On Tuesday, the Allen Memorial Art Museum hosted a talk titled “Earth, Fire, and Form: Roots and Revolution in Contemporary Japanese Ceramics” as part of their ongoing Tuesday Tea series. Led by Kevin R. E. Greenwood, the Joan L. Danforth curator of Asian art, the talk delved into works currently on view by prominent Japanese ceramics artists such as Tanaka Yū, Takegoshi Jun, Miyashita Zenji, and Matsuda Yuriko.
Many of the contemporary Japanese ceramics discussed by Greenwood are driven by and celebrate the concept of Mingei, which translates to “art for the people.” Japanese ceramics date back to over 15,000 years ago, and they became classified as contemporary ceramics around the middle 20th century. Before this, it was the Mingei movement, an influential artistic movement in the early 20th century. College first-year Camilla Hildebrand reflected on the functional versus artistic purposes of ceramics.
“I’m interested in this paradigm shift between thinking about ceramics as functional versus thinking about [them] as art and how that emerged as a response to the industrial age,” she said.
Contemporary ceramics use knowledge and skills passed down through generations or taught in apprenticeships to create new types of art. Moving from purely functional vessels, artists turn forms decorative and conceptual as they experiment with the limits between sculptural and useful objects. A focus of this talk was any given artists’ focus on the clay’s natural elements — earth, fire, and water — to put function and nature into conversation.
Beyond the alterations in the traditional shapes of ceramics, their colors and surfaces have shifted as well. Many people after the event and were amazed at how the different ceramic pieces are shaped, colored, and fired. College first-year Audra Cockrum shared her interest in the matter.
“I thought it was very interesting and very inspiring to learn all this new information,” Cockrum said. “I didn’t know any of this stuff about Japanese contemporary ceramics … I’m a prospective Art major, so it was perfect.”
These ceramic pieces are stunning but usually overlooked; in the Q&A at the end of the talk, many attendees expressed amazement and said they had never given so much thought to this type of ceramics before.
“I like the ceramics talks because a lot of times … I sort of ignore contemporary ceramics as an art form, and then every time I relearn about it, I get more interested in the subject matter,” Hildebrand said.
Learning how to create contemporary Japanese ceramics can be difficult, as it requires very specific techniques, Greenwood explained.
“To be a ceramics artist in Japan, you really have to have that technical mastery to be accepted, to be respected,” he said. “Whether that mastery comes through a traditional family apprenticeship or whether it comes through studying at an art school, you have to start with that technical skill.”
Contemporary Japanese ceramics can be hard to learn — it could take years — but the result would be a form of art that has been going on for decades and will go on for many more years. Japanese ceramics, just like any other medium, is always evolving, Greenwood explained. He offered his advice to anyone interested in learning Japanese ceramics.
“Go to Japan,” he said. “[There are] lots of programs where they’ve got introductions to ceramics. You can study here, you can study there. If you’re really serious, we’re talking 10 years minimum of devoting yourself to really learning all the basics and getting the techniques down.”
At the end of the event, tea was served in teacups created by a local artist in the style of contemporary Japanese ceramics — a special end to another successful Tuesday Tea.
AloJapan.com