Born in 1989 in the Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Kyushu,

Japan, to a family of ceramic makers, Tanaka Yū pursued an art

education at the Kyoto Saga University of Arts. She received her BFA

in ceramics in 2013. Tanaka studied oil painting, but she switched to

ceramics as she appreciated the physicality of the material and the

process. After graduation she worked as an assistant in the ceramics

department at Kyoto Saga University of Arts from 2015-2018. Tanaka

uses Shigaraki-blended clay due to its high plasticity, allowing her to

create her trompe-l'oeil wrapped box forms using coil-built clay.[1] She

has exhibited both domestically and internationally, most notably with a

major installation in the 2018 Biwako Biennale in Shiga, Japan, and the

exhibition Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan at

the Art Institute of Chicago from 2023-2024. She recently graduated

from Kyoto City University of Art with her MFA in ceramics in 2024,

and she continues to live and work in Kyoto, Japan.[2]

[1] “Tanaka Yū,” Joan B Mirviss LTD, accessed August 5, 2024, https://

www.mirviss.com/artists/tanaka-yu.

[2] Tanaka Yū “Profile,” Artist website, accessed August 5, 2024,

https://yutanaka-hp.wixsite.com/ceramic/profile.

Description