About
Rinoi Imada is an interdisciplinary artist whose ideas are inspired by glass, utilizing glass as a material and thinking tools to create her works. Drawn from a curiosity in the rich subtlety of human experience, her practice takes in various sculptural relationships with glass and glass related processes to explore languages that are easily dismissed, ignored and unseen through our lifetime. Imada earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in Glass from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2021 and is continuing her career as a visual artist and a glass blower. She has received awards and residency opportunities from RIT, Penland School of Craft in North Carolina and GlazenHuis in Lommel, Belgium in addition to others. She is currently under a fellowship of a craft practitioner(trainee) at Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo since 2024.
ガラス造形作家。言語に基づくアイデンティティ、感情の刹那を掬い上げることをテーマに素材としてのガラスを用いるだけでなく、思考の道具やそのうつわとしてガラスを活用し多角的な制作をおこなっている。2021年にニューヨーク州のロチェスター工科大学(RIT)にて修士号を取得し、ノースカロライナ州 のPenland School of Craft、ベルギー、ロンメルの GlazenHuis 美術館などから、賞やアーティスト・イン・レジデンスの機会や活動を得ている。2024年より、金沢卯辰山工芸工房にて、技術研修者として所属している。
Statement
I aim to verbalize and visualize the unnamed, everyday human experiences through glass and glass-related processes. When I spent time in the United States in early adulthood, I found myself constantly switching between languages in an effort to choose the “right” words. That act led to a subtle disruption in my sense of self, and sparked my curiosity toward making the unseen visible.
I see glass—with its ability to retain form while constantly letting light pass through—as an ideal medium for capturing and conveying fragile, shifting sensations. I’m drawn to the subtle changes and unconscious presences we barely notice in daily life. I use glass as a vessel to hold these fleeting experiences, linking its physical and symbolic qualities with quiet moments of awareness embedded in the everyday.
June 2025
私は、言葉にし難い人々の日常の体験を、ガラスを通して言語化し、視覚化することを試みている。成人して間もない頃に滞在したアメリカで、言語を切り替えるうちに「正しい言葉」を選ぼうとする意識が強まり、自身のアイデンティティの輪郭に微かな乱れを感じた。この体験が、目に見えないものを見ようとする私の制作の原点となった。
ガラスが持つ、かたちを保ちながらも常に光を通す性質は、曖昧で揺らぎのある感覚をすくい上げ、他者に伝えるための媒体としてふさわしいと感じている。
私は、私たちがほとんど気づかないような繊細な変化や無意識の気配に惹かれ、それらをすくい取る「うつわ」としてガラスを扱い、制作においては、ガラスの物理的・象徴的な特性と、日常に潜む小さな気づきを結びつけている。
June 2025
CV
Education
Rochester Institute of Technology- Rochester, NY
Master of Fine Arts in Glass, 2021
California State University San Bernardino- San Bernardino, CA
Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, 2019 with Honors of Arts
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2023 “Ligne“, Atelier AR, Asakusabashi, Tokyo
2021 “Ambiguity” MFA Thesis Exhibition, The Yards Collective
2019 “Handful of Life”, Little Gallery of San Bernardino, CA
2019 “Dialogue”, Gallery 106, California State University San Bernardino, CA
Juried/Group Exhibitions
2025 金沢市工芸展(Kanazawa City Craft Competition), Kanazawa M’za, Kanazawa, Japan
Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo Annual Exhibition, Kanazawa 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
石川の現代工芸展(Ishikawa’s Contemporary Crafts Exhibition), Kanazawa 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan
2024 “悶黙-Moda Moda-“ Duo exhibition by Rinoi Imada & Kyoko Hirako, Tokyo, Japan
KOGEI Art Fair Kanazawa, Room 501「銀座の金沢」, Kanazawa, Japan
2023 Craft Competition in Takaoka, Takaoka, Toyama, Japan
Sanyo Onoda Contemporary Glass Art Exhibition, Sanyo Onoda, Yamaguchi, Japan
International Biennial of Glass, Sofia, Bulgaria
Glass, Meet the Future 23 Film Festival with Mils Bridgewater and Michaela Tkadleček, North Lands Creative, Scotland, the United Kingdom
2022 American Craft Council’s School-to-Market, presenter in American Craft Made Baltimore, MD
“Emerging” Womenswork.art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
2021 RIT MFA Thesis Exhibition, RIT City Art Space
2020 Graduate Education Week Showcase: The College of Art and Design's Virtual Visual Exhibition
Glass Art Society international student exhibition at GAS 2020 Virtual Conference
2019 19th Annual Fine Craft Show, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
49th Annual Student Art Exhibition, Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, California State University San Bernardino, CA
2018 “HERstories”, Group exhibition at Gallery 106, California State University San Bernardino, CA
48th Annual Student Art Exhibition, Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, California State University San Bernardino, CA
Glass Art Society international student exhibition, Murano, Italy
Artist Talk
2023 Artist Lecture, Academie Berchem, Antwerp, Belgium
2021 Connected in Glass Podcast, Season 3, Episode 2 “Rinoi Imada“
2020 Graduate Education Week Showcase: The College of Art and Design's Virtual Visual Exhibition, RIT, Rochester, NY
GAS Student Meetup: “Graduate Student Pecha-kuchas”
Awards/Residencies
2025 エフエム石川社長賞(FM Ishikawa President Award), 石川の現代工芸展(Ishikawa’s Contemporary Crafts Exhibition),Kanazawa, Japan
2024 Contemporary Artist Grant, Kumagai Masatoshi Culture Foundation, Tokyo, Japan
Craft Practitioner(Trainee) Fellowship, Kanazawa Utatsuyama Kogei Kobo, Kanazawa, Japan
2023 Olympic Color Rods Artist Appreciation Award, Seattle, WA
GlazenHuis Hot Glass Residency, GlazenHuis, Lommel, Belgium
Merit-Based Fellowship, Penland Winter Residency, Penland, NC
2022 Nominee, Louis Comfort Tiffany Biennial Award, New York, NY
2020 Best in Show, Graduate Education Week Showcase: The College of Art and Design's Virtual Visual Exhibition, RIT, Rochester, NY
Aaron Rosenstreich Memorial Book Award, RIT, Rochester, NY
Annual Merit Scholarship, RIT, Rochester, NY
2019 Nomura Foundation Scholarship, Tokyo, Japan
President’s Purchase Award, 49th Annual Student Art Exhibition, Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, CSUSB, San Bernardino, CA
Certificate of Achievement for Outstanding Use of Glass as a Sculptural Material, CSUSB, San Bernardino, CA
Department Honors with Arts, CSUSB, CA
Annual Merit Scholarship, RIT, Rochester, NY