John Baymore on thu 29 jul 04
Hi all.
I have just returned from my almost two months spent in Japan this
summer. I am still quite jetlagged... and sometimes I still reflexively
respond in Japanese to something ("excuse me" if I bump into someone is a
killer at the moment..... sometimes comes out "sumimasen" ).
The month long residency program at Kanayama was a wonderful
experience.... and it will take quite a while to digest all of the input
and influences. Then I also have the information and ideas and images
that I was exposed to through about 3 1/2 weeks after I left Kanayama and
visited potters and cultural sites in places like Mashiko, Motegi, Kyoto,
Okayama, Bizen, and Tokyo.
While in Japan for the Kanayama program, I was fortunate enough to also be
invited to present at the Tokyo National University of Art and Music
(Geidai). What a place THAT is! They have just opened a brand new
building that houses all of the crafts programs there.
The new ceramics facility in the Ueno campus building is pretty amazing.
The Tokyo campus kiln room alone (there is also another campus at Toride
where the wood kilns are located) is a showplace of what can be done with
modern kiln installations, ranging from slick reduction electric kilns to
a huge gas fired car kiln with about 24 burners, to sophisticated
electronic computerized control systems. All with supurb local pickup
ventilation systems.
In addition to having a stunning physical plant facility...... the work
that is produced there by the students is absolutely AMAZING in the
breadth of approch and quality of work that I saw. There are something
like 60 ceramics majors between the undergrads and the Masters and
Doctoral candidates, and a large number of excellent faculty and teaching
assistants.
I had the pleasure of sitting in on their final reviews of the undergrads
and grads......... and it was a very humbling experience. The quality of
work produced by even a junior level undergrad student is truly mind
boggling. Of course, some of this is due to the screening of the talent
pool...... the school's acceptance rate is something like 12.7 percent of
applicants, and they take a three day, 8 hour a day exam when they apply.
EVERYONE can REALLY draw!!!!
If anyone from CLAYART happens to be visiting in Tokyo, you might try to
get in to see the facility and the student work there. It would be worth
the trip. And watch for their student exhibitions.
So.... I am now reactivating my CLAYART account back to receiving
email...... and also working on clearing out two months worth of junk mail
from my compuserve address. (I will stop checking my temporary
hotmail "trip" address shortly.) I am also getting the details
straightened out for the noborigama woodfiring workshop that I offer here
at my studio in August (one space of the 7 left left ).
If you tried to contact me at the compuserve address while I was "on the
road" in Japan.... please resend the message...and my apologies. Some
stuff got "kicked" because of a full mailbox. It should work now. (I
hope .)
best,
................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
Wilton, NH USA
http://www.JohnBaymore.com
JBaymore@compuserve.com
Merrie Boerner on thu 29 jul 04
Welcome home, John. I'd love to hear about any firings that you
participated in.
I've been off Clayart for a few months myself.....glad to be back !
Merrie
Chirs Greenman on mon 2 aug 04
Yes Welcome back John. Love to hear about all you learned from Japan. The
photos from the workshop were great. Hope your summer workshop is a good
one.
Hey Merrie hows that groundhog treat'n you?
Chris
Now I have about 14 days to play in the studio nothing but clay, glazes,
bisqueing and fire.
-----Original Message-----
From: Clayart [mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On Behalf Of Merrie
Boerner
Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2004 7:22 PM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: Re: Back in the USA from Japan
Welcome home, John. I'd love to hear about any firings that you
participated in.
I've been off Clayart for a few months myself.....glad to be back !
Merrie
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