal, works of art. Selecting from a multitude of colors and patterns, I can bring limitless variation into these worlds. It is a slow, laborious and often painful process; nonetheless, every time, I am thrilled to see what kind of scene will appear in the end.