work

Every thing that you do will be insignificant 

it is important that you do it

Ghandi

if language were liquid

it would be rushing in

instead here we are in a silence

more eloquent

than any word could ever be...

(s vega)

Staying at shige san's was a revelation. Again. Being here with 15 sentences of Japanese has been so fascinating- to see how I express myself, how I introduce myself and my work, how we communicate, or if words were necessary at all. Artists are such a prickly, sensitive bunch. I've been called finicky, persnickety and worse... But living and working with Shige san and Tanaka San was truly remarkable, I could feel myself reverting to a childhood experience of bilingual existence. My parents spoke another language, I understood the gist of it, the cadence, intonation, the sentence patterns. They spoke english to me, but my extended family usually did not. To be surrounded by 30-40 aunts, uncles and cousins wearing black and talking around you just changes everything. I could never fully relax, because who knew when the next half teasing question was going to come. I couldn't tell them apart sometimes and that was so emarrassing, so many boys and girls. You can bet they all knew my name. It was my first training in alert stillness, observation, trying to dissapear so I could watch and listen, understanding far more than I was capable of conveying. But I love asking questions, and getting surprising responses.

Being here has given me the gift of that early stillness and responsiveness. I am amazed by what a gesture can convey, what intelligence and humor are held in our bodies, hands and eyes. I know that Americans rely on eye contact much more than Japanese, and that my hosts are making great efforts to meet me and make me feel welcome and comfortable. It is a beautiful thing. I appreciate it immensely. But I also love that we can be silent together. That we can be present for each other, and share the task of wadding pots, loading a kiln, chopping vegetables, making tea, and just take our time. Not feel pressured to try to say it all.

I spent 3 days wadding pots with Tanaka san, loading a glaze firing of Shige san's work. I learned so much about him handling his work. Wadding is a refractory clay used to keep glazed surfaces from sticking. it leaves a scar, another kind of record. We used the lick and stick method of wadding not glue. You make a pea sized ball, lick it, stick it to the foot ring, after you have 7 on the pot. you dip the balls into sand, and then place the pot into the one below it.

At times it was so boring, so quiet. At times I was intensely focused on not breaking anything, the pottery is incredibly fragile (at this stage, green ware, slipped and glazed) that time flew by. Shige san does not bisque fire his work, I love the rhythm of it. Make a pot, trim, slip, and glaze. then start loading the kiln. The pace was so slow, by american standards, excruciating at times. But liberating too, we could take as much time as the work needed. when the fragility is so close to the surface you have to slow down. I did not break anything. I got to feel the heft, cross section and surface of 100's of pots this week, from the studio to the kitchen. It's strong work, rugged, precise, imperfect, casual, sensitve and demanding. Much like Shige san.