Shinichi sawada biography of alberta

Born in 1982, Shinichi Sawada has attended Nakayoshi Fukushikai, a social welfare organisation for disabled individuals in Japan, since the year 2000, where he divides his time working in the sculpture hut up in the mountains, and in the institution’s bakery.

Having been creative from an early age, using sweet wrappers and other found objects to make art with, he first began with sashiko textiles but quickly moved to using clay.

Sawada is a prolific artist taking around four days to complete each piece.

When Sawada works, he demonstrates such confidence and assuredness that it seems he has already envisioned how his final pieces will look.

Art Brut from Japan (Exhibition catalogues)

With his delicate fingers, he applies each ‘thorn’ onto the main body of the piece without showing any kind of hesitation and always works in silence. The ‘thorns’ evolved over time, becoming denser and more rounded, often in straight orderly lines across the works.

He often places older works in a line next to him when workin