Shoji Hamada

Shoji Hamada was a Japanese ceramicist and an important part of the mingei folk-art movement. He once said “Even a bad pot has some use, but with a bad painting there is nothing you can do with it except throw it away." He trained in pottery at Tokyo Technical College, while in school he viewed exhibitions of ceramic art that impressed him, some of the work he saw included some of Bernard Leach. Hamada befriended Leach and moved to St. Ives. After three years he found a studio home in Mashiko, Japan. He used locally sourced clay and to make his glazing brushed he used hair from the neighborhood dogs. Attached above is Hamada's "Thrown, Combed tea bowl," I chose this image because of the way it's shaped, you don't necessarily see bowls this shaped. The colors is interesting also, how it's brown on the inside and like an off green on the inside.