I started making pottery because I had a deep admiration for "Minto", a form of Japanese folk pottery which includes tea cups and rice bowls.

As an apprentice under Koishiwara-Yaki potter in Fukuoka, I spent 2 years learning to use a potter's wheel, to glaze pottery, to put pottery into a kiln, and to bake pottery. I also learned to plant and harvest rice.

While working with clay, I became interested in creating objects from formless masses of clay.

Because I experienced pottery from Koishiwara to Kyoto to Italy, my original understanding that "pottery" was just dishes has been shattered. Now that my understanding of pottery is no longer limited, I think to myself, "what else can I make?"

Now I feel little difference between making dishes and making other objects.

Koichi Yamamoto
Taishojin, Kawachimachi, Kumamoto-city, Kumamoto, Japan

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The next exhibition will be held at the gallery Siwori, 1315-7 Mihashimachihyakumachi, YanagawaCity, FukuokaPref from Sep 23 to 30.