Greetings from Mishima,

We hope this finds all well and enjoying the wonders of autumn
(here in the northern hemisphere).

As the rain falls here for the past few days, I know magical snow is falling on Mt.Fuji, what a wonder to see when rain stops and the clouds part; I hope to share that wondrous sight in a future online listing! Stay tuned, yet for now it’s Iga time.

We are excited to announce and share previews of our third Fujioka Shuhei exhibition. Iga ceramic artist Fujioka Shuhei (b.1947) possesses the power to make mountains out of clay. He then fires his bold creations in an anagama to ‘fire-brush’ on mossy green, blue and gray natural ash glazes.

These captivating colors contrast and highlight the rich clay flavor and hi-iro (fire color) that Iga is world-renowned for, as well as the koge scorch colors (Iga has three famous keshiki-landscapes of hi-iro, koge and bidoro-glass). Iga is one of those magical medieval styles that speaks volumes of the Zen-inspired ways that are to be found within Tea-pottery; Fujioka understands this. His heart is pure and he loves the earth at his feet, whether it is for his clay works, or the vegetables he grows in the fields. Like potters of old, he too is a farmer and listens to the teachings that nature whispers in his ears. In a nutshell, after graduating college Fujioka went to work for a production kiln in Seto. Yet upon seeing a Ko-Iga piece, he then knew there was no other style for him. He apprenticed with Tanimoto Kosei before establishing his own kiln in 1975.

He’s had countless solo exhibitions throughout Japan and has been featured in numerous publications. Fujioka is to Iga what Harada and Kakurezaki are to Bizen, except without all the awards. He’s a soft-spoken man, humble and deep; all these qualities are in his work as well as an awe-inspiring feel of the power of nature. Fujioka fires a small kiln for three
days and if he gets a one-third success rate for any kiln he feels it’s been a success. The high loss rate is one reason we find so few Iga potters, it’s almost loony–as Fujioka himself says—to work in Iga with all its hurdles and failures. Yet the successes are clay jewels, as you’ll see for yourself in the following links. We are extremely pleased to offer the world a chance to see Fujioka’s Iga world online or here at our Mishima gallery until December 10th.

The exhibition will go online for public viewing on Tuesday of next week, for those who have signed our guest book please see the following hidden preview links. Only minimal details are noted and any extra information or additional photos will gladly be sent upon request. We hope you enjoy the world of one of Iga’s most important ceramic artists today, Fujioka Shuhei:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Also, our gallery was very honored to be the feature in arecent Japan Times article, you can access that here:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20091114a1.html

Kampai and all the best from Japan.

Cordially,

Robert Yellin
HOMEPAGE

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow
5 Star Foodie
Think Twice
Frank Fariello

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Framed photographs by Mishima photographer Okabe Minoru

Greetings from Mishima,

With autumn in the air in this part of our world, the senses are filled with glorious sights and smells as nature prepares for her winter hibernation. We hope this finds all well and also enjoying the season, whatever it may be where you are.

Thanks so much to all who visited our recent Miyao Masahiro exhibition and we continue with the Bizen theme in a very different realm though, namely shizen-nerikomi or natural marbled Bizen. This is the world of Yokoyama Naoki.

Our last Yokoyama exhibition was in May of 2006 and the works offered in the current exhibition were all fired very recently; I went down to his kiln on October 12th to select the works. Most of very much in an autumn tone-themed with rich oranges and browns created from the two or three different toned clay he uses. Yokoyama told me it takes 10 times more labor to make his shizen-nerikomi compared to regular Bizen. The forms range from very strong and stoic to more organic and natural; the larger rectangular forms acting as a canvas for the rich clay landscapes. Some of the cups and guinomi are of a black Bizen marbled type that was achieved by placing the works in
saggar-fire-proof casings and then adding charcoal towards the end of the firing. Each piece was carefully selected and as you’ll see in the following exhibition preview links Yokoyama is a superb Bizen ceramic artist taking Bizen in brilliant directions with his unique vision of marbled Bizen. (There are a few yohen Bizen and other non-marbled Bizen works to be seen as well.)

