"Eight million gods dwell in everything" is a Japanese proverb that sculptor Ayami Aoyama honors through her carved stone sculptures. Aoyama studied painting in her native Japan, but upon moving to the United States she gravitated toward sculpture as a means of expressing her appreciation for the natural world. For her, all natural materials have their own spirit and she seeks to reveal that elemental life force through the work.

Her marble and granite sculptures suggest both figurative forms and the landscape, in a style that is both minimal and abstract. Aoyama holds a B.F.A. in painting from the Aichi Prefectural University in Aichi, Japan, and has studied sculpture at The Arts Students League of New York, The Lacoste School of the Arts, Lacoste, France, and the Johnson Atelier, Mercerville, New Jersey. Aoyama is currently a sculptor at the Digital Stone Project in Mercerville.

The Outdoor Sculpture Exhibitions are sponsored by Fulton Bank.