ART LIVES TORIDE Where Art Is Born

I made a kiln in the garden. Using charcoal for about 12 hours. I think if we could carbonize it at the right temperature, it would come out even better. The temperature on the bottom row, the top row, the front and the back are completely different. I think I’ll try going back to the previous method next time.

I also tested various glazes and decided which texture I liked the most. While doing this, I also learned that some glazes do not melt in our kiln. So I keep adjusting and repeating the process. It’s all about whether I think it’s beautiful or not. When I think of it, it is difficult to make a profit with this kiln.

Can you see this part that looks like the inside of the shell? It’s called “saikou”. With the clay and glaze I use, this wouldn’t happen, but it turned out this beautiful pink. When I made it, I thought “I was a genius! This is the best in the world!” Well, I was just lucky. I was simply happy when I could make something like this, and since it would support me, I thought this was good enough.

I’m starting to imagine how I can make it again, so I think it will come out again as I continue. Once I can get a steady output, I’ll get bored, so I’ll just write an essay and be done with it.

Because nothing lasts long. But I never get tired of doing pottery itself. I know that I’m calm when I am doing it.

I have been drawing pictures since elementary school and went to high school where there was an art course. There, they had an hole kiln. That is how I started making ceramics. While looking for schools where I could study ceramics, I was told that there was a place called Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts).

When I entered there, I tried other materials and found woodworking interesting, so I really wanted to do lacquer at university and woodworking at graduate school. But they were offered only for a limited number of students. Then I thought “why not ceramic?” Because it’s something I have been doing for a while. That’s how I got here.

After graduating from the university, there was a time for me to get a proper job, and worked as a part-time instructor from morning till night. I wasn’t doing any ceramics at that time, and it became very difficult for me.

It wasn’t like I wanted to do ceramics so bad, but rather to settle my mental state I was doing it. Even now, I don’t consider ceramics as my job to make a living. It’s not like I’ve made up my mind. But, for me, it is obvious that I can be happier when I am making it. So I thought, this is how it should be. I make things because it makes my life much easier.

I mainly make tableware and things to be used by people. I feel that making art objects is kind of weird. It is like immersing people in the mold but I think it is more interesting to break out of it. I am searching for what feels good or just right to me.

I think clay is the only material to be made directly by touching. Wood requires a chisel, and painting requires a brush. In ceramics, the shape of the body appears as it is with clay.

I believe the essential things have not changed. It is like self-discovery. You observe yourself by placing your body against it. The feelings and tension of the artist at the time of creation appear in the form, so I observe the feedback. If I can get this way this time, then I can try another way next time. I think that building up in this way suits my nature.

When you are doing the same work all the time, your ego disappears. Trying to make things a certain way is ego. Sometimes I get disturb by that. I want to be as pure and flat as possible. It’s like sitting in meditation.

It’s fun to forget about everything and cherish what you do. Society requires us to follow certain rules. But we are released from those rules and become free. And for me that is when I am touching the clay.