Toshiko
In the middle of a very busy week here at the studio, I decided that noodling through problems further wasn’t the best thing for me. My mind needed clarity, my soul needed a reminder of what I’m working so hard at. There was a ton to do, several pending items- how could I simply put it all down? Nonetheless, by noon yesterday, I tore myself away to head to the MFA for a few hours before my second shift.
Oh. My. Goodness. There’s something cleansing about sitting amongst art you love and letting it wash over you. Have you done this- stolen away to a museum while the capitalist world is working away? It is decadent and reaffirming. The place was full. Lots of people, of most ages, touring the halls. These are the people I need to learn from.
And then, the work. Toshiko Takaezu’s work is made of of true potter’s art. A woman who was both ahead of her time and largely under-acknowledged for most of her career. She was a maker who worked in several mediums, who though her lifestyle was just as much the art as the pieces themselves. Massive scale weavings, large ceramic forms, fluid and inexact, intuitive glazing. Soft lines that show pieces were made by hand, not machine, that there’s a human touch- and imperfection- in each piece.
I found that I relate to her work in a deep way. This life, this running of a studio and also working as an artist, is fluid an inexact. Some things are unexpected, some other components are reliable. All of it is intuitive, every single decision I make is either led with or confirmed by a deep intuition on the direction of this studio and our role in this community. It is beautiful and important work, I feel.- way more important than the ceramic work I make.
Each piece of ceramics I make comes from a place of curiosity, an idea started deep within. The results aren’t always perfect and are rarely what I expect. Sometimes they’re a mess and I’ve gone too far. Other times- when I’m lucky- a piece makes my heart fill a little and I know I’m on the right path. I can’t imagine any other way of living.
I sat in the nearly empty gallery at the MFA for over an hour, sketching, writing, gazing. In that way, for a few hours, my mind and heart expanded just a bit. The is a stretching of what was thought as possible, an expansion that doesn’t concern itself with logistics, notions of reality, or purpose.
Pottery is indeed a lifestyle. It’s rarely something many of us put away and take out, rather it’s constant. The whole process from sketching an idea, trying it out, reclaiming clay, formulating and testing glaze recipes, firing, testing, failing, trying again. Pottery is consumptive of time, but also- as Toshiko says- allows us to lose ourselves in the process. The process is just as addictive as the final product. So many of us spend so much time in our heads, it’s so refreshing to lose ourselves in our body’s work.
Next weekend this neighborhood, 20+ of our potters will be doing what is often the hardest for artists- putting work out, on display, for the public. The ranks of Toshiko have moved past this and into global venues, but for the rest of us, the majority of artists, toiling each night with the clay, it’s not so easy. Months and months of practice, testing, and creativity have gone into the work and we’re proud to be offering up to you.
Art is wonderful in grand places like the MFA, but it’s most accessible in your own backyard. We hope to see you at our third annual Small Business Saturday Pottery Sale on November 25 & 26. Shop for gifts, shop for yourself. Bath yourself in handmade artwork where ever you can, right here in Roslindale.