Wabi – Sabi

June 19th, 2009 at 04:23pm pksullivan

Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts is a premier arts center located in the Boothbay region of Maine.  Its mission is to provide both time and space for artists to work in clay.  For the past six years it has been my pleasure and great honor to serve on the Board of the Watershed Center.  Many of my colleagues on the current board, as well as past board members, are represented in MAD’s permanent collection. 

Two upcoming benefit events to help fund the programs at Watershed, and the construction of Watershed’s new kiln facility, involve the auction and/or raffle of work donated by board members and former residents of Watershed.  One will take place at the Chris Gustin Gallery on June 20; the other will take place on Watershed’s Newcastle, Maine, campus, on July 11. 

In both events the donated work is fired in a traditional Japanese anagama, or tunnel, kiln.  A wood-fueled anagama kiln may take days, or weeks, depending on its size, of constant stoking to reach the desired temperatures of approximately 2500° F.  But the results are unparalleled.  The color and textural effects created by the flame and the wood ash settling on the work are unpredictable and exquisitely understated. 

Anagama firing epitomizes the ancient Japanese principle of wabi – sabi.  With roots in Zen Buddhism,  sabi refers to the inward-looking, reflective quality of  Japanese aesthetics, while wabi is a philosophy of embracing the imperfections and irregularities that occur in creation.

below: My interlaced vessel was fired in Chris Gustin’s anagama kiln in Massachusetts. 

   

 

 

 

 

Entry Filed under: in the studio