International Exchange Promotion Program

Ms. Maria Silchenko, a Ukrainian, studies painting and sculpture at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She was in Tokyo for six months starting in the fall of 2018 on an exchange program with Tokyo University of the Arts to learn ceramic making.
She had to return to Paris after finishing her studies in March 2019, but she asked us if she could study at the Creare Atami Yugawara studio, saying that she wants to expand the ceramic making techniques. The association asked the studio and received positive replies.

Thus, for about three months from February to May of 2019, Ms. Silchenko stayed at the dormitory next to the studio and learned the technique of ceramic-making. The studio is located in a green area near Okuyugawara, famous for its hot springs, so we were a little worried that she would feel lonely, but there was no need to worry. Sometimes she walked about 30 minutes from the studio to the beach to do sketches and look at the sea. “I want to stay in this wonderful environment place for a long time. I can create a variety of works here.”

Mr. Atsuo Suzumura, who is in charge of glazes at the studio, proposed her to hold a joint exhibition with two other young female staff. The exhibition was held at the historic Kiunkaku in Atami City for about three weeks from the end of April, and many people visited to see the works.

After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she faced great challenges. Russia invaded her native Ukraine and her mother and siblings fled to Germany. Ms. Silchenko joined her family and is now an artist based in Germany. When she visited Japan for a while in 2023, she said, “In Germany, when they found out I was Ukrainian, they offered me a venue for my exhibition and bought my work, which encouraged me”.

Ms. Alisa Nikolaeva stayed at the Creare Atami Yugawara Studio for three months from mid-September 2023.

She was born in Samara, Russia, in 1991 and studied graphic design at the local Samara Architectural University. Then, she studied at the University of Picardy and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Since graduating in 2018, she has continued to work as artist in her Paris Atelier while holding exhibitions in various European countries.

Ms. Nikolaeva studied a wide range of subjects, including painting, sculpture and design, with environmental art as her basis, and applied for training to our association to learn Japanese ceramic production techniques. The training was originally scheduled to start in spring 2020, but the Corona disaster has extended the visit to Japan by three years.

While staying at the studio accommodation, she has been making her work under the guidance of her instructor, Mr. Atsuo Suzumura, who has been teaching her about glaze preparation and modelling. She actively absorbed information about Japanese ceramics and glazes, including attending workshops at the Ceramic Technology Laboratory in Shigaraki.

She had also made ceramics in France, but the clay in Japan was completely different from that in France, and this meant that she had to be ingenious with the modelling, the glaze applied to it and even the firing temperature in the kiln, which she said “gave me good experience”.

At the International TAKIFUJI Art Award organised by the association, the day before the award ceremony, the Japanese and foreign award winners and their teachers visit the studio. This year, nearly 30 people visited the studio, and Ms. Nikolaeva explained her work and interacted with teachers from the Art Center College of Design in the USA.

She returned home in mid-December with her newly purchased large suitcase filled with the work she had produced. She said “Creare Atami Yugawara Studio is spacious, clean and has wonderful green surroundings, and for three months I had the luxury time of forgetting about housework to devote myself to making artworks”.