生きる窯IKIRU KILN生きる窯

民芸ソタ "Minnesota Potter And Printmaker in Mashiko.” 益子

The name Ikiru comes from the Akira Kurosawa movie by the same name. In English it means: "To Live!"

Shigaraki Clay, Zogan Inlay, Fly Ash Glaze, Wood Fired
I make functional pottery because the use of handmade things in people's lives can help them slow down and see the beauty that exists around them in their daily lives. I finished a 3 year apprenticeship in, 2003 with a graduation show in Mashiko in June. I am currently making pottery in Mashiko, Japan Starting in June 2007, we will spend part of our time working in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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A New International Email list for Potters:

I've started a new email list devoted to wood firing and wood fired kilns. To subscribe,

follow this link: Google Groups : WoodKiln

You can see the kiln I built and my graduation show, which included woodblock prints done by my wife Jean, if you click here:

http://potters.blogspot.com/ There are many photos, so it will take while to load.

My interest in Japanese, Korean and Chinese folk pottery sprang from my interest in Zen Buddhism. (I moved from Michigan to Minnesota to study with the zen teacher Dainin Katagiri Roshi, on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis. ) During the 13th Century, a monk traveled to China with Zen Master Dogen. This monk came back to Japan and established a pottery in Seto, where the new techniques from Sung China were introduced. These included the traditions of Tenmoku. In Minnesota, I worked primarily in stoneware using Seto and Mino inspired glazes: including Shino , Oribe Copper colored glazes, and also in Wood ash glazes. But now, with the new Woodfired I am experimenting with unglazed Shigaraki clay too.

My work is influenced by Chinese, Korean and Japanese folk pottery, especially simple ware made for everyday use that was sometimes used in tea ceremony in Japan. I am Mingei inspired. Warren MacKenzie describes the difference between the "Unknown" mingei craftsperson and the mingei inspired studio potter: "The other (the Mingei Insipred Artist) is the route of the individual artist who strikes out in unknown directions, driven by her or his inner search for a personal expression that hopefully will speak to the times and find a broad response from an educated public." The "self expression" that I am interested in, is not a "self conscious" expression, but one that strives to understand one's "original nature", where self and other become one. In these modern times, where everything is done for "efficiency" or for quantitative reasons rather than reasons related to quality, the use of handmade things help us see the human (humane) scale of the world around us.

My Wood Fired Kiln

Jizo Bottles, 5" Tall These bottles are inspired by the stone Jizo statues that are often see at crossroads in the countryside of Japan. Jizo is the guardian of travellers, both in this world and the next. They are also inspired by the woodprint maker Shiko Munakata.

Quotes from Potters and others who inspire me:

"Trading intuition and creativity for something that sells isn't a good transaction. If one's work never provides economic security, at least one has the satisfaction of doing what feels right. Money can't buy that." - Willem Gebben Quote from Ceramics Monthly Comment September 1990

"The challenge is to do the thing you have to do because you're in love with it and can't do anything else. Not because you want to become famous or rich, but because you will be unhappy if you can't do it. It is not something you can turn on and off." - Warren MacKenzie

"It's not about who is better than who, or who's the best. It's about today: Are you going to do your best today?" - Jim "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" Mann. (told to me as I was waiting for barbecue pork sandwiches.)

"To return to mingei, the problem is how does the individual artist today approach folkcraft. Of course the answer is that he should look after his character first. The problem of his own character must come foremost. With one's intellect, with one's mind, one can understand what tradition means. The folk art formula may be fed though the mind and through the intellect. But in work, what comes out must come out through one's own fingertips, one's own hands, otherwise it is no work at all.... Because Yanagi was a critic and dealt in words, he used the term "beauty" a great deal to express what he was trying to say. In my case, being a workman, I do not feel any lack by not using that word.... Beauty is not in the head or in the heart, but in the abdomen."

- Shoji Hamada

Shigaraki Pitcher, Zogan Inlay, Wood Fired.

"We can say that Buddhist practice has two aspects: to constantly seek Truth and to go into the human world.

"If you want to be a pianist, devote yourself to studying and practicing the piano. This is the mind that seeks Truth. But though you may eventually reach a lofty stage as a musician, it is not good enough. You have to descend into the human world as well. Your life, your presence, your personality must touch people's hearts directly. This means you have to go beyond being a pianist.

"It is relatively easy to teach people to be musicians, but it is not so easy to teach them how to go beyond being a musician. If you would teach this to others, your mind must be based on compassion. When you teach, you have to pierce the human heart and take away the flag of ego. So your compassion must extend beyond the words you use. Then your penetrating words will teach and not injure." --Dainin Katagiri Roshi

"Clay is molded to make a vessel, but the utility of the vessel lies in the space where there is nothing...Thus, taking advantage of what is, we recognize the utility of what is not.". --Lao Tzu

"The first thing we must begin to teach our children (and learn ourselves) is that we cannot spend and consume endlessly. We have got to learn to save and conserve."

Quote from: "Thoughts in the Presence of Fear" by Wendell Berry
Full article: http://hachiko.com//sustain.html

"Take, for instance, eating and apple. The primitives took it right off the tree and ate it, skin, seeds, and all. But today we seem to think that peeling it looks better, and then we cut it up and stew it and make a jam of it and prepare it in all kinds of ways. In preparing the apple, quite often we commit many errors on the way. But in just taking it off the tree and eating the whole thing, there are no mistakes to be made." ~Shoji Hamada

"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." - Henry David Thoreau

"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

Then true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,
To turn, turn, will be our delight
'Til thy turning, turning, we come round right.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.