I loved Play Doh as a kid, you could create so many different things with it. I know it lost its luster when it started to dry out or when the colors got mixed together and you ended up with lots of warm brown or forest green clay it sucked a little but still it was cool. I got my first serious “Art” exposure to clay when I was at Arizona State University. I obviously needed other art courses outside of my specialization in Photography for my degree and one of the courses I took was Ceramics. I was very familiar with the Ceramics studio at ASU because it was downstairs in the Art Building next to the main Photography Darkroom. For anyone not familiar with the process of both mediums this was an interesting decision because Ceramics areas produce lots of dust which is a photographer’s second worst enemy (behind light leaks) when trying to print in a traditional darkroom. Dust sucks for any camera as far as that goes. I assume a senior panting or mixed media faculty member made the recommendation to the Dean for the placement.
The Ceramics course I took had a profound impact on my development as a Photographer. I know many of you are wondering how learning to keep clay at the proper moisture or how different glazes responded to being fired could possibly make me a better photographer. The secret was in the timing. With the ceramics class schedule, we met in the morning for instruction and to create work. We also had a second afternoon block which dealt with firing pieces and all the kiln stuff mostly. A key fact here is I took the course in the Spring Semester, which included the month of March when Major League baseball held spring training in Arizona (as well as Florida). It is also important to understand the demographics of the class, there were a couple serious Ceramics majors, a couple of folks like me getting a requirement out of the way, and two or three ladies in their 30’s or 40’s who were very passionate about the clay based medium. I liked the morning session of the class, but I found sitting around watching cones melt in a kiln all afternoon to be a little boring, maybe even annoying, especially in March when I wanted to spend my afternoon photographing Cactus League baseball games. Luckily those ladies in the class also had something that was annoying in the afternoon session, me; I absolutely was back then, and some say that has not changed. So, I came up with a plan to make all of us happy, if they agreed to fire my creations, I would go photograph games and not be around them. They jumped at the opportunity. It was a total “win win” deal, they had serenity with my absence, and I got to work on one of my favorite portfolios which is still ongoing.
Humor aside, that class expanded my knowledge, and appreciation of ceramics; like so many other classes did outside my major. So, when my daughter told me about the Radical Clay exhibition while we were roaming the Aer Institute, I was excited to go see it.
I don’t have enough knowledge to speak Indepth about the works that I saw other than I was in awe of what these artists created. I know the patience it takes to make a simple bowl; I can’t comprehend the level of patience and skill it took to create the pieces I saw. For some works, I can’t imagine what it took just to construct a kiln big enough to accommodate the work and or move it. These women are incredible artists. I am so happy I got to see this exhibition which closed early this month. Below is the Art Institute’s description of the exhibition and my photographs, it was amazing.
Bag Work (フクロモノ), 2018 Tanaka Yu 田中悠
Art Institute’s Exhibition Statement:
Since World War II, women have made influential contributions to the ceramics field in Japan that have not been adequately recognized. This exhibition focuses on the explosion of innovative and technically ambitious compositions by such artists since 1970—a body of work which they developed in parallel with, but often separately from, traditional, male-dominated Japanese practice and its countermovements.
Link to an additional Art Institute article about the exhibition
Alyssa pointed out Kitamura Junko’s (Japanese born 1956) Vessel 91-A (1991) to me and we both agreed it was our favorite piece in the exhibition, insane detail and patience plus such a clean design.
Konno Tomoko’s 今野朋子 Liberation (解放), 2022 had more detail in a ceramic piece than I have ever seen before. I don’t know how you can accurately describe this work with just words, another incredible piece.
Dream Flight, 2019 Tanaka Tomomi (Japanese Born 1983) (Left)
Wandering (彷徨う), 2012 Hattori Makiko (Japanese born 1984) 服部真紀子 (Right)
Such wonderful shapes and another example of incredible patience to create such detail.
Mishima Kimiyo (Japanese Born 1932) both pieces are glazed and silkscreened, the Beer Box (2007) is stoneware, and the Crumpled Newspaper (1981) is Porcelain. I was intrigued to see the use of silk screen in a ceramic application.
A few additional photographs:
