Masakazu Kusakabe Pottery Bowl Harvard University Warren Mackenzie Shoji Hamada

Description: Masakazu Kusakabe Pottery Bowl Harvard University Warren Mackenzie Shoji Hamada Mint Masakazu Kusakabe Studio Art pottery Bowl. Masakazu Kusakabe built the Smokeless Kiln at Harvard University. This is a beautiful Masakazu Kusakabe wood fired bowl. Beautifully wood ash glaze. The Bowl measures 6 3/4 inches wide x 2 1/2 inches in high. This is an opportunity to own a wonderful authentic piece of Masakazu Kusakabe's work. In 2010 I was fortunate to be at the Kiln building workshop at David Caradori's studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The is were I meet Kusakabe and received this bowl. "To hold a Masakazu Kusakabe tea bowl is to hold the quintessential spirit of the universe in your hands. The thick, porous oribe glaze of the vessel feels warm to the touch while the curves and crevices of your palms and fingers comfortably rest around the uneven walls of the bowl. The green and black glaze and vessel shape transmit the intensity and energy of the artist. You may also hold a tea bowl with wood ash glaze that embodies its chance encounter with ash that resulted in variegated shiny and matte surfaces on the vessel walls that resemble the heaven filled with stars. Kusakabe imbues his ceramic vessels and tea ceremonial wares with his love of nature, his interest in astronomy, and his deep spirituality. Kusakabe is an admired master potter and kiln builder from Japan. People from all parts of the world gather at his studio, a converted 100 years old folk house to admire his ceramics, to write poetry and to see the stars from his small observatory. On a visit to his studios or to one of his American workshops, he may conduct an “informal” tea ceremony, which at first may appear to be an oxymoron. Though he has been formally trained to perform the tea ceremony, when he is in America, he is concerned with the essence of the tea ceremony, the spirit and exchange of friendship and eschews a strict formal setting for a casual more playful one. Sharing tea with Kusakabe means opening the heart and mind to the beauty of nature and the sharing of common humanity. Born in 1946, in Miharu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Kusakabe has been interested in all aspects of art since his childhood. He first trained as a landscape painter at Iwate University where he studied fine arts and education. After graduation, in 1970, he taught high school art in the city of Soma (in Northern Japan), a traditional ceramics production site. He then became interested in the local ceramics and began to study the art and its history on his own. One important influence was Japanese potter Tokuro Kato and his book? Essays on Ceramics (Yakimono Zuihitsu). After much study and visiting many ceramics villages in Japan, Kusakabe built a wood kiln and began practicing low-wood fired Raku in 1971. He also practiced many different kinds of Japanese stoneware pottery, including Seto-style stoneware, using a black glaze and Shino-style stoneware, using red iron oxide designs under a thick, creamy white glaze. He experimented with ancient Japanese styles, such as a type of Bizen ware called Hidasuki in which rice straw is wrapped around and/or placed between green ware, leaving beautiful red lines where the straw touches the clay. Another ancient style was the small-mouthed and swelling-shouldered Shigaraki storage jars that used a natural ash glaze and white feldspar particles in the clay. He also tried the coarse and irregular shaped Iga ware resembling moss-covered stones or abstract sculptures. In 1972, his interest in the unglazed wares of Iga, Shigaraki and Bizen style of tea ceramics led to the study of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony teabowls, tea containers, water pitchers and other tea ceremonial wares. Kusakabe has an aesthetic consciousness of self-assertion with an overall simplicity so that his work can be described as both strong and elegant. With controlled muscular strength, he throws and moulds the clay into the desired shape of a tea bowl. In the palm of his hand, he then lifts the bowl, that is still soft and malleable, up in the air for a meditative study. With the inspiration of the moment, he creates unique physical impressions on the walls of the tea bowl which makes the vessel imperfect in shape yet expresses a spirit and energy. Next, the bowl may be glazed and fired. The glaze and the form can only give a hint of the warmth and creative? energy within the bowl. While holding a finished tea bowl between two hands, one can feel the strength and the softness of the vessel. Kusakabe ’s invisible presence and spirit can be felt as one holds his bowl and feels the curves and unevenness of the walls. One ’s physical contact with the bowl completes the experience of its creation while encouraging one to continue the meditation that was present at the conception of the vessel."

Price: 1499.99 USD

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

End Time: 2024-10-03T19:43:20.000Z

Shipping Cost: 10.95 USD