Yokoyama (b.1970) lives in the hills of Bizen where he established his kiln in 2000. Before that he studied with Kawabata Fumio and at the Bizen Pottery Center. His works have been accepted into juried exhibitions that include the Tanabe Museum’s Contemporary Tea Forms exhibition, Okayama Prefecture Art exhibition, Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts Chugoku region exhibition, Japan Ceramic Art exhibition and the Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts National exhibition, some of these
numerous times. As with Miyao, Yokoyama is an extremely talented
Bizen ceramic artist and one who’s star will surely rise even higher.

The hidden preview links are below, additional photos of any work gladly sent on request and the exhibition will go online for public viewing this Friday:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19.

Enjoy!

With deep thanks and appreciation from Mishima.
Sincerely,

Robert Yellin
HOMEPAGE

3-2-18 Omiya-cho, Mishima-shi, Shizuoka-ken
Phone: 81-559-91-5388
Fax: 81-559-91–5387

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow
5 Star Foodie
Think Twice
Frank Fariello

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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日本語のブログ
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Greetings from Mishima,

We hope this finds you well and enjoying the autumn season. Here in Japan it’s the Season of Culture–and great food and drink–with many exhibitions and events planned throughout the islands. Here in Mishima we’re starting our autumn exhibition season with Miyao Masahiro, an emerging-important Bizen ceramic artist who recently fired and unloaded his autumn kiln.

Robert was the first to see–and select–the newly fired works and we offer here in our preview pages the chance to acquire one or more of the 60 works, ranging from cups to large vessels.

Miyao Masahiro was born in 1970 in Fukuoka prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu. Even from his boyhood he knew he wanted to ‘play with clay and fire’ and become a Bizen ceramic artist. With that goal in mind he dropped out of university in 1991 and headed to Bizen to apprentice with Okayama Intangible Cultural Property Yamamoto Yuichi (son of Living National Treasure Yamamoto Toshu 1906-1994).

Miyao established his own kiln a few kilometers outside of Bizen in 2001. His star has been on the rise ever since with awards won at prestigious events such as the Japan Traditional Arts and Crafts exhibition, which was the JTAC Chairman’s Award and Miyao is only the third Bizen potter ever to win this award. Other awards were garnered at the Contemporary Tea Forms Exhibition at the Tanabe Museum and at the JTAC Chukoku Exhibition where he was awarded the Okayama City Mayor’s Award, and the Okayama Culture Exhibition where he won the Runner-up Grand Prix. All of these in a very short time span.
Easy to see why.

His forms are fresh and engaging, combined with his superb firings we have a rising star. He does all the classic Bizen styles including the highly prized ‘kiln change’ yohen, dripping sesame goma, scarlet hidasuki rice cord markings and his addition of pine ash on some works to add a new ‘landscape’ to his works; we offer all these styles in this exhibition.

The preview hidden links are below and all details on each piece can be found under the photos in the captions. Additional photos or details on any work will gladly be sent upon request to:
robert@e-yakimono.net
The exhibition will be available for public viewing in a few days, for now those who have signed our guest book—thank you–are offered previews here:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

Our future exhibitions before the year ends include a look Iga’s Fujioka Shuhei, Bizen by Yokoyama Naoki, and a few large Shodai plates by Inoue Taishu that were exhibited at the Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art. Also on the horizon Wakimoto and Harada of Bizen with about a dozen works each. Of course, each weekday we continue to offer new works by many various artists working in many styles; we hope you visit us here in Mishima or online

With thanks and appreciation as always and all the best from apan.

Sincerely,

Robert Yellin
HOMEPAGE

3-2-18 Omiya-cho, Mishima-shi, Shizuoka-ken
Phone: 81-559-91-5388
Fax: 81-559-91–5387

RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow
5 Star Foodie
Think Twice
Frank Fariello

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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日本語のブログ
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