Five weeks and four days in Tokoname with IWCAT. Ian Lamb experiences a residency in Japan.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

TWO YEARS AGO I WAS ATTENDING A SLIDE presentation by Jann Kesby where she was speaking about her experience in Tokoname. I have been making pottery for over 30 years and have been to Japan on three other occasions. I had always yearned to work in Japan. I applied for a residency at The International Workshop of Ceramic Art in Tokoname (IWCAT) in 2008 and was accepted.

The main purpose of IWCAT is to encourage cultural and ceramic exchange. Every summer IWCAT invites 10 foreign ceramic participants to visit Tokoname. Each guest stays with a host family and gains an intimate experience of life in Japan. Studio space, clays, woodfired and gas kilns are made available to make your own ceramic work. There are always volunteer staff members available to help with ceramics, cultural and language questions.

Tokoname is one of Japan's 'Six Ancient Kiln Sites' and together with the Potters Walk and the galleries this gives all of the inspiration needed to make lots of pots. The Potters Walk is a small area in central Tokoname with black timber and corrugated iron clad buildings, coated with tar and soot from generations of kiln firings. What used to be only potters workshops are now homes, galleries and workshops. Still standing in some of the buildings are the Kakugama Kilns which were fired with coal and later, about 1955, converted to oil, which are now muted by council regulations to minimise generations of coal and oil fired pollution.

Historical reports state there were between 2,500 and 3,000 active kilns in Tokoname at one time. Some of the larger kilns are renovated and used as galleries and karaoke bars.

During the workshop, local potters came and demonstrated how they made their tea bowls, tea pots, tableware and other related art forms such as Ikabana. The potters explained why they make their table ware the way they do and how they reflect the seasons in colour and form.

We were pleased to have Ohara Kohichi to instruct us on stacking and firing the IWCAT Anagama. He not only built but designed the kiln and had fired it many times. The results spoke for themselves as the pots came out of the kiln. We had four clays to choose from: a semi porcelain that gave light flashing, a rough clay, a similar clay with a finer body and a very dark clay. Each has a special place in the kiln and all gave various colours and marks from the flame and ash.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

IWCAT personal were always generous with their time and information. They organised a two-day excursion to Shigaraki and Iga, two other well known pottery areas and if Tokoname didn't get your ceramic heart pumping, the Iga Ceramic Festival would. Half an acre under canvas of woodfired ceramics, displayed with passion by talented artist potters. We stayed in Shigaraki at the Yamaichi Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn and while there, a Shinto fire and drum festival was held, making the stay more special. Another excursion was a Day Trip to Tajimi and Seto, seeing the Mino International Ceramic Art Exhibition and Aichi Prefectual Ceramic Museum.

My fellow participants were from the US, Singapore, Portugal and the UK. I was the only Australian. At the end of the workshop the participants put together an exhibition of our work, which was displayed at the Tokoname Ceramic Festival, the largest display of ceramics in Japan.

I was fortunate to be able to go back to Tajimi to visit a friend on a four day break after the four day firing of the kiln. We attended an exhibition by Nakashima Harumi at the Gallery Voice, the same gallery where Janet Barriskill has exhibitions. They were well known to each other. Janet was our guide on a pottery tour of Japan in 1985. We also had the opportunity to spend some time with Suzuki Goro at his home and studio.

All together the IWCAT experience was very successful. Being able to live and work in an historic ceramic town, to make and fire your pots in traditional wood fired kilns: I would recommend that anyone interested in Japanese Ceramics should take the opportunity to apply.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Ian Lamb has been a practising potter since 1975. He is a member of the Port Hacking Potter's Group and Ceramic Study Group. ([e-mail])

IWCAT contact information: c/o Tokoname Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 5-58, Shinkaicho, Tokoname, Aichi. Japan 479-0837

Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Email : ([e-mail])

Website: http://www.japan-net.ne.jp/~iwcat/

The workshop period is from the end of July to the end of August.