After the airlessness of the museum yesterday and rather a lot of wine last night, we headed off to one of my favourite places, Higaoku falls, for a walk, a picnic and to recharge and relax in a way that only nature and running water can do!
My friend Sasaki san came up from Bizen to stay with us this week-end so we took a trip to see the Celadon Now exhibition at the Hyogo Museum of Ceramic Arts. Top level exhibition, some beautiful work and amazing techniques!
Well, the old wood shed is down and a great deal of space it has created. Toku san, gardener and can-do-anything man is in for a couple of days digging into the mountain a bit at the back to make some room for what will be the baby kiln one day in the not too distant future! I’m still undecided on roof design- the new area will probably have 3 or 4 interlocking roofs as it’s quite a big area, to cover the new wood shed, electric kiln ( as yet unused!) and tne new future baby kiln. Hope the weather holds for a bit!
Bizen Hidasuki Tsurukubi – the crane neck vase
Pots are always transformed when in use – this is a classical Bizen form, very simple and elegant. Thank you to Ishida san for the flowers!
It’s been a while since I sat in a cafe outside and watched the world go buy! In Tokyo for our exhibition at Gallery Ishida in Kichijoji – according to a travel guide, the most popular place to live in the whole of Japan!
Off we go to Tokyo! Exhibition with Chihiro starts today and I will be in Gallery Ishida on Saturday and Sunday. Looking forward to the big city!
Ten days ago it was snowing here. Yesterday we went for a walk at lunchtime, across from the workshop, and the cherry blossoms were out in full, a beautiful cloudless warm sunny day. Today it was windy and rainy and in a few more days all the blossoms will be gone.
Every year I come to enjoy the cherry blossoms here more and more. The countryside erupts into flurries of soft whitey-pinks from the bareness of winter and then suddenly they are gone again, as fast as they came. But while they are here now I am aware of how incredibly beautiful and pure they are, the feeling one gets from looking at them and being amongst them is really quite remarkable, almost dreamlike. Something to be treasured.
It’s time for a new wood roof! The present one has lasted nearly ten years, was built with no experience and even less money. It is now at least 6 inches lower than it was when built thanks to no foundation, rotten posts and the Tamba weather! I am not a great planner and as usual am filled with a slight sense of “what am I in for?” as I start to clear out all the old wood scraps and get ready to tear the old roof down. Here goes and pray for the weather!
We had our first outside breakfast of the year this morning and it felt good! A bit chilly still but lovely warm sun on our faces. Our house always seems to lag behind the change in seasons by about a month – so whilst it’s coming up to the end of March outside, with cherry blossoms looming, we’re still burning the last of the wood in the stove in the evenings inside.
My exhibition in Dar Yasmine, in Osaka started today. As usual it was a bit tight getting all the pots cleaned up and ready in time! Moving from the workshop so quickly to the gallery I’m always struck by the contrasts of the different worlds that pots find themselves in, from the dirt and dust of being cleaned up after the firing to the pristine white shelves and lights of the gallery. From clay to sales, it is truly an ongoing art of transformation.
