masakoart@yahoo.co.uk The Phoenix Gallery and Studio, 17 Ellesmere St, Castlefield, Manchester, M15 4JY tel:07974754101
Masako Sakurai is a Japanese artist based in Manchester. She was inspired and encouraged to take up painting by Philippe Aird at the Phoenix Studio in Castlefield, Manchester, from where she now works. 
Born in Shizuoka, Japan, Masako trained and worked as a nurse in Tokyo. Though her work was generally satisfying, she felt the need for an outlet for her creative ideas, and so studied ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), in which she is a qualified teacher, and pottery. During several visits to Europe, she became interested in and began to appreciate western art and it was then that the seeds for her future art were sown.
Masako moved to the UK and settled in Manchester in 2005. She began working as a florist, giving her further appreciation of space, colour, design and style. Soon afterwards, a chance meeting with Philippe paved the way for her to begin to realise her artistic vision. The joy and freedom of his work appealed to Masako and his willingness to provide her with time and space to develop her work were crucial in giving her the confidence to pursue her ideas.
Combining her ikebana training, which generally relies on quite rigid rules of form and structure, with the less structured approach seen in Western flower arranging and garden design, she began to experiment with the artistic techniques absorbed from Philippe to create her own colourful world of floral and abstract paintings.
She sees flower arranging and painting as complimentary activities, each providing ideas for the other and allowing her to transpose shape, colour, texture and design between the two areas.
Inspiration comes in many different forms, from the world around me and the materials that I use. I have benefited greatly from the tutoring of Philippe Aird. He has shown me different methods and techniques and encouraged me to experiment. The natural world around me especially the exquisite world of plants and flowers never ceases to amaze me. I want to capture that inherent beauty, in paint on canvas. My paintings being testament to the fact of the original flower. I am always experimenting with new compositions and find the freedom of expressive painting uplifting and unbinding. This is contrasted with my flower arranging skills which are traditional and measured.