Most potters who get to Japan will make a visit to Mashiko and we were no exception. This bamboo shop was a wonderful place to explore and I wish we had been able to bring some of the things they had home. That is a problem when travelling - how to carry or send things back home. Hamada's workshop and compound was a wonderful experience. Much damage was done in Mashiko at the time of the March earthquake and will take a long time to repair.
There was an exhibit about 15 years ago at the Sackler Gallery in Washington of a Japanese country bamboo master. He was a very modest man, but he made marvelous baskets, fish traps, kitchenware ... all things that were made for function and not for art. But there were all beautifully made. Wish I could remember his name.
ReplyDeleteI just looked it up. Hiroshima Kazuo was his name.
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