An Afternoon with Hamada pt. 2: His home

Click here for a video tour of the Hamada home. 

Hamada's home is a sight to behold. The farm house that he relocated to Mashiko in the 1940's is a great example of Minka architecture. This traditional style employs a method of wood joinery that uses no nails during construction. This was my first time seeing the style and I came away with an appreciation for the builder's dedication to craftsmanship. For more information on Minka you can visit the Wiki page by clicking here.

The thatched roof covering the structure was impressive in its own right. It runs the length of the building consisting of twelve inch sections of thick stacked thatch. The interior timbers necessary to hold up the roof are easily two feet deep by three feet wide. Can you imagine the cost of building with lumber this size now? The development of cheap prefab building supplies has driven the cost of rough cut wood up considerably since the time Hamada's home was originally constructed. It is ironic that the Minka style originated as a way for Japanese farmers to use cheap local materials to build their homes. I find it interesting that technology often rises out of poverty only later to take on an air of value based on its age and rarity.


You can no longer walk inside the core of the house but we could view the living space by walking around the perimeter. The central area has a raised floor covered in tatami and an inset fire pit used for heating. Chimneys are not needed in Minka homes as their high ceilings help separate the smoke from their residents.



Hamada's taste was truly a mixture of east and west. I loved seeing his English and early American furniture collection. The small side room off the kitchen could have been taken right out of a home in 19th century London. I was struck by how similar the objects he collected were to other potters collections I have seen. I could have been looking into a potter's home anywhere from North Carolina to Nagasaki. These similarities point to the power of the craft professions to shape the lives of their individual practitioners.

We ended the tour with tea at the sun lit kitchen table. It was served out of pots made in Tomo Hamada's workshop (Shoji's grandson), which sits adjacent to the Reference Collection Museum. This was the perfect way to soak in my surroundings on a brisk winter morning. I will never forget the sight of steam rising off the tea in my yunomi.

This travel series springs from my visit to Mashiko Japan and the home of world renown potter Shoji Hamada. Along with the help of Bernard Leach, Kanjiro Kawai, and philosopher Soetsu Yanagi, Hamada popularized the Mingei movement. For more info on the movement please visit the Mingeikan website by clicking here.

An Afternoon with Hamada pt 1: The Mashiko Reference Collection

I recently spent an afternoon browsing through the Mashiko reference museum. The expansive collection of pottery, furniture and other decorative arts was the personal collection of Shoji Hamada. The museum and the collection resides at the home he occupied for the last forty years of his life. The video and images highlight my favorite pieces in the collection. To see more images from my visit head over to the Facebook photo album by clicking here.





The top three images feature words by Hamada and the bottom three feature ceramics and furniture from the reference collection. The white porcelain bottle in the top photo is by Bernard Leach and the bottom shot features a piece of Delft ware, lead glazed earthenware, and German salt ware.

This travel series springs from my visit to Mashiko Japan and the home of world renown potter Shoji Hamada. Along with the help of Bernard Leach, Kanjiro Kawai, and philosopher Soetsu Yanagi, Hamada popularized the Mingei movement. For more info on the movement please visit the Mingeikan website by clicking here.

Bridging the Gap Project kickoff video

I'm excited to officially launch the Bridging the Gap project. This ceramic collaboration creates an artistic dialogue between myself and aboriginal artists. This spring I will travel into the heart of the Australian outback to facilitate a ceramic workshop at the Ernabella Arts Center. Located in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, 275 miles southwest of Alice Springs, the center is a place for Anangu artists to promote their cultural heritage and improve their lifestyle through art making. During my month long trip I will offer my skills as a potter to aid the artists working at the center. 

While my primary interest in the project is one of service to this unique community, I am excited to learn the drawing style and patterns of the Anangu people. I am continually fascinated with aboriginal methods of story telling that rely on drawing, image making, and sound. The time I spend in the community will be a valuable contribution to my own evolution as an artist.

You can help by pledging your financial support to Bridging the Gap or by posting this to your Facebook or Twitter feed. For more info head on over to the Kick Starter page by clicking here. 

