Panoply Arts Festival 2010 Poster Artist
Yuri Ozaki
Bio
Hailing from Mihama, a small town in Japan’s Mie Prefecture, Yuri Ozaki came to the US to learn English in 2001, having just earned her teaching degree. Four years later, she moved to the Rocket City and, in 2006, married Huntsvillian Chris Brown.
During this time, she began painting local scenery (e.g., Thai Garden Restaurant, Northside Square, the Kaffeeklatsch, Ditto Landing, Church of the Nativity) and while watercolor and oils are her primary media, she also utilizes pencils, charcoal, and pastels, while maintaining a wide range of interests in subject matter, including landscape, figure drawing, and abstract, and experiments with sculpting. As her inspiration, Ozaki cites J.S. Sargent, Bob Ross, Kuniyoshi Yasuo, Kim Frohsin, Joan Mitchell, Akira Nishi, John Salminen, Elayne Goodman (her husband’s aunt), Janice Brown (her mother-in-law), and Eiko Ozaki (her mother).
Ozaki is truly encouraged by the feedback she receives from Huntsvillians and enjoys their reminiscences regarding the recognizable-yet-memorable settings she portrays:
“I have found that people often have an attachment to the places in my paintings. I often hear comments like, ‘My father owned that building’ or ‘my husband proposed to me on that bench.’ These personal connections fascinate me…”
As a relative newcomer here, Ozaki strives to bring a fresh eye to the surrounding scenery and enjoys presenting her personal view of the town to those who may have been here too long to still notice the “little things.” In fact, her work in Huntsville has given her a new perspective on her own hometown…and she carries it with her whenever she returns. Ozaki also enjoys portrait work, preferring to choose her own models rather than work on commission.
For her subjects, she likes painting the more interesting characters around her in action – particularly area artists and performers. In fact, attending several local concerts with her husband has provided the primary motivation for many of her works. She herself loves playing classical piano and singing arias, drawing further inspiration from the music of the masters, particularly Chopin.
Given her focus, Ozaki’s selection as the Panoply poster artist for 2010—“The Year of Alabama Small Towns and Downtowns”—is no surprise. This year’s Panoply theme, “Home is Where the heART Is,” is readily seen in her creation, A Panoply Fantasy, in which she wanted to capture the ARTStravaganza’s wonder and joy:
“In my area of Japan, they are known for a great fireworks festival called Kumano Oh Hanabi—I used some images from this festival as reference for this painting. If you look closely, you can see some of my friends from the Flying Monkey and a man making huge bubbles from a painting I did of the Sidewalk Art Stroll downtown.”
Ozaki has received Awards of Distinction from the Huntsville Art League’s “Unique Views of Huntsville” and their annual “Collector’s Draw.” Many of her oils can be seen decking the walls of private homes and Thai Garden in Five Points. Now original watercolor paintings are available at her studio, as well: Ozaki Fine Art is located on the second floor of Huntsville’s historic Lowe Mill at 2211 Seminole Drive, SW. To find out more, call (256) 604-4979, write yuri@ozakifineart.com or ozakifineart@gmail.com, or visit her blog at ozakifineart.blogspot.com or her website at www.ozakifineart.com.
Purchase Your Own Panoply Poster!
The Panoply 2010 Commemorative Poster is available by coming by the TAC office (next door to the Von Braun Center Playhouse Box Office) and purchasing one, or by mail for an additional charge of $3.50 to cover mailing cost.
You can call TAC at (256) 519-2787 (ARTS) and place your order; we accept cash, checks, and credit cards. You may also mail your check to The Arts Council, 700 Monroe Street, SW; Suite 2, Huntsville, AL 35801.
Checks should be made out to The Arts Council, Inc.