Work is a breeze for Oahu sculptor

A lifelong fascination with the wind inspires Mamoru Sato's art

It may seem ironic that sculptor Mamoru Sato articulates his reverence for nature via PVC pipes, pop rivets and shiny stainless steel. Works in his latest exhibit, "More of Mo: Sculpture by Mamoru Sato" at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, show off his astounding proficiency in reworking those materials. But how did life in rural southeastern Colorado lead this farm boy to his particular brand of art?

Sato calls the region of his youth "dust bowl country." "I'd go to sleep during a dust storm and wake up and find a silhouette of my head on my pillow," he said.

Those storms, the waving wheat fields and the visions of sand dunes all fed an early and lifelong interest in wind. Meanwhile, life on a farm familiarized Sato early with the mechanics of machinery.

"I always liked to work with my hands. My father wasn't very mechanically inclined, so I did most of the repair work," he says.

Combining his affinity for mechanics and his love of the wind, Sato entered the University of Colorado intending to study aeronautical engineering. But he dropped out and spent two years trying to figure out what he really wanted to do. He worked in landscaping, a leather shop, a post office. When he finally went back to school, he even enrolled in accounting.

Then Sato took a sculpture class. "I knew immediately that I liked it a lot," he says.

And his work garnered attention. One of Sato's art professors was watching him closely and encouraged him to continue his work. Two years later the professor helped Sato get a scholarship for graduate school.

Today, Sato remains in an academic setting. For more than 40 years, he been the one encouraging students at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. All the while, he's continued to explore kinetic sculpture.

"I guess my work shows my engineering background," he says. "I like making mechanical-type things. It's challenging for me to take common materials and adapt them."

Sato says none of his projects ever turn out the way he envisioned them ("If it did, it's not a challenge"), and a quarter of the time he destroys what he makes. But every effort is a step forward in his creative process.

"Even if something doesn't work, it gives me ideas for another piece," he says, ever the optimist.

Much of the artist's work is kinetic, meaning it has movement. One piece in "More of Mo" is even motorized. But Sato says motors never last long. The wind, however, "is always there," so most of his pieces are powered by subtle movements of air.

"Wind has a natural, soothing, soft quality," he says. "I like using the wind."

Christy Takamune, gallery director at the Japanese Cultural Center and one of Sato's former students, says Sato's artwork reflects his teaching style. "Mo is structured but also free-flowing. He provides guidelines, but he allows students to explore and figure out who they are as artists."

Takamune admires "his ability to bring motion into sculpture. He takes these ordinary, sometimes industrial objects, that are stiff and structured, and re-creates them into a piece that is fun, free-flowing and organic."

"Mo's work is innovative and spontaneous," she says. "There's that moment of discovery when you see his work in motion, and you say, 'Ahhh!' because it's so beautiful."