Minami Oya
Minami Oya is a visual artist, glassmaker, and educator currently living and working in San Francisco. Born and raised on the island of Sado, in Japan, Oya grew up surrounded by nature, art, and ancestral consciousness. She discovered her passion for glass in 2008, at San Francisco State University. She went on to train with master glassmakers in studios such as Pilchuck Glass School, Pittsburgh Glass Center, Corning Museum of Glass, and D.F. Glassworks in Murano, Italy. Oya holds an MFA in Spatial Art from San Jose State University and has taught her craft in several institutions including California College of the Arts, San Jose State University, and Public Glass in San Francisco.
Primarily working in glass, Oya believes the medium reflects conflicting human qualities: fragility and strength, transparency and opacity, darkness and light. She describes its capacity to be hurtful or shatter with mishandling or be soothing to a careful touch. Her abstraction, geometric forms, and monochromatic color palette provide an opportunity for contemplation and personal interpretation.
