essay: My beloved Japanese pottery

written by Robert Yellin

Robert Yellin Yakimono Gallery

The owner of Robert Yellin Yakimono Gallery in Kyoto kindly wrote an essay about my work in the magazine “Honoo Geijutu.” – Fall, 2010, No.103

Watanabe Aiko’s bucket-shaped guinomi pictured here smells quite nice, although there’s no possible way you’d know that. You see the day before this photo was taken I drank a lot of sake from it–Shizuoka’s Hatsukame to be precise–and it was very hard to let it out of my hands to send to Tokyo to have photographed. I’ve used many guinomi over the years yet none with this form and it was a delight indeed to use. It has a freshness to it although it’s based on century old bucket forms. Old forms don’t have to be stale if they’re infused with spirit. There are all sorts of forms that have been created over Japan’s long ceramic history with new ones being made all the time. Some potters want nothing to do with the past and strive to create something only ‘new’ and ‘fresh’. That’s all fine and dandy and I wish them well, yet ‘always something new’ can be quite dangerous with hidden pitfalls. One can never divorce oneself from the past, especially in ceramic art, if one wants to create anything of substance. A potters understanding of their heritage is often clearly seen in the depth–or lack of it–of their works. How can Japan balance the past with the present is a very important question for all aspects of society. Watanabe Aiko’s work reminds me the past is now, and vital. ? Her works are *very* traditional in form and firing. Take for example the Kamakura period Tokoname form here that Watanabe has created. It vibrates, though, with an energy of the now, because the spirit of the maker is not focused on mere replication. This is the key; if someone sets out to be a forger their work will always be somehow ‘off’ because their intentions are not pure. Yet if an artist sets about to have a dialogue with masters of the past and bring that voice into their own works then the work becomes alive and fresh. That is how Watanabe goes about it and that’s what makes her work so vibrant. Working within an ancient tradition is never easy for an artist though. Various questions inevitably arise such as ‘What does this tradition mean in today’s world?’ Or, ’Shall I just follow what has been done without adding anything new?’ Or ‘Shall I ignore all past forms and simply make my own?’ These are all important questions and surely there are many more that go through the mind of those that create. From my perspective there has to be a balance between the old and the new–as noted above–for any tradition to have meaning, and thrive in the present day. It would be a shame, for example, if no one in Bizen made ‘crane’s neck’ vases anymore, yet it would mean nothing if everyone did. The same holds true for Shigaraki’s uzukumaru small jars and Watanabe’s uzukumaru are, again, at once ancient and still at the same time alive with the now. That is, in a nutshell, the power and importance of her work. ? HER work; how many wood-fired women potters are there in Japan today? Not many at all and for this reason too her work is not only vital for the reasons stated above it, but it also straddles gender borders. For this, she is to be commended—along with those who came before her, namely Kohyama Kiyoko and the late Tsuji Kyo–for most likely being the youngest and most successful wood-firing female potter in Japan today. Yet that alone would not merit this column. What’s most important is that Watanabe’s work is darn good. Look at the firing–the beauty of the clay flavor, the richness of the natural ash-glazes—on the three pots shown here. The two uzukumaru have a dark mysterious beauty and are perfect vessels for tea flowers; the weight of each is balanced perfectly. A timeless beauty radiates off of each one and distracts the viewer from the mundane realities of daily life and takes them into a divine world of natural beauty. Watanabe Aiko is an important independent female ceramic artist today; she blazed her own path with no family history of potters, no fancy art school background and no man at her side to lean on. She posses a fiery spirit that manifests itself in her lovely pots, and that should be an inspiration for all women, in all walks of life, that there are no boundaries or limitations if one’s heart, mind and spirit are all working together; Watanebe’s wood-fired pots are simply divine, void of age or gender.

我が愛しの日本陶芸
執筆：ロバート・イエリン
お世話になっている京都のRobert Yellin Yakimono Galleryのオーナー、ロバート・イエリンさんが私について書いてくださいました。（『炎芸術』No.103, 2010, 秋号）