As a child, Miu Yatsuka ’24 had her early encounters with art through her father, who stressed the importance of graceful handwriting through Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. At the time, Yatsuka disliked the harsh discipline that came with the art, but looking back, she appreciates the sense of identity and connection to her culture it provided her. As she grew up, Yatsuka began to dive into different mediums of art, such as drawing and painting. At Deerfield, she took the AP Studio Art Drawing class her junior year where she explored sadness as a feminine emotion, and attempted to find that beauty through art.

Yatsuka explained her recent shift in artistry, saying, “I always thought, in these pieces with so much emotional charge and emotional depth, those qualities were what made artwork a piece of art. But recently, I’ve kind of departed from that idea.”

She focuses more on enjoying the artistic process rather than the result, explaining that, “I want to create something happy with my pieces for once because sometimes the most important thing is just finding the aesthetic value and finding the artistic beauty and little moments of happiness.”

Yatsuka, who feels very drawn to painting, describes her process as uniquely deconstructed. She focuses on colors and uses them to invoke emotion and catch the eye. However, rather than blending paints together, she tries to layer them, one color at a time, eventually giving her work a very cohesive look. She describes the intricacies of her style of painting, explaining the importance of angles and perspective when paintiing.

Currently, Yatsuka finds inspiration in the intricacies of the human experience, drawing friends and other anatomical things for fun in her free time. To gain inspiration from the world around her, Yatsuka keeps a little notebook with her throughout the day and writes down things she observes and finds inspiring. She shared, “I think what drives me the most in art is just what makes us human.”

Yatsuka credits some of her creativity to Visual and Performing Arts teacher Mercedes Taylor and English Department Chair Anna Steim-Miller. She said, “They say the most profound, most beautiful statements out of nowhere in class sometimes, and I like to write those down and use them as a reference, or as a starting point for a question I want to explore in my artwork.”

Yatsuka explained her process, saying, “I think I take a very theoretical approach with my art. To me, it’s the pursuit of knowledge and like it keeps me curious. I think that’s why art is so important, and that’s why I still continue it.”

Yatsuka also tries to find inspiration in other artists, such as Robert Sweeney and Kerry James Marshall. However, Yatsuka finds the greatest inspiration in her closest friends, Adaugo Nwaokoro ’24 and Mia Goetzke ’24. She expressed her appreciation for Nwaokoro’s continuous support for her creative projects, even when they seemed random at times.

Yatsuka also praised Goetzke, saying, “I’ve always admired her and the way she loves art. Last year I was really struggling to find purpose in art, and it felt more like a chore. But just seeing the way [Goetzke] felt so moved by her environment and her art was always so inspirational, and that was partly the reason why I chose to continue art this year.”

Yatsuka’s appreciation for her friends showed in her artworks. Nwaokoro shared Yatsuka’s artistic process, saying, “She relied on me and other people that she respected and loved to get inspiration for the stuff that she wanted to create. I guess a part of us definitely influenced her in the art that she was submitting.”

In addition, Nwokoro, who described Yatsuka as thoughtful and open-minded, explained how those qualities translated into her art, saying, “She would ask for the advice of other artists, and if critiques were made, she went back and shot again and made those tweaks, being very precise with her work and always striving to improve.”

In the past few years, Yatsuka has also explored the art of photography and filmmaking. She created an underwater short film last year with Donald Hutchinson ’23, which, to her, is one of her most meaningful art pieces. It was the first film she ever made, and shes shared that she invested much time and effort into the process.

Yatsuka said that her film was very open to interpretation, mainly focusing on the theme of clarity. One of the characters, played by Hutchinson, is covered in silver paint and escapes reality after hearing a tune. When he is transported to his dreamscape, he finds an angel-like figure, whom he chases. The angel eventually leads him to a pool, where the character falls in, and the water washes away the metallic silver. Through this scene Yatsuka hoped to show “the duality between the characters.” The film conveyed her attention to detail and aesthetics, and the deep meaning she always hopes to infuse in her art.

Yatsuka shared, “Just having that whole process and having mentors and actors that were so patient with me really gave me the liberty to really create something that was very thoughtful. In the end, it captures a lot of the emotions that I was feeling back then.”

Currently enrolled in Post-AP Studio Art at Deerfield, proving less rigorous than her previous AP class, Yatsuka feels she can spend more time focusing on the creative process, exploring the meaning of her art, and experimenting with different ideas.

Yatsuka shared, “I think my art has always been very flexible, and I haven’t really found my style yet. However, I just really want to make art that brings people happiness. I want to be more spontaneous with my heart, not in the sense that I just think of an idea and execute it, but I want to create art that feels whimsical, but is deep down very intentional.”

While Yatsuka still contemplates her art style, she is confident she will continue to create art in the future. She sees herself focusing more on photography to capture existing beauty in the universe, and also experimenting with hands-on art, such as pottery. 

No matter what happens in the future, Yatsuka believes art will always be a part of her life, saying, “I think art will follow me wherever I go. It just always shows up in the craziest ways. I don’t think I could be who I am today without art, and there’s no doubt I will be continuing it during my college career.”