Carving paths: art, joinery and exchange

Artist Misato Sano draws diagrams to explain joinery techniques

It was in 2011 while I was living in Sendai that I first became aware of the number of women carvers in Japan. At the time, I was working with Aya Takada, director of Birdo Flugas gallery, to establish the Sendai side of Shared Lines—a cultural exchange linking artists from Sendai and Christchurch in the wake of the devastating earthquakes in both cities.

I’d wanted to learn to carve since I was a teenager and had made a couple of failed attempts to teach myself. Over a decade later, still unable to find anywhere in New Zealand that allowed women to carve whakairo [traditional Māori carving], I found myself teaching at a girls' high school in Japan through the JET Programme.

I joined some carving classes with students—my first time using a chisel—and I was hooked. Years later, after moving to Sendai, I enrolled in a weekend class on carving Buddhist statues, began collecting tools and started carving at the kitchen table in my spare time.

Joinery techniques by Kodai Hihara

Before returning to Aotearoa in 2020, an Ainu friend introduced me to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Soon after arriving home, I enrolled in a whakairo course with Cory Boyd, a tutor open to teaching women. It was my first time carving in a Māori-led space, and it was exciting. The course was disrupted by Covid-19 and moved online, prompting me to search for other wahine carvers. I found a few in Aotearoa, but most leads pointed me back to Japan.

The wood and tools I’d used in Japan were easier to handle, and although I struggled working at a larger scale, I gained confidence knowing I had women friends there—similar in build—wielding chainsaws and moving massive logs. Many were younger and formally trained, but I figured if they could do it, I could too.

When I was lucky enough to receive an Arts Practitioners Grant from the Asia New Zealand Foundation earlier this year, I began planning studio visits and searched for somewhere to learn yosegi-zukuri—a Japanese technique of assembling sculpture from multiple wood pieces. It allows for efficient use of wood and more dynamic poses.

Inside Ami Yoshida’s studio

Curator Chantel Matthewand and I arranged to take The R.I.C.E. Project—an exhibition featuring artists from Aotearoa and Japan—to Birdo Flugas. At the same time, I was invited to present a solo show and take part in a micro-residency at Honda Artist Studios, just a stone’s throw from Shiogama Port. The building houses four studios and short-term accommodation for artists.

At Honda Artists Studios, I met Ami Yoshida, a young carver who makes figurative sculptures. She generously shared her knowledge, explaining how to prevent cracking and reduce weight—many of her techniques developed through trial and error. Nearby in Matsushima, I reconnected with Misato Sano, a long-time friend who creates large-scale dog-like portraits of people.

Misato Sano’s dog-like scuptures

Both Ami and Misato had studied at Tohoku University of Art and Design in Yamagata, so I visited the campus.

After a bus ride to the mountains, I arrived to sculpture-filled ponds and a large outdoor auditorium. The main building is accessed via a bridge over water. Up the hill, the sculpture studios buzzed with activity—students making plaster models and the forge clanging in the background.

I could smell camphor before entering the wood workshops, where Sakai-sensei walked me through the fundamentals of drying wood and explained the various reasons for joining wood, including structural reinforcement. I left with my head full of new knowledge, my heart full of gratitude, and my arms full of gifts—in true Japanese style.

Logs outside the sculpture studios at Tohoku University of Art and Design

In Tokyo, I packed in over 30 gallery visits in a few days—from small dealer spaces to major public museums. Sculpture was everywhere, including wood carving.

Highlights included the Louise Bourgeois survey at the Mori Art Museum and an immersive installation by local collective Side Core at the Watarium Museum.

No trip to Tokyo feels complete without a visit to MoT (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo), which featured Japanese contemporary works from the Takahashi Ryutaro Collection.

Jamboree, 2014 by Osamu Mori at MoT

Back in the mountains of Mt Nasu National Park, I took time to recuperate before visiting the Otawara City Institute of Art and Cultural Studies, where a former junior high school has been converted into a community art space.

Director Kodai Hihara gave me a tour and explained his intricate joinery techniques—some joins were exaggerated as design elements, while others were so precise I needed a magnifying glass to spot them.

As a result of the relationships formed in Shiogama, Chantel Matthews will curate the second iteration of The R.I.C.E. Project, showing at Ukaipō Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau in October 2025. I'm also excited to host Ami Yoshida in October at Te Tuhi where she'll speak about her art practice.

The Foundation's Arts Programme brings Asia into the mainstream of New Zealand arts by inspiring New Zealand arts professionals to grow their connections and knowledge of Asia. It also supports the presentation of Asian arts in partnership with New Zealand arts organisations and events.