JAPAN: ARTISTS

Here it is, a month after I left for Japan, and I am finally back, decompressed, and have weeded through the 1000 pictures I took! ​It was such a wonderful experience to travel in a country halfway around the world and have an opportunity to meet and speak with craftsmen working in traditional ways. Beyond what I ever imagined, these people were all so generous with their time and knowledge, always sharing as much as we wanted to know. On more than one occasion we would plan to meet with an artist thinking that it would be nothing more than a short studio visit, and then hours later, after a meal and at least one cup of tea, we would finally part ways. Thanks so much to Jack for being such an awesome travel companion, and a huge thank you to Hiroko for planning this trip and being so patient with us! If it were just the two of us bumbling Americans, we wouldn't have made it to a tenth of the places we went.

I have way too much to talk about in one post, so I am going to break it down into three main posts: Artists, Food, and Tools. This first one is just going to be about some of the artists we met with, and if possible, links to more of their work. Enjoy! 

One of the early stops on the trip was a visit to the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum in Okayama-ken. The museum not only had an exhibition area, but it also had craftsmen working full time, recreating, repairing, and working on their own swords. It ended up being a really educational visit. When we arrived, one of the craftsmen was just finishing forge welding a billet for a sword and took a break to talk about his process with us. We later caught up with him and he showed us how the finished swords are scraped and then polished. Another craftsman was working on repairing an antique sword. He showed us some of his work, which was primarily inlay and engraving.

​http://www.city.setouchi.lg.jp/~osa-token/english/index.htm

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When we headed north, Hiroko contacted Nishikata Ryota to see if he was available for a studio visit. None of us had ever met Ryota, but he responded enthusiastically and soon picked us up at the train station. Ryota and his father, Nishikata Tadashi have a studio in Tsubame where they produce a line of hollowware as well as have their own studio practices. Their family is especially known for a really electric blue patina you can see in some of their work. I can't thank Ryota enough for all that he shared with us and the connections he made for us. 

http://www.seigado.net/

http://www.yufuku.net/e/exhibitions/110922/works.html

​A large copper sculpture that Ryota made during his graduate studies. This is about 3 feet across.

Yoshirou Uemo was probably one of the most memorable people of the trip. A very boisterous 74 year-old, Uemo-san glady showed us his work and studio. We ended up visiting him because Ryota had studied under him for a time to learn his style of raising teapots. Uemo-san had an incredible collection of work he had made over the years that showed his true mastery in raising mokumé gane vessels, two spouted silver teapots, and shibuichi . In his studio he demonstrated how he raises 5mm thick discs of shibuichi into large bowls. He only started doing this five years ago! It was so inspiring to see Uemo-san swing his hammer as hard as ever and make such beautiful work at his age.

We travelled south to Kumamoto and visited a shop that specializes in damascene. Yuji Osumi is the shop owner and gave us a short tutorial of how this technique is done, and even let us try our hands at it! This is considered Kumamoto style damascene and it is a process of using an upright chisel to cut a grid into iron (similar to the texture on a file), and then inlay high karat gold or fine silver into the texture.  

http://www.mitsusuke.com/

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Kazuo Kashima is a damascene master who lives in Tokyo. This is different from the Kumamoto style damascene that we saw in the south of Japan in a couple of ways. One is that the style of this technique allows you to not only inlay into iron, but into precious metals as well. Kashima-san primarily uses this technique to decorate vessels. He had an incredible amount of samples to show us, including a box full of very impressive chasing and repoussé. 

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http://members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/k-kashima/

We met Hiroki Iwata​ in Tokyo where he showed us his studio and work. Mr. Iwata is a professor at a university outside of Kyoto where he teaches for the metalsmithig program. His work is primarily enameled hollowware. He achieves some extremely beautiful surfaces and textures through the use of foil and enamels.   

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Haruo Mitsuda was one the last craftsmen we visited on our trip, and he completely blew our minds. He is carrying on a Japanese art form of making kinetic creatures (mostly bugs) out of metal, all of them precisely to scale. These things are so unreal...or should I say so real! Every part that you would expect to move, moves. From the details and textures on the exoskeletons, to the way you can flex and bend their wispy antennas, these creates are made with everything considered. My personal favorite was the crab. When you flipped it over, the legs just fell open, just like a crabs would...of course! This was a really inspiring visit for me, making me want to continue pushing myself and always doing the best I possibly can. Definitely check out more of his work down below.

​http://m-haruo.com/

We had a really incredible opportunity to tour the Gyokusendo workshop in the Niigata prefecture. Gyokusendo has been producing hollowware for the past two hundred years. They primarily make wares for tea ceremonies. Tatsushi Tamagawa was kind enough to take us on an extensive tour of their workshop. On the floor we got to see craftsmen raising, engraving, and prepping material. He took us to the back where they do all of their tinning, both function and decorative, and where they patina and wax all the products. Finally we got to see the showroom and had a chance to appreciate all their beautiful wares.  

http://www.gyokusendo.com/

Be sure to check back for more posts about Japan as well as some progress shots as my studio is coming along!​

TO JAPAN!

