What first attracted me to ceramics were the large, naturally glazed storage jars that had been made in Japan since the 13th century. These straightforward pots, by potter/farmers in certain areas of Japan with good clay deposits and abundant firewood, were rough in style due to the modeling techniques and long wood firing. Nevertheless, the finished pots displayed a sophistication that seemed to have gone beyond the intentions of the potters.

Such pots were not appreciated as objects of art until the Momoyama period (1573 — 1615) when influential aesthetes praised them, establishing a new and expanded definition of beauty that included the imperfect, the weathered, the old. In such an environment Japanese art as a whole flourished, not just ceramics, producing vigorous activity, with numerous persons of extraordinary talent emerging.

The pots in this exhibit were produced in the past 15 years, some of them fired up to three times in my small anagama (cave kiln.) When making work, I try to ultimately rely on my own judgment, my true feelings, rather than the intellect The work must feel right, not just meet certain artistic criteria established many years ago. I hope these simple pots convey not just Momoyama of the mind, but also Momoyama of the heart.

                                                                                                                                                     Clayton Amemiya