Leading Japanese ceramist Futamura Yoshimi, whose work inspired the title of the current exhibition “Living Clay: Artists Respond to Nature,” invariably turns to nature for her inspiration. Her sculptural forms, which begin as tubes partially formed on the wheel that are then manipulated by hand from the inside out, seem to swell and collapse before ones eyes, while an innovative mixture of clays gives her award-winning works uniquely textured surfaces reminiscent of charred firewood or rocks. Profoundly impacted by the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in her native Japan, Futamura’s recent work explores notions of impermanence and natural disaster.