get off the wheel!

My greatest creative passion in life is throwing on the wheel. For me it’s fun, it’s easy, and I can make stuff quickly, which suits my impatient and snappy nature. When I arrived in Japan, the first thing I did was start throwing on the wheel, but I wasn’t making anything that excited me. So I threw a bunch of the local porcelain, the shortest porcelain I’ve ever thrown. But I conquered it after a few hours and didn’t know what to do after that. I’m obsessed with nesting bowls and I’ve always wanted to find the time to do a nesting set of 18, so I figured I would work on that. Did that… bored with myself again. Then I thought I would assign myself a task; no more throwing for a week, only handbuilding. I have never gotten into handbuilding. The last time I handbuilt anything was back when I first took a pottery class and had to take the handbuilding before I took the throwing class. I barely scraped by with a “C”. And I handbuilt the leaf platter but that was a nightmare for me.

So, I rolled some slabs on Ryoji’s electric slab roller; so great cause I can drink coffee while my slabs roll out. I made an awful box, but I had fun. Then I made a few lily pads, kind of falling back into old habits, but at least they were not thrown. Then I made this vase you see here, and I think I love it. And I think I love handbuilding too!

where am I?

People want to know where I am exactly in Japan. I’m staying in the very small town of Kanayama, located just outside Goshogawara City in the northern province of Aomori. Aomori is highlighted here on the map. We are not far from the Sea of Japan, about a 30 minute drive away. Kanayama is in the countryside, and apple orchards along with rice are the major agricultural products. Everywhere you look there are apple orchards, and each apple is wrapped in a little bag for protection-- talk about labor intensive farming! Goshagawara City is minutes away by car, and about 15 minutes by bicycle. Goshagawara is not particularly charming, akin perhaps to Bakersfield, California (no offense to people on Bakersfield) and there are all the modern conveniences that you would find in any large city. But I must say that Kanayama is magical, and I am so happy to be here.

kiln on fire

This is a picture of our first kiln firing. The kiln fires for a 36 hour cycle, and it must be continually stoked, which means someone has to be there at all times to feed wood to the kiln every minute or two. My stoking shift was with Madhur (of New Delhi) and Kim (of Seoul). We had a very difficult shift because we were at a point where the kiln was almost at the final firing temperature. It is so difficult to get the rhythm down of feeding the kiln at the right moment—too much wood and you pull the temperature down, too little and the same happens. We had it going for a while, then a party showed up bearing sake and we lost 20 degrees Celsius in the ensuing commotion. It took almost an hour to get back to where we were. It was a wonderful and new experience for me though. At my studio I just press a button and the kiln fires. I’ve never felt so in touch with a firing before. We’ll see on Sunday what comes out!

first firing

Today we loaded our first kiln. There were a lot of cooks in the kitchen as everyone participated in bringing in the work, stacking the shelves, prepping posts, making wadding… I got in there with Nick to load the last shelves, and he is a pro at tumble stacking. After the door was sealed all of us gathered for a ceremonial prayer which included pouring some sake out on the kiln, throwing some salt around, two claps all together, and then our heads lowered as we prayed to the kiln gods. We’ll be firing over the next two days with everyone working shifts throughout the day and night. This is my first wood firing ever so I am anxious to see what comes out!

craft show

This weekend is my favorite show of the year, the Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival in California. While my sister, Brena, ran my booth at Palo Alto, we were at a craft fair in Japan. As tourists and buyers, that is! There are really no differences between an American craft show and a Japanese one. There is some beautiful work, some clever and unusual design, interspersed with some serious crap. I felt right at home. I was really only interested in the pottery, and there were a lot of ceramic artists there with their work.

I was captured by several artists, and I was so aware as I picked up their work and checked it out how they must be feeling. There were a lot of people at the show, but not a lot of people carrying shoppping bags, and sales seemed a bit on the slow side.

I bought several things. Two beautiful pieces of porcelain work from a woman named Takahashi Masako. You can see Royoji posing with the pieces here. He thought I was crazy buying pottery when I can just make it myself! Like at a craft show in America, people were saying how expensive everything was. I thought differently; I thought the prices were very reasonable. The delicate porcelain platter I bought with a beautiful and subtle decoration was only $40, and a matching cup with little pointy feet for $16. From another woman I bought what I would describe as an altar piece. It looks to me like a little fort or a hut that a tribe in a remote desert might live in. The artist who created the piece is pictured at the top. It was $20. Her business cards were all written by hand on a little piece of paper, it was a tiny work of art in itself.

unloading a kiln

Everything in these kilns? Sold already!

one minute

Our wonderful host, Riyoji, is a master potter. Late at night, after he is done running his small empire and making sure the needs of all his guest artists are met, he throws pots. Tonight myself and a few other resident artists were privileged to watch him throw plates while he also answered our questions with humor and good nature. His studio is always filled with laughter, and intense concentration. Riyoji threw each platter in one minute. My camera could barely keep up.