Toshiko Takaezu: Portrait of an Artist

Comments · 65

• AR

  @arturobayangos1223 · 3 years ago

  ‘ i would like to keep it simple ‘ .  .  .  . Japanese art is simple . that is where the beauty come from .

  5

• AR

  @artaware22 · 11 years ago

  In Memory of Toshiko - R.I.P She died in March of 2011<br><br>Toshiko&apos;s Legacy - 120709 <br><br>For how many years did I knead clay <br>throw clay on the wheel, extrude clay <br>into natural forms and <br>fire them once into bisque and <br>fire them again into stoneware so they became <br>vessels to complement inside decors or <br>outside gardens or single flowers <br><br>I was no good at glazing and didn&apos;t apologize for it <br><br>My pieces were of red, cone-six clay, brushed with oxides <br>to blend with nature&apos;s four seasons <br>designed never to be out of place on a rotting log or a <br>brick stone wall or even in a palatial mansion <br>with floor to ceiling windows welcoming <br>an outside rural scene inside or <br>even in a Manhattan brownstone with ivy climbing up smaller windows <br>outside, softening the city scene of brick and mortar with <br>a touch of green seen inside <br><br>My pots achieved my own acceptance, me, being my own harshest critic <br>because of Toshiko&apos;s philosophy in her ceramic creations <br><br>Her pots don&apos;t overpower the surroundings they&apos;re placed in <br>they blend in <br><br>They create an environment of harmony with nature, with God <br>wherever they are <br><br>My yearly trips to Toshiko&apos;s open houses for some thirty years have been <br>pilgrimages to a sage&apos;s hut, a house not at all pretentious but rather <br>filled with testaments to friendships with people of all stripes: <br>students, teachers, leaders, dignitaries, solitaries <br><br>Her pots have found their way into very pretentious places - but like <br>certain scriptures, the high is made low - or accessible - <br>to all who meet them because of their honesty, forthrighteousness <br><br>Toshiko&apos;s pots feel, taste, look, sound and smell of the earth <br><br>Even when I showed photographs of her pots to my elementary school classes <br>the students responded with drawings that spoke to the five senses <br><br>On my pilgrimages to Quakertown where I&apos;m elbow to elbow with other pilgrims <br>the atmosphere is hushed, reverential because of the <br>master holding forth on her bench greeting friends from around the world <br>by name - even though in some cases she hasn&apos;t seen them in a decade <br><br>Toshiko has a following that has evolved and evolved over her eighty-seven years <br>people like to be near her and near her pots <br><br>She and her pots are other worldly - a part of the universe everyone can tap into <br><br>Isn&apos;t it amazing!

  22

• JO

  @joykrauthammer1259 · 11 years ago

  Very grateful for this video. Toshiko Takaezu was my teacher 45 years ago at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art. &nbsp;We went to her NJ studio. She is &quot;poetic&quot;. My heart is warm to again see and hear her. Toshiko is a meditation. A decade ago I was blessed to see her ceramics at the LA Japanese Museum and immediately recognized them and the shakers that they were. I don&apos;t think I heard about her shakers in this magnificent beautiful video. Thank you. (After teaching in NY, I went on to teach ceramics in LA.)

  53

• BA

  @barbaragodwin-chulick4401 · 1 year ago

  I’m so excited to go to Cranbrook tomorrow to see a retrospective of Toshiko’s work! I had the privilege to study with Bonnie Staffel here in Charlevoix, Mi <br>She had studied along with Toshiko at Cranbrook in the 50’s<br>I feel like I’m of the lineage of these amazing women artists!

  3

• PA

  @paulmitchell5349 · 7 years ago

  The focus in the making is the perfection,not the final artefact.

  9

• MA

  @mariannesturtridge6552 · 2 years ago

  Totally captivating both as an earthly &nbsp;grounded human being and the most awe-inspiring ceramistist.<br>. Please take time to listen . x

  2

• BR

  @brigittedusserrebresson1962 · 6 years ago

  I do love the way she speaks about her way of living, her work, &nbsp;art and so orinary basic thinks that become beauty

  6

• MA

  @maestasify · 7 years ago

  Gardening and pottery go very well with each other in a potter&apos;s life. Namaste.

  5

• MR

  @MrRodgers007 · 8 years ago

  A truly beautiful woman.

  5

• TH

  @The000000000789 · 4 years ago

  By being, and by the way you was existing, you was the perfection you was looking for.

  1

• AR

  @artaware22 · 11 years ago

  Please visit The Takaezu Studio on Facebook. &nbsp;Don Fletcher and other artists are carrying on Toshiko&apos;s legacy.

  6

• BA

  @barbarafritchie2000 · 10 months ago

  Awesome. Thank you.

  1