The Cupertino Courier
News
Photograph by Brian Connelly
Corinne Okada Takara won the Cupertino Artist of the Year award for her artworks made of Asian and other ethnic food wrappers, wire and remnants of silk. Here she holds a pot of flowers she created.
Clever sculptor uses everyday items
By ERIN HUSSEY
As a child, Corinne Okada Takara learned almost everything--including throwaway items--deserves a second look. Today, Okada has made a career creating beauty from rubbish and was named the 2006 Cupertino Distinguished Artist of the Year by the Cupertino Fine Arts Commission for her work.
"She takes things that we would probably just be tossing out in the trash and makes beautiful art out of it," said Robert Harrison, chairman of the Cupertino Fine Arts Commission and the 2000 Cupertino Distinguished Artist of the Year.
Okada uses silk remnants, Japanese candy wrappers, wire and produce netting to create large insects, colorful kimonos and fashionable hats.
"A lot of relatives who live in Hawaii send us the wrappers," Okada said.
"And a friend in San Francisco who does couture gowns for the opera sends me her scrap fabrics, which are just fantastic."
Okada's inspiration for using seemingly mundane materials for her art pieces came from listening to stories about her Japanese ancestors who lived on Maui.
"They were great savers," she said.
"They used everything; the lining of rice bags was sewn into undergarments, old kimonos were sewn into dresses and then into quilts or slippers. I still go to relatives' houses and see these fragments of kimonos. It's neat."
In addition to Okada's ability to transform bits and pieces of scrap materials into art, her involvement in the community also contributed to the commission's decision.
"She gives back to the community and volunteers her time to teach art in schools to children," Harrison said.
"And seeing what she did at Kaiser [Permanente], for the community there, although it was commissioned, we just felt that she was it."
In 2005, Okada was hired to design one of her butterflies for Kaiser Permanente.
"It was really fun because I went all over Santa Clara County and went to different ethnic food markets and bought snacks that were in interesting wrappers," Okada said.
"I had Indian, Persian, Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese-- everything--in the butterfly."
The food did not go to waste, either. Her husband and two young children ate it all.
Okada's 71/2 foot-long butterfly is located in the new Kaiser Permanente Medical Office Building in Santa Clara.
"Patients coming in for the first time are flabbergasted by the works, and they're always asking about the artist," longtime volunteer greeter and guide Beth Stitt said.
There have even been times when Okada answered her front door and to her surprise, Kaiser Permanente patients were standing on her stoop, wanting to meet her and see her studio.
"I don't have a studio; it's just my house," she said.
"But it's really sweet."
Like the materials she uses, the rooms in Okada's home are used for a variety of things. Her guest room doubles as her studio, and her bed once served as a giant production table.
"The first kimono I made, I made on refrigerator cardboard on our bed upstairs," Okada said.
The kimono now hangs in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.
But Okada doesn't create art just on commission or for museum displays; she also helps schoolchildren create their own masterpieces.
"I think art is an important part of education," Okada said.
Last year she volunteered in her son's kindergarten classroom and made shadow puppets. Starting in the fall, Okada will take on a more permanent role.
"This year I am going to be teaching fourth- and fifth-graders at Stevens Creek Elementary," she said.
Okada will work two days a week as a contract art instructor paid by the Parent Teacher Organization. Then, at home, when her kids are sleeping, she will work on her commissioned pieces.
"It's a real balance with my kids," Okada said.
"But I really think it is important to contribute to the community, and I think art is an important part of education. I am very grateful that my husband nominated me for the Distinguished Artist Award, and it's really nice to feel more a part of the city."
More on the jubilee
On Friday, the Fine Arts League of Cupertino will recognize Corinne Okada Takara as 2006 Cupertino Artist of the Year. The reception, from 7-9 p.m. in Cupertino's Community Hall, is open to the public. It will also feature the works of past Cupertino Distinguished Artists of the Year.
This year's jubilee, co-sponsored by Rotary and the Chamber of Commerce, follows Sept. 16 and 17.
The outdoor event takes place outside the Community Hall on Torre Avenue. The jubilee includes live bands, arts and crafts and a Kidzone. There, Okada will teach children how to use pipe cleaners and candy wrappers to create insects.
