Collection Highlight: Yoko Sekino-Bové
The Diary Cup Project narrates the personal experiences of Yoko Sekino-Bové as an Arts/Industry artist-in-residence.
The series of cups documents her time living in Wisconsin and working in the artist’s studio located in the Pottery of the Kohler Co. factory. The cups’ images depict activities such as eating bratwurst, seeing the world’s largest American flag, and visiting Mary Nohl’s house in Fox Point. Her surface designs also illustrate the industrial nature of the Arts/Industry experience.
At the end of each workday, Sekino-Bové commemorated the past 24 hours by painting the most significant and memorable events on a cup. Together, the 74 cups chronicle the steps a pottery resident takes to create work in the factory. From making a plaster mold to pouring slip to drying the work, then painting a surface design and placing work on the buggy to load into the kiln, her playful illustrations outline the industrial process through an engaging lens.
The Diary Cup Project extends beyond simply the series of objects; Sekino-Bové’s cups offer personal reflection. They are reminders to pay attention to small details, to not take things for granted, to embrace mistakes, and to fold the lessons learned into our personal narrative—to listen, look, and value what is going on around ourselves.
The Artists
This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding was also provided by the Kohler Trust for the Arts and Education, Kohler Foundation, Inc., and the Frederic Cornell Kohler Charitable Trust. The Arts Center thanks its many members for their support of exhibitions and programs through the year.
