Hiromu Okuda: sound and space: shaping the beauty of nature and tradition in Shigaraki.

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Sounds--of high mountains, clear water, trees, earth. I would like to create art which recalls the nostalgic sounds deep in our memories and which reverberates with life. I am hoping that my work will resonate differently for each viewer in his or her individual way. (1)--Hiromu Okuda

Hiromu Okuda creates large 'reassembled' objects by using the potter's wheel and pinching to shape the pieces, splitting them down the middle, firing the sections--unglazed--to a high temperature and then joining them together with an assortment of natural wood. Because the thrown, pinched form is split in half vertically, we are able to see the wheel formed marks and pinched finger-prints on the interior of the pot, which are not normally visible. A tender mood emanates from the unglazed pottery, bathed in soft red tones, which has been shaped by natural forces. The rhythms of throwing and pinching visible on the large pots resound in the surrounding space and in combination with the random twists and turns of the natural wood, create a fascinating ambience. Okuda began to call the exhibits constructed from these organic materials of pottery and wood his Sound and Space series. His exhibition spaces maintain a delicate balance, conjuring up the far ancient past while infused with the immediacy of the natural world.

The current senior curator at the Museum of Modern Art Shiga, Toshimichi Kuwayama, introduced Okuda's work as follows: "Fundamental to all his work is formation on the wheel and high-temperature glaze-free firing. Traditional techniques are also an important factor in his powerful forms, techniques which he employs extensively and boldly in pursuit of modern ceramic expression. In Okuda's pieces we are struck by the sharp cross-section of the pot, the hand marks and endlessly fascinating naive curves produced by centrifugal force on the interior, and the appealing freshness of the natural wood." (1989, Shigaraki Four-Man Show, Plus Minus Gallery)

As Kuwayama says, Okuda's throwing technique is a traditional Shigaraki method used for producing large pieces. Okuda was born in Nagano, Shigaraki, Shiga prefecture in 1949. Back in the Eto Period, Shigaraki was known for producing special tea jars used to present Uji tea to the shogun. Leading potters of the day gathered in Shigaraki to make these jars, using the finest techniques available. Among these Edoperiod experts was Okuda San'emon, an ancestor of Hiromu; Okuda is actually the 14th generation descended from San'emon. Okuda's grandfather held the title 'Okuda Sanraku', and his father was the first to make ceramic wall reliefs using moulds. During his high-school days, Okuda exhibited work in the ceramics section of the Shiga Prefectural Arts Exhibition and won prizes there on every occasion.

After graduating from high school, Okuda was hired in the design department of Ohmi Chemical Industry Co. in Shigaraki. This was a period of high economic growth which saw the first use of architectural reliefs (ceramic walls) in Japan and some of the country's leading artists gathered in Shigaraki to work on these. The black-tiled section of the Sun Tower, which symbolised the Japan World Exposition held in Osaka in 1970, was one of the pieces made by Ohmi Chemical Industry. The tower was designed by Taro Okamoto and Okuda participated in this project as an employee in the design department. Okuda also produced by hand all the ceramic pieces that Okamoto designed. So he was able to hone his sense of spatial construction and transmission of mood by working with many artists like Okamoto and Sofu Teshigawara of the Sogetsu School of flower arrangement, in a context where artworks were created within architectural spaces. At the age of 23, Okuda left the company and decided to carve out an independent career as a potter. With only a hand-powered wheel, he made and sold vases for avant-garde flower arrangement--his principal technique being pinching--and worked to establish his own artistic identity as he exhibited his work annually in Kyoto. He used new techniques to develop his own contemporary form of expression, exploring the medium of ceramics from a variety of angles by incorporating other materials like cans or sand. In 1984 after some serious thought about the unique possibilities of ceramics, he started using the potter's wheel.

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After World War 2, Japanese potters expanded the scope of pottery in a host of different ways, moving from traditional vessels to ceramic objects and then absorbing the currents of the 1980s art world to create installations and action-based work. It is very interesting to note that of the many options available to him, Okuda chose to produce large thrown pieces using the traditional techniques of his native Shigaraki. As he throws and assembles his pieces, Okuda remembers watching neighbouring potters using these large wheel-based techniques back in his teens.

Moreover, in the ancient historic ceramic centre of Shigaraki, there were other young artists who shared Okuda's aspirations. In 1986 several young potters in Shigaraki formed a group called the CERAMIC ANNEX SHIGARAKI, which aimed to create new and unconventional ceramic work. Young and established potters formed the core of the group, which was not restricted to local potters but invited colleagues from other regions like Tokyo and Mino to exhibit with them. Because this group rejected the hierarchy and factionalism found in much of the ceramics world, the potters were able to link up and expand their outlets, garner the forces of Shigaraki artists and assert themselves as a creative community. Okuda's role as a central figure in this group must have been considerable.

Okuda has done extensive work overseas. His international links began in 1989 when he received a Rockefeller Grant to produce work at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana, USA. In the following year he exhibited work at the Main Art Gallery, at Fullerton School, California State University. He was also invited to participate in the JINRO Ceramic Art Exhibition in 1994 and in Avant Garde Trends of Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Art hosted by Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo, Holland in 1999 (curated by the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park). In 2000 he was an invited artist at the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemet, Hungary. Further international appearances included the 2002 International Ceramics Exhibition at Taiwan's Yingge Ceramics Museum. In 2008 Okuda was invited by the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild as principle artist to give demonstrations for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Central to this residency in Pittsburgh was the production of work in collaboration with his wife Mieko Okuda and 300 local children, which was exhibited at the Greenhouse Gallery. Okuda's demonstrations of large-scale throwing techniques in the US generated a huge public response, reawakening the artist to the value of these traditional skills which had been passed on to him through unbroken transmission over hundreds of years. Thus the residency in Pittsburgh proved to be a pivotal experience for Okuda who was reminded of his own role in this continuing tradition. He reaffirmed his conviction that his future work would be dedicated to communicating the beauty of Shigaraki pottery; Shigaraki's history, tradition, natural environment and land with which he grew up. While abroad he became particularly aware of the uniquely superb quality of Shigaraki clay and expressed a new resolve to demonstrate the beauty of the clay--this 'treasure' of Shigaraki--through his own work.

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Okuda has described his own work as "the formative beauty of nature within people's memories". (2) Surely these words do not only apply to one particular series of pieces. Okuda constructs his pieces with an extremely unusual approach for a Japanese artist, because with his style he aims to incorporate nature into the work itself. His aesthetic, with which he seeks to tap into people's innate sense of natural beauty, has no doubt been nurtured by the lush environment of Shigaraki. Hiromu Okuda continues to pursue his own style of ceramics, inspired by his regional identity and tradition.

FOOTNOTES:

(1.) Mizu'umi no. 88, THE SHIGA BANK, LTD. (1989).

(2.) Ibid.

Hiroko Miura is a Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, the Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki, Japan.

Article translated by Martie Jelinek.