MOTO OHTAKE
Stellar Motion
Born in Tokyo in 1952, Ohtake grew up in Yokohama, Japan and moved to the U.S. in 1976. After attending the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and receiving a Master of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, he moved to Santa Cruz in 1985.
Moto is a full-time artist and professor, he has taught at Cabrillo, MPC, UCSC, DeAnza, and Mission College. Teaching students helps him exercise his creativity outside of working on his own art. Looking at their artworks and giving suggestions is “very stimulating because I’m using my imagination too, to help them,” Ohtake says. His greatest hope for his students is that they come out of his class with a more imaginative approach to their art, in addition to their understanding of different materials and techniques to create their art.
His kinetic series incorporates aspects of design, engineering, and physics and can be found in private collections as well as prominent public locations. He was one of the first participants in the Santa Cruz City Arts SculpTOUR and most recently installed at 4th and Brannan with the San Francisco Arts Commission as part of the Central Subway System. This installation at the Tannery Arts Center is one in a series of kinetic sculptures Ohtake has created and installed across the world, from Dublin, Ireland, to Tokyo, Japan, to upstate New York.
Stellar Motion is a kinetic steel sculpture inspired by elements of nature on both a macro and micro level - from galactic bodies to the delicate patterns of crystalline structures. While abstract in approach the themes combine opposing factors, including chaos and order, simplicity and complexity as well as gravity and balance which all serve to remind the viewer of our connection to the greater universe and heighten the viewers' awareness of their immediate natural surroundings. The kinetic sculpture is a self-contained system that is wind-driven and provides the viewer with an infinite number of movements that range from tranquil to frenetic as the weather patterns change.