Inside Japanese Ceramics: Primer of Materials, Techniques, and Traditions
This practical and supremely useful manual is the first
comprehensive, hands-on introduction to Japanese ceramics. The
Japanese ceramics tradition is without compare in its technical and
stylistic diversity, its expressive content, and the level of
appreciation it enjoys, both in Japan and around the world.
"Inside Japanese Ceramics "focuses on tools, materials,
and procedures, and how all of these have influenced the way
traditional Japanese ceramics look and feel. A true primer, it
concentrates on the basics: setting up a workshop, pot-forming
techniques, decoration, glazes, and kilns and firing. It introduces
the major methods and styles that are taught in most Japanese
workshops, including several representative and well-known wares:
Bizen, Mino, Karatsu, Hagi, and Kyoto. While presenting the
time-tested techniques of the tradition, author Richard L. Wilson
also accommodates modern technologies and materials as appropriate.
Wilson has gathered a wealth of information on two fronts--as a
researcher of Japanese pottery and art history, and as a potter who
has studied and worked for years with master Japanese potters. In
his introduction, he provides a short history of Japanese ceramics,
and in closing he looks beyond traditional methods toward ways in
which Western potters can make Japanese methods their own. Richly
illustrated with 24 color plates, over 100 black-and-white
photographs, and over 70 instructive line-drawings, "Inside
Japanese Ceramics "is indispensable for potters as well as
connoisseurs and collectors of Japanese ceramics. Above all, it is
an invitation to participate--to study, make, touch, and use the
exquisite products of the Japanese ceramic tradition.
