The artist Ako Castuera is best known for her work in the prize animated seriesadventure time.” As a writer and storyboard artist, she helped intrepid heroes Jake the Dog and Finn the Human become iconic cartoon characters.
Although he brought flying rainbow unicorns and a platoon of conspiring penguins to life on screen, there's more to Castuera's resume than hyper-imaginative animation.
Ako Castuera's work is often considered whimsical, but she feels the word does not capture the depth of her artistic experience.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
The Echo Park-based creative is also a professional ceramist whose hand-built vessels and sculptures have been exhibited at the National Museum of Japanese American Art, Oxy Arts, and the Oakland Museum of Art.
In this series, we highlight independent makers and artists, from glass blowers to fiber artists, creating original products in and around Los Angeles.
While Castuera's studio is filled with its fair share of fun “Pee-wee's Playhouse”-themed ceramic charms and anthropomorphic banana figurines, his art is equally dedicated to highlighting the natural resources and indigenous peoples of Southern California, as well as his own Mexican-Ryukyuan heritage.
“'Whimsy' is a word that has been applied a lot to my work. This is not my word,” she said during a recent tour of the Monrovia workspace she shares with her artist husband. Robert Satoand fellow ceramist pink mark.
Ako Castuera's work is anthropological and sometimes unusual, such as her foot box sculptures. He also feels a special connection with his tools. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
“It's not that fantasy is negative, but I feel like it doesn't really capture the substance of what I feel like I'm working with, as far as the depth of the clay, the depth of the experience, of the earth.”
She was sitting on a stool next to her workbench, using a smooth stone to grind clods of dirt into fine powder as she spoke. She collects the red dirt during nature walks around the San Gabriel Mountains area, whether it be the Arroyo Seco River bed or the foothills of Claremont, her hometown.
“This is a special land,” he explained.
For the record:
6:35 pm February 17, 2026A previous version of this article stated that Ako Castuera is of Mexican-Japanese descent and uses local clay in a variety of works. She identifies as Mexican-Ryukyuan and only uses local clay when she teaches classes.
For her, it has presence, a life of its own and a beloved story. She uses local clay when she teaches classes, but not for commercial work, which can include anything from trinket boxes to ornate geometric vases and figurines of curious creatures.
Some of his most recent creations sit on a nearby wooden shelf. They are ceramic representations of Pacific tree frogs and great herons, both inhabitants of the Los Angeles River. The waterway has long been a source of inspiration for Castuera.
Ako Castuera's work ranges from massive pieces to miniatures, like these figurines.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
“I love the Los Angeles River,” he said. “It's my neighbor. It's my teacher. It's a place where I walk and ride my bike.”
He considers the river a muse and wants to inspire Angelenos of all ages to appreciate it. To this end, he teaches workshops for young people in riverside artistic centers. Watchmaking and Sooki Studio. Furthermore, the river was the “protagonist” of “city of ghosts,” the Emmy-winning Netflix animated series celebrating Los Angeles that he directed, has even been known to use some of its water to transform soil into moldable clay.
“The more people have a sense of kinship with the river, the better,” he said. “Because then they really feel that 'the river takes care of me; I want to take care of the river.'”
Castuera's work has an anthropological aspect, as well as an ecological one. For example, his research on Southern California Kumeyaay and Cahuilla The indigenous tribes inspired a series of large jars with motifs panstraditional pots used to store water and seeds. She plans to incorporate these jars into an immersive installation that will be on view at the Candlewood Arts Festival in Borrego Springs in March and April. And last fall, he hosted a community event with Los Angeles Nomad Division in which he analyzed how soil played a vital role in societies of both the Gabrielino-Tongva tribes of Los Angeles and the Ryukyuan people from his mother's native Okinawa..
Finding the sweet spot where cultures combine is a constant source of motivation for Castuera. She has created her own spin shisalion dog statues that are common throughout Okinawa. And he is currently working on a collection of small sculptures that honor his patrilineal ties to Puebla, Mexico. Their “taco babies” were inspired by one of the region's best-known dishes, tacos. arabsthat combine flavors from Mexico and the Middle East.
“I was thinking about the beauty of being in a mix of life and what that would look like personified,” he said of the small figures wrapped in colorful tortilla-like blankets.
Ako Castuera makes ceramics for the love of the process, not the final product.
(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
Some of Castuera's works are exhibited in galleries and others are sold. But just as often, he breaks it up and carries the dirt back to where he originally found it. It's a habit of creating and destroying that he developed as a student at Claremont High School, where he studied the craft for two semesters but didn't shoot any pieces.
“I don't think I would have been able to articulate this at 15 years old, but it's about the construction process, not the process of creating a product. It's about working with the material, just creating the space and time for that practice,” he said.
“The excitement and magic is really about discovering the unexpected. It's very fascinating and really engages me with life.”
