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My name's Junko Iijima, and I'm an artist.
I have my degree in metalsmithing.
I liked more of a rigidness, and I can manipulate
this sheet of metal into something I want.
And that was very challenging to me.
I'm most inspired by the place I am
and the culture I'm in.
I grew up in Tokyo, so when I was there,
I didn't really notice that, "Oh, I'm Japanese
and this is my culture."
When I came to this country,
it was a high school exchange program.
When I got put in West Virginia,
I didn't feel like I was any different,
but people see me differently.
You know, I have a different color of skin,
different hair color.
I mean, I looked different.
When I was in high school,
I couldn't understand English that well.
But if somebody had a Hello Kitty like, you know, pen
or something, I'm like, "Oh, you know Hello Kitty,"
even if that person didn't know that was Japanese.
Like, "Oh, it's Japanese?"
And then we can start a conversation.
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I was definitely interested
in how different cultures are intertwining
and getting kind of mixed up.
I made this group of work in 2014.
And I casted over 200 pieces.
And these are referencing the Japanese iron tea kettle,
because you see all the bumps.
When I started researching, I found out
that those bumps on iron tea kettle
are actually functional, not just a design.
It's basically creating surface,
more surface to retain heat, so your tea will stay hot.
I grew up in pop culture, you know,
and I wanted to add a little bit of my cultural influence.
So I used Mickey Mouse as American pop-cultural icon
and Hello Kitty as Japanese pop-cultural icon,
and all this little ears and the pop-cultural elements
are from either, you know, Mickey Mouse or --
most of them this time is Pokémon.
My daughter has this book, the Pokémon,
and I started looking through and started finding
these little things, like this one is kind of that,
or maybe this piece.
Yeah, this is kind of similar.
When you carve, you want to make sure
you work from like four different sides, right?
So this you can basically cut out.
The hottest part of the flame is right here.
I like teaching because I give students a challenge
and an assignment and then they come up
with very interesting ideas.
I want a little bit of the wax to dribble out.
Oh, I see. Got it, got it.
WOMAN: So I'm having troubles with that seam.
When she's showing us a step-by-step
on how to construct something...
- Hammer flat a little bit. - Okay.
Just to get it closer.
And we can use an extra easy solder, yeah.
She can teach us those little --
you know, how to saw a jagged edge.
You know, she just has all the little tricks of the trade
and she shares those with us.
- This motion... - Yeah?
Instead of that... this helps more.
Oh, right on. Okay. Great.
I think it's important that she comes up and goes,
"Oh, hey, you need to heat up the bottom more."
JUNKO: You're gonna get closer, right?
- Yeah. - Yeah, you're getting closer.
And so like that basically made the project 10 times easier.
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JUNKO: I like to help them
to make the idea come true.
It's like everybody's writing different books,
and I get to read them at the end.
The piece I'm doing right now
is called "Capsulated."
I wanted to use the pieces that I've been accumulating,
all these little pieces you get
from the vending machine from Japan
and also America.
This is actually capsulated Japan.
This is from the Ghibli, the Miyazaki film Totoro.
And in this one also is America,
and you see Superman.
And these are called Shopkins.
It's very collectible in elementary school kids.
I wanted to make the work that showcases
those two different cultural elements.
And the title is "Capsulated."
So it's kind of like a time capsule.
I think the pop culture, it kind of unites people.
If you don't understand each other's languages,
you look at Mickey Mouse,
we can say, "Oh, that's Mickey Mouse."
It's something that brings people together.