Natural Ash Sculptural Form, 2020, Anagama-fired stoneware
Natural Ash Sculptural Form, 2020, Anagama-fired stoneware 
Natural Ash Sculptural Form, 2017, Anagama-fired stoneware 
Natural Ash Sculptural Form, 2015, Anagama-fired stoneware 
Natural Ash Sculptural Form, 2015, Anagama-fired stoneware 
Natural Ash Sculptural Form, 2020, Anagama-fired stoneware 
Tanka with Silver with Handle, 2020, Stoneware with glaze 
Tanka with Silver, 2021, Stoneware with glaze 
Tanka with Silver, 2021, Stoneware with glaze 
Tanka with Silver, 2021, Stoneware with glaze 
Shino Sculptural Form, 2021, Stoneware 
Kohiki with Handle, 2019, Stoneware with white slip 
Kohiki Sculptural Form, 2021, Stoneware with white slip 
Kohiki Sculptural Form, 2021, Stoneware with white slip 
Kohiki Sculptural Form, 2017, Stoneware with white slip 
Kohiki Mizusashi, 2015, Stoneware with white slip 
Kohiki Sculptural Form, 2021, Stoneware with white slip 
Volcano Usu, 2021, Stoneware 
Volcano Usu, 2021, Stoneware 
Volcano Usu, 2021, Stoneware 
Setoguro Sculptural Form, 2021, Stoneware 
Shino Tea Bowl, 2018, Clay 
Setoguro Yohen Tea Bowl, 2020, Clay
Shozo Michikawa: Selected works, 2015-2021
The theme of my works is “Nature into Art”. The place where I grew up is at the foot of the Mt. Usu volcano, Hokkaido, which is still active to this day, so the mental images from my youth are still reflected in my works.
Rather than making pottery, I’m having a conversation with clay. I try to assist the way clay wants to go.
My faceted and twisted forms are hand-built and sculpted but most of my works are created on the wheel. However, I do not ‘throw’ my vessels in any conventional sense; rather their energy comes from the twisting of fractured planes on an internal axis. It is a different understanding of my materials, to do with cutting and paring down, rather than expanding from a ball of clay.
The energy of nature is truly immense. No matter how much our sciences and civilization might evolve, the power of human beings is inconsequential in the face of natural threats such as typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, and erupting volcanoes.
My own creative activities have been inspired by various phenomena in the natural world. I hope that when I gain something from nature, people will be able to feel and enjoy that as well when they feel the energy in my works.
