Encounters with Japan: artist Hanako Miwa, a ceramicist living in Hagi скачать в хорошем качестве

Encounters with Japan: artist Hanako Miwa, a ceramicist living in Hagi

Hanako Miwa lives and works in Hagi, Japan. She hails from an illustrious dynasty of potters that originated in the mid 17th century; the Miwa lineage counts thirteen generations and two Living National Treasures. Hanako-san is the first female ceramicist in her family. She has been exhibiting her work since 2001, creating tea wares and installations. The culture of tea is central to her art and she talked to us from her home, sitting by her exquisite portable tea house. Hanako Miwa creates stoneware ceramics based on traditional Hagi ware, which she combines with other techniques such as platinum lustre. At the beginning of the video she shows us a new piece that has not been fired yet. It will first need to dry; this step can take a few weeks, depending on the season. She uses local clay from Hagi and from the surrounding area in Yamaguchi prefecture. Central to her inspiration is the lotus, a symbol of purity as well as enlightenment in Buddhism. Her ceramics represent lotuses at various times of their life cycle as can be seen with works from the series Spring of Love, Myo, Love Lotus and Yume that are featured in the video. An interactive dimension is essential to Hanako’s artistic expression. During the interview she sits in front of Hanako’s Teahouse 2, a portable tea house that can be dismantled and taken wherever she likes to perform the tea ceremony. Born from her collaboration with two architects, Alex H. Lee and Rikitoshi Yamakawa, the tea house is made exclusively from organic materials (reeds, willow, bamboo, washi paper and silk). This video was produced with the support of the Toshiba International Foundation. #japan #artist #ceramic #japaneseculture #japaneseart #teaceremony #chanoyu #lotus #pottery #kimono #toshibainternationalfoundation