New work in the Surface show at the Schaller Gallery

The Schaller Gallery is presenting Surface: Decoration, Layers, Drawing, Decals, Pattern, and Carving from now until February 20th. I'm excited to be in the show with many great artists. I'm particularly a fan of the jars by Ursula Hargins and Mark Knott. They show very different approaches to scale and surface in forms that are quite similar. Also check out Melissa Mencini's tumbler with the gold tricycle. Beyond the classic color combo, the glazes ground the tricycle on the same horizontal plane as the bottom of the cup. Nice use of a subtle color scheme to create gravity in the design. (On a total side note Golden Tricycles would be a great indie band name.) You can see more of each of the artist's work by clicking on the links to their websites.  

Ursula Hargins

Click here to go to Ursula's website.


Mark Knott

Click here to go to Mark's website.

Melissa Mencini

Click here for Melissa's Art Axis page.



Susan Dewsnap

Click here for more information on Susan's work.

Aaron Sober

Click here for Aaron's website.

Andy Shaw

Click here for Andy's website.


Jil Franke

Click here for more info on Jil's work.

Kirk Lyttle

Click here for more images of Kirk's work.

This is one of the mugs that I have included in the exhibition. My offering includes mugs, plates, platters, butter dishes and teapots. You might recognize these mugs from the Merry Christmas Mugs post from late last year. Click here to see them in process. To check out the entire show go to www.schallergallery.com.

Bodhidharma, Shaolin and the Wutang Clan

While sorting through pictures from last weeks trip to Japan I ran across these paper mache dolls from the Zen temple in Fujioka. What an experience to go from the solemn hues of the temple structures to these colorful dolls. These figurines of Bodhidharma are used to solidify a practitioner's wish for the future. At the turn of the year the dolls are piled up and burned as a way to release the prayers into the world.

For those unfamiliar with Bodhidharma he is the 28th member of the Buddhist lineage originating with the Śākyamuni Buddha. He is considered the first patriarch of Chinese Buddhism after he brought the religion to the Shaolin Monastary in Henan province. Being from south India the Chinese described him as "the blue eyed barbarian". (Click here for more on Bodhidharma) His large eyes along with furrowed brows and elongated ears would have made him stand out like a sore thumb in rural China. They helped create a tough persona that was backed by his intense meditation practice. Legend states he spent nine years in a remote cave meditating. After falling asleep in his seventh year he cut his eyelids off to prevent his sleeping. As the eyelids hit the ground the first tea leaves grew providing caffeine to help other meditators stay awake. His image is one of the most popular Buddhist icons of China and Japan.

You might recognize the name Shaolin from seventies era Kung Fu movies. Click here to see Jet Li's first film The Shaolin Temple. This connection goes back to Bodhidharma's introduction of martial arts practice to Shaolin's monks."Some Chinese accounts describe Bodhidharma as being disturbed by the poor physical shape of the Shaolin monks, after which he instructed them in techniques to maintain their physical condition as well as teaching meditation. He is said to have taught a series of external exercises called the Eighteen Arhat Hands (Shi-ba Lohan Shou), and an internal practice called the Sinew Metamorphosis Classic.^[27] " The temple is still active and regarded as a premier training ground. Click here to see a clip from Empty Mind, a documentary about residents of the current day temple.




If you were a teenager in the nineties you might also recognize Shaolin from the Wu Tang Clan. The famous rap group made numerous references to Shaolin in their album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). They even made a Play Station video game, Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style, that featured Method Man, RZA, and other members fighting martial arts masters. Although they only embrace the violent side of martial arts I think it is cool that a major rap group would ally themselves with an ancient Buddhist temple. Financially the game was a brilliant marketing scheme to attract young male gamers to Wu Tang's music. It makes me think I should produce a ceramic combat game. I'd like to see Shoji Hamada fight a Terracotta warrior. With a game like that we could recruit a whole new generation of ceramic artists/gamers.

The intersection between Buddhism and martial arts might have started in Shaolin but it became famous with Japan's Samurai class. They were often practitioners of Zen, a religious form that resulted from the mixing of Chinese Taoism and Buddhism. Ceramic artists owe much to the Samurai as they were instrumental in establishing the tea ceremony. Through this ritual both Buddhism and pottery where elevated in Japanese culture. During my stay in Japan I filmed a tea ceremony that my friend performed for me. In the next few weeks I will post that video and lots of images I took while visiting Mashiko and Tokyo.