"For the wheel's still in spin"

 

After almost 3 years of daily visits for coffee and tomfoolery, working to improve one another's teaching skills beyond the confounding barrier of two languages, getting muddy on days when there were no classes, and endless giving and kindness Tabe Sensei is now working for Susaki Technical High School and Kubokawa High School. They can't know how lucky their students are.  We spent our final day, which was appropriately gray and melancholy, of working together laughing about old times, and going on a lovely lunch excursion to a surprisingly fantastic Italian place near my school. Pasta, a surprisingly crusty (in the good way) peice of home made bread, and the ploting of ways to stay in contact despite now different schools. It was a bitter sweet day of fond farewells.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! For your greatness!

It's a sunny spring day today with enough a chill in the air that a light sweater is still appriciated, but hardly necessary. The sakura infront of the craft room are at their peak, and though quite (with a gaping Tabe Sensei shaped hole) the studio is still a lovely place to do work. I've been filling the silence with Mr. Dylan's songs. It seemed all to fitting to use a line from one of his songs for this post's tittle.

 The new craft instructor invited me down to the studio two days ago to watch me do some work. Yamatogi Sensei was a year ahead of Tabe Sensei in university and specializes in making wooden art objects. My initial impressions are dominated by his neatness, big smiles, and relative lack of English. After watching me work for a day he said that I should feel free to use the studio as I liked. His exact words translated to, "use the same as you did". This is hesitantly great news, and most of this week I've been in and out of the studio creating new pots. I recently watched a small documentary that focused on the pottery community in Minnesota. Sharing the Fire, is great if you are interested in seeing a vibrant potter's community, and many different journeys that all led to careers in ceramics. Check it out!

 

Somewhere within all of these farewells and new works I managed to have some really great visitors from the USA stop bye. Meet the Strubles!

They came for a visit with Steph, and walked away with a family of three tea cups that have been looking for the perfect home. The visit with Steph's family was a hoot! They're a barrel of laughs and we surfed, beach walked, ate well, and generally shared good times. Can hardly wait to see them again. Hopefully they'll think Kochi whenever they enjoy a cup of tea.

I'm off to trim some of my new work, and possible throw some more vase forms (I am really enjoying bottles and vases these days. They take to texturing really well). Have a happy weekend!

Bad News Break Down

    As an English teacher in Japan's public school system you know you come the end of March with the opening of cherry blossoms also comes the potential for your work world to dramatically change. Voices from mysterious Prefectural offices send out names on charts that, seemingly, uncaringly uproot teachers from their current schools and forcibly scatter them to all the far flung corners of the prefecture. For my past two years the teacher change has left my school largely unaffected.

    I entered to pottery studio last Thursday to desks covered in cardboard boxes and a very overwhelmed best friend. Tabe Sensei (my school's incredible craft teacher, and the reason I am able to use the pottery studio at my school, and most importantly my best friend at work) has been summoned away by the voices on high. She has 3 days to completely clean the studio and all of its Tabe art, decorations, and teaching aids. It's a daunting task. Over her years here many students have gifted her their art projects. These gifts adorn every inch of the studio. In slight shock at the news that Thursday and Friday will be my last days of seeing her, and my studio (at least as I have known it), all I can muster is, "I'll help?"
    In relative silence we collect the relics of her years teaching here. She chooses a few that mean the most to her (they'll follow her to her next school), but there are far more than could ever make the trip to her currently unknown next school. So, with pliers, hammers, and other instruments of disaster we deconstruct her collection of art in to suitably sorted piles of recyclabe parts. We save the pottery room for last. There we gather all our students work that is left over. . .

take it out behind the kiln shed,

Tabe the destroyer!

This is only a third of the student's work we smashed.

the aftermath

     and take out our frustration in a duel hammer weilding frenzy. After the dust settles and we've spread the shattered bits evenly about laughter takes us. Inside I'm still smashing things with hammers. We go back and talk about our years together with kids and in the studio. We cram all our work into the electric kiln for one last group bisque fire, and watch as a construction crew crain lifts the old broken down gas kiln away into nothingness (now even the kiln room feels empty). She says she'll come to school and visit me when she can, and reminds me that we live in the same town. I assure her that I'll take her up on her invitation of comming to her house any time to say hello.

