Hiro Tashima

Hirotsune Tashima has an MFA from Alfred University, NY and BFA from Osaka University of Art. He has been teaching as the Head of the Ceramics Department at Pima College since 1999. He is a member of International Academy of Ceramics and has received numerous grants which includes Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Tucson/Pima Arts Council, Phoenix Art Museum, Rotary International and Japanese Government.

He’s held more than 27 solo exhibitions in various locations including NY, Tokyo and Tucson Museum of Art. He was invited or juried to participate in more than 150 group exhibitions which includes "Asian American Ceramics" at Kentucky Museum of Art and Design, KY, "Ceramic National" at Everson Museum of Art, NY, "Oregon Biennial" at Portland Art Museum, OR, "Immigrant Experience" at Fuller Museum, MA, "Clay National" by National Council on Education for the Ceramic Art at Barrick Museum, NV, "Fletcher Challenge Ceramic Award" at Auckland Art Museum, New Zealand and "Contemporary Art Competition" at Taro Okamoto Museum in Japan to name a few.

He was also commissioned to create public art works including six public arts projects in Tucson, AZ, two in Oro Valley AZ, one for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and one in the Phoenix Convention Center.

His artwork was collected from numbers of private and public museums which includes, Auckland Museum, New Zealand, Barrick Museum, NV, Everson Museum of Art, NY, Jingdezhen Museum of Ceramics, China, The Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada, The International Ceramic Studio, Kecskemét, Hungary, International Ceramic Research Center, SkaelskØr, Denmark, Keramik Museum Westerwald, Germany, A.I.R Vallauris, France, Vallauris Institute of Art, Vallauris, France, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, Office of Public Works, Dublin, Ireland, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shiga, Japan and singer David Bowie.

I closely watch current social media in the US and Japan in my generation and re-construct them. I reflect my inner and outer side in the mirror and use the clay to recreate the inside and outside of my surroundings.

I make sculptures by wedging, slab building and firing the forms several times. They are my own style and reflect the society that is seen through my eyes.

It is important for me to make enjoyable art. I started to realize that we have good times and difficult times that we live through. Sickness may be one of them, but there are all kinds of obstacles in life. Art can be viewed by many people who may have pain in their thoughts. I hope that people can smile by viewing my work.

Yellow Banana Kong - All You Need Is Love

I am Japanese, but live in the U.S.A. and speak English. Banana represents me, because I’m yellow on the outside, and white on the inside (since I communicate in English).

I was born in Hiroshima, Japan. My grandfather was a firefighter in Hiroshima, when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6th, 1945. That’s why I am holding a Boeing B-29 Enora Gay bomber, with the atomic bomb on her belly.

The Beatles music helped me learn English in the 7th grade. I learned from their song “Get Back” there was a town called Tucson, Arizona. 7th grade Hiro, had no clue that he would live in that foreign country, and be offered a job, in Tucson.

I wish all people could love and understand other people.