Join us for a conversation with local artist, sculptor, and ceramist Wataru Sugiyama on his life, his creations, and the joy to be found in art.

When Sugiyama left an engineering career in Japan to pursue a Communications degree at SOU, there was no way of knowing that a required art class would change everything. From then on, his passion for creating art only grew. Sugiyama crafts his pieces in studios in Ashland and Phoenix, but his art has received national attention–he was recently selected as one of 120 participants in the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington D.C. His sculpture “Gift” can be found at the Gresham St. entrance of the Ashland Library, welcoming all who enter.