Tomorrow I leave for Japan! I am ridiculously excited to say the least. Before I take off, I thought would give a quick background of how this trip came to be, and what it is going to be all about. ​In the summer of 2011 I took a chasing and repoussé class with Hiroko Yamada and Richard Elaver. 

Hiroko is originally from Japan, but now lives in Madison, WI where she owns and operates HYART Gallery. Her reputation preceded her as an amazing metalsmith with the ability to masterfully take on any metal or technique and she did not disappoint. In the class I found myself completely dumbfounded at some of the objects that she had made. The precise hand skills she possessed to complete such minuscule masterpieces was totally inspiring. ​

We worked hard, accomplished a lot, and overall had a wonderful class with Hiroko. I learned a tremendous amount in the class and set me in the direction I am headed today with my engraving techniques. Not long after that class, Hiroko suggested that Jack Mauch and I (a fellow classmate and core student) join her sometime when she was traveling in Japan. She said that if we ever wanted to go, we should let her know.  

So here we are, almost two years later ready to go! ​​Jack and I will meet Hiroko in Japan to spend two weeks traveling with her to museums, artists' studios, and universities on a very geeky, craft-centric agenda. Just a few of the places we will visit include Kumamoto for higo zogan inlay, Nagano for shinshu forged blades, Nigata for copper ware, and Oita for bamboo basketry. I am bringing a small sampling of my own work to share with the artists we meet. Instead of bringing business cards, I had some postcards printed that have my name in English and Japanese kanji characters.  I don't think I will be able to post while I am away, but check back for a big update upon my return.

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IN THE STUDIO: PENLAND AUCTION PIECE

 

The second piece I have to make before I go to Japan is for the Penland School of Crafts annual benefit auction. Leaving the Core Fellowship program I was asked to donate a piece, so I decided to make another cleaver. You can see that it is almost complete. All that is left to do is the engraving on the fine silver inlay and a final sharpening. I need to finish it in the next two weeks, so I will be posting finished photos soon!  

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IN THE STUDIO: IFOB AWARDS

There are a couple of pieces that I need to make before I go to Japan in April. One is the Maine Family Buisness Awards commissioned by the Institute for Family-Owned Buisness in Portland, ME. Each year they commission me to make awards for them to give to select Maine businesses. This award was originally designed and made by Alan Perry. Four years ago I took over the commission.

Each of the six awards is made of two fold-formed bronze sheets that have brass rings suspended between them. Below you can see the first step in the fold-forming followed by annealing them.

 
 

Here the sheets are formed, textured, and the rings are made. The next step will be to pierce the sheets and solder the rings in place. Check back for more progress!

THE BIG MOVE

Ending my Core Fellowship at the Penland School of Crafts this February, I made the big move north to Cleveland, OH to be with my other half, Liz, as she goes back to school. I am excited to start the next chapter of my life here, opening a studio and getting to know a new city. 

I spent my first week in Cleveland driving around looking for places to rent for a studio. As a metalsmith, I was amazed at all the old industry.  From steel yards to grinding shops, the area is so rich in industrial businesses, though many of the buildings are vacant. Driving up and down the streets I could not help but imagine what an incredibly thriving area it must of been at the height of its time.

 

At the end of the first week I found a studio that I was excited about. It is one bay, 1300 sq. ft. space. It is in a very industrial part of the city, which is good for me so I don't have to worry about noise or smoke from the coal forge. In fact, I think I would have to do a lot to disturb my neighbors seeing as though there is a 5,000 lb power hammer in use on my block. I have not seen it yet, but I have definitely heard it running. 

I bought a plane ticket back to Massachusetts where my father and I loaded up a 16 ft. truck with my studio and some things for the house. I am not going to start renting the space until May 1st, but my landlord was kind enough to let me leave some of the bigger studio equipment there in the meantime. You can see below us unloading one of the drill presses, and my Southbend 9" lathe. It was a great surprise to find out that there was a forklift we could use. 

Thanks very much Dad for all the help!

THE NEW SITE

In transition and without a studio as I settle into my new home in Cleveland, OH, I have decided to take advantage of my time and build a new website. Like the old one, you can see selected work I have made over the years as well as my information should you need to contact me.

An exciting new addition is the BLOG, which you have of course found your way to. Here I will be posting about work, both commission and available work, as well the experience and objects I come across that I feel are enriching the work I make. 

So have a look around, let me know what you think, and don't forget to check back for new posts. Thanks for reading!