Artists Talk: Akiko Sugiyama

AKIKO SUGIYAMA
Step Back, Go Forward

March 7 – April 18, 2026
Artist Talk: Friday, March 27, 11 AM

In the alt_space Gallery

About the Exhibition:

Born in Northern Japan and trained in painting at Joshibi University of Art and Design in Tokyo, Akiko Sugiyama has built a distinguished career spanning more than three decades in the United States. Since relocating to Florida in 1974, she has exhibited extensively in galleries, museums, art fairs, and craft shows nationwide, earning recognition for her intricate sculptural works that merge delicacy with structural complexity.

Sugiyama is best known for her meticulously constructed paper sculptures created through folding, rolling, twisting, cutting, stitching, wrapping, and layering paper into dimensional forms. Often incorporating natural materials such as branches and organic elements, her work reflects a deep reverence for nature while balancing organic curves with precise geometric structures. The interplay between fragility and strength is central to her aesthetic, resulting in pieces that feel both ethereal and architecturally grounded.

In Step Back, Go Forward, Sugiyama revisits unfinished experiments and dormant ideas from earlier periods in her career. After years of working under the fast pace of exhibition deadlines, a recent period of slowed production allowed her the opportunity to reflect, reassess, and rediscover pieces that had not yet found their final expression. By returning to these earlier concepts—adding new layers of paint, texture, and structural refinement—she has completed works that bridge past and present.