     All in all, last weeks ceramics news was somewhat crippling. It is a total system reset. It means getting to know a new craft teacher, probably not teaching any ceramics courses this year, and at least for the moment a severly less agressive studio presence. Tabe sensei apearantly went to university with the genltman who will be taking her spot at school. She says he's brilliant, and claims that she has explained to him that I use the studio and can help the students as well. These are all promissing details, but none the less change (big or small) is difficult, and my school in total lost about 13 incredible teachers. Two of those 13 are English teachers I love working with, and one is my best Japanese friend.
    For now, I have to go and continue to help clean the studio, and say farewells. More will come as I know what the ceramics situation looks like from here. I'll post when I can with updates.
Everything changes, the important thing is how you handle that change. Tabe sensei and I will see eachother again, and even if I am only granted once a week after school studio time it will still be sticking my hands in mud. . . . gratitude for my two plus years of working with her and thoughts of how much she ( and the time she allowed me to have in the studio) helped me to find my love of ceramics throughout my years here are the thoughts I'm trying really hard to focus on.

more soon.

Keep creating friends!

storm and last weeks work

Low visibility, fog, heavy winds, and on and off gushing rains. sounds like the perfect Monday for a little post to catch ya'll up on last week's works. We're in that awkward time between school years where it isn't quite spring break yet, and where there are no classes. This means that my days are a bit wandering at the office, and filled with a touch more internet loafing than i typically would like. HOWEVER last week I did manage to get my most recent works trimmed and ready for a small bisque fire.

This mug is sporting a 100% expiramental handle that came from simply the desire to try something new, and my overal dislike for pulling my own handles. I'm unconvinced by its style and unsure of its comfort once bisqued. We'll just have ot wait and see. I'm veyr hopeful that the weather will clear and that I'll get a little time in the old studio today.

Until next time,
smile more!

Collage of days flown bye

Fine friends came and were feasted, traveled, loved, and spoken to in great depth about all things that are, were, and will be their lives. We had such a lovely time. Thank you for coming Geoff and Brenna!

Test season started once more, and there (just like every morning) is the first mug ever to come out of the kiln here in Susaki. 

A few new forms have been thrown and are shown drying in the early spring sun (which is so wonderful!) The plum blossoms are also out in for these days, and it makes the coolness of winter 

seem like a distant memory. 

And lastly these little guys found their way into Geoff and Brenna's bags and will hopefully be used in their months to come as they renter the working American world in the old big apple. 

More to come this week I promise. It's great to be getting back in the studio even if it is just for a bit. 

More to come! Go make things! 

Greens and guests.

Busy busy life! The studio has seen very little work this week due to the approach of finals week and graduation at school, but when my school days don't afford me the opportunity to create with clay I find other ways play in dirt and mud. I've got two wonderful guests from the Kingsley Pines and Wooster days here to keep me company for the next two weeks. We'll see what kinds of troubles we can get into (mostly we've been eating delicious foods and tromping about a bit thus far), but lastly here is a photo of this weeks coffee mug. I always struggle with my mugs being slightly under sized, so the only goal of this one was for it to be BIG! I think I may have achieved that goal.

All my life my father grew beautiful summer gardens. We'd eat fresh tomatos and broccoli from it all through the season, and the summer before I came to Japan three years ago I really took an intrest in it and the garden became our project. I loved every part of it from the first turning of the soil to the satisfied smile a fresh tomato is sure to deliver when pared with a little salty blue cheese on a crust of good bread. Now, it's too cold for tomatoes here in Kochi, blue cheese and good bread are, at the very best, difficult to find in Susaki but the green thumb still claims many of the thoughts that rumble about in my head. I reall am striving for a decent winter garden with arugula, kolrhabi, broccoli, chard, thyme, mints, chives, edible flowers, and evern some aloe. Living on the fourth story it's always a battle to get enough sun light, and getting the seeds to germinate as I run from school to train to city and back and forth, but things seems to be doing really well this year.

There's just something special about having your hands in earth, with grit worked up under the nails. . . it's the kind of feeling I like cultivating, that slow creation that adrenolin junkies can't stand. The one that hangs for days and days, and is about as exciting as watching a leather hard work turn bone dry. But to those like me who get it, that every day difference, there is something magical in grit, green, and earth.



Enjoy your weekends everyone!

A few new mugs.

It's been raining for two days now, and there's a damp cold drapped about my school that just won't give way no matter how long one stands with their hands next to the propane heater that keeps the teacher's office nice and toasty. By West Virginia winter standards this cold is nothing, but for this third year Kochi kid it certantly feels cooler than it used to.

In typical form my days are so busy I can hardly find time to post the work I'm doing (what little it maybe be). Cold studios make for cold hands, and cold hands make fewer pots, BUT the creative juices are still a flowing and there will be more to come from Susaki land soon dear readers. VERY very soon.

Surprise Firing and garden first (only photos!)

I'm supremely happy with the glazes on these pieces. 

Have a great weekend Ya'll!