The Artist

Welcome to my site!

Please look around and see what is new.  Don't forget to visit my
gallery and please send me your feedback if you like.

My name is Yoko and I grew up in Japan where I also started my art education and began working with glass.

Later I continued my art education in the United States, at Pilchuck Glass Art School in Seattle, Washington, and at Penland School in North Carolina.  Over the years I took additional classes in glass blowing and also worked at glass companies and glass studios in the USA, designing and blowing glass objects.

Since 2001 I have been a full time glass artist, dedicating my time to working with glass, creating glass objects and jewelry and experimenting with new designs. Each year I display my art pieces at a number of art shows and also in galleries here in

the beautiful state of Minnesota.  Please see my "News" page for more information.

“Oceanchild” is simply the meaning of my first name, Yoko, in the Japanese language. I have always very much felt connected to the ocean and I have a deep reverence for the wonders of nature. I get many of my inspirations for my art creations from the oceans and from the abundance of wondrous and fascinating life they present to us in an astounding and spectacular variety of shapes and colors.

Working with glass fascinates me because I have one attempt at a piece; it all comes down to a moment of high concentration. If the planning and preparation was not good enough, the result is unsatisfactory. It cannot be corrected or fixed. It happens right there in one moment.  -  I love to be creative and enjoy the tension associated with this process.

The techniques I use to make all my beads and glass pieces are lampworking, fusing, and slumping.