Ken Kikkawa

Pottery

Clay art has become my passion since I discovered it.

 The beauty of clay art is the intrinsic balance of many variables such as art, functionality and technique, and each piece is a one-off creation that cannot be re-produced.

 I always feel that I need at least three lives to master ceramics as there’s so much to discover including designs, clay types, and chemical compositions of glazing as well as firing.  I’m creating mostly functional works, but I also want to do artistic, sculptural forms of ceramics.  

 My new works are Oribe glazed pots.  Oribe is copper based Japanese traditional glazing.

 I used wheel throwing, hand building and assemblage techniques to form the pots.

 You can see clear contrast between two groups of work here.  Even though I used the same Oribe glazing, different firing conditions gave my pots clear differences in colour and finish.

 The green colouring is the traditional Oribe effect which comes from oxidisation firing, whereas the red colour is the result of reduction firing i.e. fired with less oxygen. 

 The red colour works are wood-fired for 64 consecutive hours in the Gold Coast hinterland by using Australian natural woods.  Their surface appears more natural and wild due to wood ash effects.

Contact - Hanasho  hiroeba1@optusnet.com.au