Motonari “Moto” Sugai ’00 looks the part of a biker, but don’t let his appearance fool you.
An accomplished sculptor and artist, Sugai would sooner build a Harley Davidson than ride one. And that’s just what he did.
For his graduate thesis project, he built a life-size ceramic motorcycle. But the replica Harley-Davidson Fatboy, which has found a home at Chronic Choppers in Wichita, almost didn’t materialize.
“Due to unexpected warping and shrinkage, many parts were thrown in the trash,” Sugai explains. “I knew this piece-by-piece project would be hard, but I didn’t think it’d be this hard.” One piece alone was scrapped seven times, and the stress from firing the pieces in a kiln destroyed several more.
Sugai’s studio began to resemble a real chop shop. After four years of labor, the finished sculpture fools onlookers into believing it’s the real deal. “It’s amazing,” says Matt Lawless, a friend of Sugai. “Stand 10 feet back from that motorcycle and you think it’s real.”
On the horizon for Sugai: a three-dimensional re-creation of an image he drew for a cover of WSU’s student literary publication, Mikrokosmos. “I want to make a life-size bronze Hitler statue like the one in my charcoal piece, where he’s holding a Big Mac and wearing Mickey Mouse ears.”
