by Ming | Sep 12, 2016 | Brooklyn Studio, Inspirations
“The past remains hidden in the clouds of memory.”
– Matsuo Bashō, Narrow Road to the Interior
The “sabi” in wabi sabi means something different when used alone. It evokes the quality of age, and the beauty of an aged thing. Also a sense of aloneness, and solitude. This vase, fired in the Peters Valley anagama with master potter Shiro Otani, perfectly evokes that feeling for me.
Shiro encouraged me to work without glaze, preferring a quiet surface adorned only by the ash glaze of the kiln. When I created this classic shape, I was interested in a sense of the ancient, so I scored the surface. The body of the vase is slightly asymmetrical, as all our bodies are, and the shoulder slumps just slightly to one side. Yet the neck stands high, smooth and proud to hold the cherry blossoms of seasons past. In this piece, the beauty is most definitely in its imperfection.
(Six day anagama wood firing. No glaze. Medium-sized, but quite full. Approximately 10 inches high, 9 inches in diameter)
by Ming | Nov 24, 2014 | Art, Craft Fair, Events, Inspirations, News
The show was a great success! It was great to be showing my work amongst so many incredible artists. Aside from seeing old and new friends, I was also interviewed by ICNTV network. I was not prepared to talk about pottery in Mandarin, so I did it in English!
Thank you to all who came and who adopted the monsters.
Back to the studio!
by Ming | Nov 22, 2014 | Craft Fair, Events, Inspirations, News
The best thing about shows is the chance to meet people and watch them fall in love with the new monsters. Today at the Brooklyn Museum Fine Craft show, a young woman came by the booth…three times. She had fallen in love with Reiko’s favorite vase, Wobble. When she made up her mind to take it home with her, she paid in cash with a folded $20 bill she had been given for her wedding. We are keeping it folded… a reminder that Wobble has found the right home!
by Ming | Oct 27, 2014 | Firing, Inspirations, News
This is hotter than a bisque firing! (That’s the first firing that dries a piece of pottery before it is glazed and fired to maturity).
Lava approaching a town on the same island where my parents are.
by Ming | Mar 8, 2013 | Inspirations
Exquisit piece of art- simple and eloquent.
http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/253/1251
