A large sculpture of interlaced coils containing a glistening membrane by Goto Miho enclosed in the original signed wooden box from her Heartbeat of the Skin series. It is 50 x 24 x 19.5 cm (roughly 20 x 9-1/2 x 8 inches) and is in excellent condition, directly from the artist. When prompted about her message she said: I feel that there is something vaguely present that is never visible in my everyday life. It always speaks to me like a pulse beating deep within my thin skin, insisting on its existence. Although I have been expressing myself through painting for nearly ten years, now that I think about it, I feel like I've always been struggling to discover its true identity. “When I encountered ceramics for the first time, I suddenly felt that I had found the means to respond to this vague phantom within.” “In this medium I constantly interact with unknown experiences; I am able to feel a certain sense of this diaphanous existence and create works through which I can touch people's five senses; gradually giving back to society. For the first time, I feel like I am a part of this world.”
Goto Miho was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1998, and initially exhibited two dimensional art before finding a comfortable creative valve in clay. Goto Miho entered the ceramics course at Osaka University of Arts in 2021, already an advanced student initially trained in painting. She was awarded at the 14th Prince Takamado Memorial Netsuke Competition in 2022. In 2023 she entered the Ceramic Design Institute of Tajimi City, and the same year was recipient of the 9th Contemporary Art and Culture Foundation Ceramic Artist Support Grant. She completed advanced studies at the aforementioned Research Facility in 2025 and is currently based in Toki City. She creates works using porcelain clay that visualize ambiguous and ever-changing sensations. Emphasizing the act of creation by hand, she values the organic forms that emerge naturally rather than adhering to predetermined designs. This intuitive approach often results in works that resemble organic structures, like human organs, though this resemblance is unintentional. Recently, she has focused on hand-built, vertically oriented sculptures refined by a process of carving and scraping away the clay, her hands slowly removing the excess, so that only the essential form remains. She constructs both the inner and outer parts simultaneously, ensuring structural integrity. Her work has been exhibited in Japan including the “Ceramic Synergy” exhibition at the Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art in 2023. Combining ceramics with two-dimensional expression, she draws inspiration from the limitations of clay, continuing to explore its creative potential.
