Interviews

You are a very consequent artist, having worked with ceramics all your career. Why did you embark on this journey? I was born in Faenza; I studied in Faenza at the “Ballardini” Art Institute, and I have been teaching at this same school for over 30 years. It has just been so natural to work with this material in this...

Not many people know that lacquer is used to make art pieces. Can you tell us more about this material and how do you use it? The Urushi tree (Rhus Vernicifera) is a member of the sumac family of trees, found in various parts of Asia. The trees produce the sap which has been used as the coating and the...

You were among the first contemporary Japanese artists to combine ceramics and glass when constructing a new work. How did you start to connect these materials? I wanted to to extract the ingredients from the glaze and embed them into the clay. For example, I tried to use fragments of smashed glass bottles, feldspar, silica stone and beach sand in...

From functional, to decorative or aesthetical, your works also vary in techniques and materials. Tell us about your woolen felt creations. I am drawn to the painterly and sculptural characteristics of felt making with its broad capabilities as a “hard textile” but which also lends itself to soft, sensual body wraps.  I like the challenge of completing a work that...

What was the starting point for your investigation with ceramics? Do you remember your early works? When I was a student of Theology at the Doshisha University, I also belonged to the ceramic club. I was just absorbed to make something with clay in the club’s room. I worked for some textile company for two years after the graduation, and I...

You are a very young and talented artist. What was your first experience with art and with lacquer?I wasn’t exposed to the arts that much and didn’t know about Japanese lacquer work very well until I entered the art collage. I was interested in design and woodwork working and wanted to make the furniture for our daily life when I...

You are about to start working as artist in residence at the Harvard Ceramic Studio. What do you hope you’ll learn from this experience?I am very interested in the different perspectives on craft art, especially Ceramics between US and Japan. I feel that the vessels are more appreciated in Japan rather than US, as well as the ceramic art itself....

Constructing your figurative pieces with such delicacy takes a lot of time. Can you tell us more about the process? What materials do you use?I make the prototypes with regular clay and make plaster casts of them. Then I pour the plaster, modify those plaster masters very carefully and create second plaster casts. Then I pour the slip into them...

In your career as a ceramic artist, you took the challenge of using white porcelain in constructing complex geometrical systems. Tell us more about the motifs of your work.I want to make people feel the passage of time over my pieces. When people see the remains of a culture or decayed buildings, they evoke special emotions. I want to express...

Your works are exquisite and embrace all the qualities of elegance and rhythm. Can you explain the constructing process? Do you work alone, do you have a studio?I was very fortunate to have learned Jewelry design at Central School of Art and design in London, England where their focus was on teaching to follow the theme of one’s interest, explore...

When did you start working with textiles? I started making purses in 1970 and had my first solo exhibition in a gallery in 1983.Do you remember how much you asked for the first bag you created to be sold? It was about JPY 12000 (=$150). That purchase made me confident and gave me the power to go forward.More than 30 years ago,...

You are a very young and talented ceramic artist. Can you tell us what was your first experience with ceramics? Thank you, but I’m not that young actually. I studied art in school, liked it very much but never considered it as a possible career. After many years training and working in various environmental management roles, I began to realise...

We know that you are a successful ceramic artist and also a scientist. How do you find time and motivation for both of your jobs? Science is a continuous stimulus for me; it has broadened my creativity thinking; it has pushed me to experiment and taught me that patience and perseverance lead to improved results. Art and science are integral...

Your work with ceramics has been active only in the last three years. What did you do before that? Tell us about your first experience with ceramics. Well, my mother was a potter, starting back in the early 70’s, and so when I was a teenager I was exposed to clay through her work. She had a studio in our...

What was the starting point for your investigation with Saggar firing and Terra Sigillata painting? Terra sigillata painting intrigued my imagination when I was a teenager.  At first, I saw Venetian vases decorated with black and white figures and later with color painting, as part of the history and heritage of the eastern Mediterranean board. Years later, when I was...

Collecting the edges is the name of your work exhibited at the Overthrown: Clay Without Limits exhibition. It’s a site-specific project that enhances the corners and the ceiling of the space, but it also enhances the edges of the exhibition. Tell us about this project.Collecting the edges is a response to the architecture of the two buildings one designed by...

Tell us about Mast Year, the work you exhibited at the Overthrown: Clay Without Limits exhibition.I chose the Oak, America’s National Tree because it has long been a symbol of endurance and strength. The title, Mast Year, refers to the phenomenon in which Oak trees produce a prodigious abundance of fruit. This proliferation has been recreated with emblems of beauty...

Paul Sacaridiz, An Incomplete Articulation, 2011. Cast, extruded, pinched ceramic, wood, powder coated aluminium, cut vinyl, board. Photo by Jeff Wells.Tell us about the work you exhibited at the Overthrown: Clay Without Limits exhibition.An incomplete articulation is a new work designed for the Denver Art Museum. The piece utilizes the conceptual framework of a schematic diagram to point towards differing...

Benjamin DeMott, Untitled Thumbnail, porcelain, paint, glue, glaze, gum, 2011, H 6” x W 9” x D 7.”Tell us about the work you exhibited at the Overthrown: Clay Without Limits exhibition.Diminutive and impossibly fragile my instillation is an object. Constructed on site I consider the project situational and site specific, a foil among the monumental scale and mass of the...

Del Harrow, Wedgewood Black Hive/Hole, 2011. Slip-cast black porcelain. / Links, 2011. Earthenware, glaze, and platinum luster. / Copper Fade, 2011. Earthenware and glaze. Photo by Jeff Wells.The Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum responds to the natural landscape with carefully calibrated geometric volumes. I think of my installation as a kind of tapestry – or embroidery – embellishing...