Yesterday, four Mashiko potters gathered at
Tokyo Tech and had a panel discussion.
The subject was on thoughts of creating arts.
Hamada Tomoo, a grandson of Hamada Shoji
said he works from 8 am to 5 pm daily and experiments his artistic creation
plus producing other products like other craft workers.
Matsuzaki Ken said he only makes what he
wants the way he wants, and in the past, potters tend to regard firing itself
beyond own technique, something beyond their control, but he regards his firing
as his original creation. I thought what
he said was very interesting. Firing has
been almost like the act of god, but how many woods, how fast or slow the
potter can add them to his fire, and I can even imagine many elements potters
can vary. Firing must be very
tiring. They have to babysit their kiln
for three days and nights. They can’t
sleep until they are all done. He also
said to make his arts special; he changed his technique from using wheel to
hand twist-and-form.
Murata Hiroshi was the only Tokyo Tech
graduate turned a Mashiko artist not only out of the four panelists, but since
Hamada Shoji. He talked examining one
word at a time about his thoughts. He
talked the least among the four, and I thought he was like my father.
Harvey Young is an American artist from
Chicago. He said his large plates were
all destroyed in a few minutes when Mashiko was hit by the earthquake a year
ago. We hear a lot about Northeast's
devastation, but many other places were also affected like Mashiko. Harvey replied straightforwardly yes to the
question, "Do you think of how you can sell well when you make
potteries?" He also said he thinks about
how well his customers can use his products.
The first time his sensei, Mr. Seto, asked Harvey if he remembered how
it was like when he sucked his thumb as a child. Mr. Seto said, "Make it like
that." His words had a great
influence on his pottery career.
